Recently, I was discussing a medical history of a potential adoptee with his future parents. We talked about a specific issue regarding his health and prognosis.

Medical diagnoses and care vary greatly from place to place. The accuracy of the diagnosis can even vary within a given country. In this case, the child was given a relatively rare diagnosis for which the prognosis was considered corrected by surgery.

This raises the important distinction between acute and chronic conditions. Acute illnesses or conditions are those that come on suddenly. They are usually limited in time. Chronic conditions or illnesses are those which come on more gradually, and last for a long time (often for the remainder of one’s life). Chronic conditions are usually not remediable but are treatable. An acute condition can become chronic, but usually responds to a form of treatment as well. Chronic conditions can also precipitate acute illnesses (such as high blood pressure causing a stroke), and treatment for an acute condition can cause another acute condition later in one’s life (such as other cancers as a result of chemotherapy given for cancer).

For many conditions, we do not know risk factors. One which seems to replicate itself is genetic susceptibility. These are conditions over which (for the most part) one has no control. Many children placed for adoption have (correctable) acute conditions which have some genetic contribution. Others are caused by environmental factors such as tobacco abuse, substance abuse (alcohol being the most common, also illegal drugs), or sexually transmitted diseases.

All of us live in a world of modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors. Our adopted children are no different. The question of whether a surgically-corrected condition would have implications for a child’s (and parents’) future is one which likely can be answered with a good prognosis. However, it is possible for the child (as with all children) to develop other undiagnosed conditions later in life which may (or may not) relate to the risks noted above.

As adoptive parents, then, our goal is to help our children with modifiable risk factors. Sickness and pain are a direct result of man’s sin, and while we do not want our children to suffer, part of being a parent is that we walk with our children through the valley of suffering and pain (including surgery). While it may not be easy to do this not knowing the genetic risk factors of the birth parents, we deliberately choose adopt our children despite this lack of certainty. This is part of what the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 means to us (“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’”), and it applies equally to acute and chronic conditions.

There are many resources to help those who are dealing with their children’s health issues. What I shared with my friends is that, since we cannot accurately predict the future, we must determine God’s will regarding our adoption and then move forward however He leads. This is the quiet life of dependence upon Him.

What health care issue(s) are you struggling with in your adopted child? Are you willing to surrender these to God and ask Him to use them in your and their lives?