This Is What It’s Like to Be a Muslim Adoptive/Foster Parent

(This is part two of a series on adoption. Read part one here and part three here.)

Growing up, adoption and foster care were foreign concepts to me. They were not common practices in the Muslim community and were not spoken about openly. Alhamdulillah, things are changing; now there are seminars, events, and lectures held for the Muslim community on the topic of adoption.

However, the conversation is still largely conceptual. We may talk about the Islamic rulings and the legal technicalities leading up to it, but we usually don’t hear about what the experience of adopting and fostering kids is actually like once they are in the home.

I previously wrote about the first Muslim adoption agency in the U.S. Now, by interviewing several Muslim foster and adoptive parents, I hope our community will learn more about what fostering and adopting children is like and be inspired to fulfill this beautiful sunnah inshaAllah.

The following are some of my favorite quotes from the interviews:

“When people meet us they say we are doing such a good thing by giving these children a better life, but the truth is they are giving us a better life.” — Sameena Gulamali

“You are needed. The system really needs you and the kids need your affection.” — Amira Kotb

“People want to ‘buy a building’ and ‘hire staff’ to care for foster children rather than implementing the solution that is in the best interest of the children, which is welcoming them into our homes so they can experience a real family setting and reap those benefits.” — Ranya Shbeib

Please read on by scrolling through the pages to learn about the experiences of real Muslim foster and adoptive parents, and share this article to inspire others to partake in this noble tradition.