80 Adoption Quotes Celebrating The Decision and Process

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published April 28, 2022

The Adoption Network reports that there are 1.5 million adopted children in the United States.

If your life has been touched by adoption, or you are currently going through the adoption process, below are some inspirational adoption quotes to keep you motivated during your journey.

Do you have a personal connection to adoption?

Adopting a child can take anywhere from 6 months to several years, depending on a variety of circumstances such as age, location, or health.

Below, we at Everyday Power have curated insightful quotes from adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents.

We hope that the following quotes inspire you during your day and remind you of the lives that you are changing for the better through adoption.

Also check out our list of aunt quotes that prove she’s your biggest fan.

If you love this quote collection, read out our most popular quote article about short inspirational quotes for daily motivation.

If you need more inspirational quotes, check out our motivational quotes category page.

Adoption quotes for waiting adoptive parents

1. “Patience is not the ability to wait but to keep a good attitude while waiting.” – Joyce Meyer

2. “Life is lived in the waiting.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

adoption quotes about life is lived in the waiting

3. “You are not just waiting in vain. There is a purpose behind every delay.” – Mandy Hale

4. “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell (see more Joseph Campbell quotes)

5. “Everything is hard before it is easy.” – Goethe

6. “One of the greatest titles in the world is parent, and one of the biggest blessings in the world is to be one.” – Jim Demint

7. “My birth mother brought me into this world, but it was my adoptive parents who gave me life.” – Christina Romo

8. “History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.” – Nelson Mandela

9. “Being a parent wasn’t just about bearing a child. It was about bearing witness to its life.” – Jodi Picoult

10. “Adoption is not the call to have the perfect, rosy family. It is the call to give love, mercy, and patience.” – Hope For Orphans

11. “If you have a heart for adoption, don’t let fear stand in the way.” – Doug Chapman

12. “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” – Henry Ford (see more Henry Ford quotes)

13. “Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, But still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, you didn’t grow under my heart but in it.” – Fleur Conkling Heyliger.

14. “Every single minute matters, every single child matters, every single childhood matters.” – Kailash Satyarthi

15. “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” – Maya Angelou

16. “After all, children are children no matter their background.” – Julie Andrews

17. “Every child deserves a home and love. Period.” – Dave Thomas

Also read these beautiful blended family quotes to share with your loved ones.

Adoption quotes for adoptive mothers

18. “However motherhood comes to you, it’s a miracle.” – Valerie Harper

19. “Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired, and it need not be deserved.” – Erich Fromm

20. “Motherhood is about celebrating the child you have not the child you thought you’d have.” – Joan Ryan

21. “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.” – Oprah Winfrey

22. “Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.” – Robert A. Heinlein

23. “Little souls find their way to you, whether their from your womb or someone else’s.” – Sheryl Crow

24. “Where there is love, there is life.” – Mahatma Gandhi

25. “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” – Richard Bach

26. “A child born to another woman calls me mom. The depth of the tragedy and the magnitude of the privilege are not lost on me.” – Jody Landers

27. “Families don’t have to match. You don’t have to look like someone else to love them.” – Leigh Anne Tuohy

28. “You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” – Desmond Tutu (see more quotes from Desmond Tutu)

29. “Somehow destiny comes into play. These children end up with you and you end up with them. It’s something quite magical.” – Nicole Kidman

30. “If the standard route for creating a family had worked for me, I wouldn’t have met this child. I needed to know her. I needed to be her mother. She is, in every way my daughter.” – Nia Vardalos

31. “It is amazing how you could get so far from where you’d planned, and yet find it is exactly where you need to be.” – Sarah Dessen

32. “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.” – Angela Schwindt

Also check out our list of the best baby quotes that new parents can relate to.

Adoption quotes for birth mothers

33. “For when a child is born, the mother also is born again.” – Gilbert Parker

34. “The circumstances surrounding your birth are not as important as the opportunity to live life.”– Lailah Gifty Akita

35. “A birthmother puts the needs of her child above the wants of her heart.” – Skye Hardwick

36. “Forgive yourself for not having the foresight to know what now seems so obvious in hindsight.” – Judy Belmont

37. “If you love someone unconditionally and with your whole heart, than you will do what is best for them not you.” – Talitha

38. “Children and mothers never truly part, bound together by the beating of one another’s heart.” – Charlotte Gray

39. “To attain to a place of acceptance of an adoption decision is an honorable goal, but often an arduous journey.” – Sandra Cantrell

40. “He is mine in a way that he will never be hers, yet he is hers in a way that he will never be mine, and so together, we are motherhood.” – Desha Woodall

41. “The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly father.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

42. “Making the decision to have a child – it is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.” – Elizabeth Stone

43. “Beauty seen is never lost.” – John Greenleaf Whittler

44. “A baby is born with a need to be loved – and never outgrows it.” – Frank A. Clark

If you enjoy this article, check out our collection of foster care quotes about this thankless labor of love.

Adopting quotes defining adoption

45. “Adoption is the most intentional process on Earth.” – Jody Cantrell Dyer

46. “Adoption is a journey of faith, from beginning to end.” – Johnny Carr

47. “Love is not a cure-all for an adoptee, but it’s a great place to start.” – Christina Romo

48. “Life is the first gift, love is the second and understanding the third.” – Marge Piercy

49. “Adoption carries the added dimension of connection not only to your own tribe but beyond, widening the scope of what constitutes love, ties, and family. It is the larger embrace.” – Isabella Rossellini

50. “Adoption is not about finding children for families, it’s about finding families for children.” – Joyce Maguire Pavao
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to check out our collection of children quotes that will fill your heart with love and laughter.

Insightful adoption quotes and sayings

51. “I am a living testament you can be adopted and successful.” — Daunte Culpepper

52. “Adoption was a bumpy ride – very bumpy. But, God, was it worth the fight.” — Mariska Hargitay

53. “We always wanted to adopt, and when the opportunity opened up, we did it to help change a child’s life.” — Willie Robertson

54. “Adoption has been a part of my life and a part of my family, so it was how I wanted to start. It felt natural and right to me.” – Katherine Heigl

55. “While adoption does not undo the past, adopting a child, and more specifically an older child, gives an adoptive family the privilege of writing the parts of the child’s story that have not yet been written.” — Caitlin Snyder

56. “Adoption comes from the heart, but the adoption process comes from the Law. You should follow your heart, but be sure you also follow the law.” – Irina ORear

57. “Adoption is the visible gospel.” — John Piper

58. You may not have my eyes or my smile but from that very first moment you had my heart.” – Kathy Jeffards

59. “If there’s a cause worth fighting for, it’s this: children belong in families.” — Nicole Skellenger

60. “A child born to another woman calls me mommy. The magnitude of that tragedy and the depth of that privilege is not lost on me.” – Jody Landers

More adoption quotes

61. “Anyone who ever wondered how much they could love a child who did not spring from their own loins, know this: it is the same. The feeling of love is so profound, it’s incredible and surprising.” – Nia Vardalos

62. “I believe one of the most sacrificial acts of love adoptive parents can do is to give up their preconceptions and agendas about what their child’s views “should” be and be open to hear the conflicting emotions and thoughts their child often experiences.” – Sherrie Eldridge

63. “Adoption was such a positive alternative to abortion, a way to save one life and brighten two more: those of the adoptive parents.” – George W. Bush

64. “It is not imitation that makes sons. It is sonship that make imitators.” – Martin Luther

65. “We don’t have adoption issues, we have an issue with adoption.” – Janine Myung-Ja

66. “Adoptee rights are everyone’s rights, and they deserve to be protected.” – DaShanne Stokes

67. “Blood can help make family, but family often transcends blood.” – DaShanne Stokes

68. “Adoption isn’t just a childhood experience, it’s a life-long experience.” – DaShanne Stokes

69. “Even though you weren’t born to us, you grew in our hearts. We will be forever connected because love is what makes a family.” – Deanna Kahler

70. “Adoption is wonderful and beautiful and the greatest blessing I have ever experienced. Adoption is also difficult and painful. Adoption is a beautiful picture of redemption.” – Katie J. Davis

Encouraging adoption quotes

71. “Too many children in foster care are falling through cracks. Be a hero, take the time, learn about adoption today.” –Bruce Willis

72. “All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” –Helen Keller

73. “There are times when the adoption process is exhausting and painful and makes you want to scream. But, I am told, so does childbirth.” –Scott Simon

74. “Adoption is complicated, but it is also rich with narratives of strength.” –Jillian Lauren

75. “We do not need to know the beginning of a child’s story to change the ending.” –Fi Newood

76. “The world may not change if you adopt a child, but for that child their world will change.” -Author Unknown

77. “Adopting an older child is a journey, a developing relationship, and a wonder to behold!” –Karlene Edgemon

78. “Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” –H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

79. “Belonging to a family is a natural and vital component of life, and every child deserves to be a member of a loving and nurturing family.” –Ronald Reagan

80. “Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do but someone you raise.” –Andy Stanley