#54 Loving the Forgotten through Foster Care & Adoption - Loryn Smith
Early on, Loryn and her husband felt called to adoption and foster care... but had no idea where that would lead or the sheer number of children that God would place in their family.
The following is a summary of the podcast interview above with Loryn Smith. Many more details are included in the original podcast episode and we encourage you to listen.
Written by Jace Bower
Her First Child
Loryn Smith grew up in a Christian home and attended Bible college in her late teens. After graduating with a degree in theology she enrolled at the State University of New York to study social work.
Through her school, Loryn got an internship at the Department of Social Services. Someone approached her and asked if she had ever considered adopting. She said yes and submitted an application.
Far sooner than she expected, a baby boy was placed with Loryn. He had been born in a mental institution and few people had any hopes that he would live a normal life because they feared he was severely brain-damaged.
At the age of 19, Loryn was an adoptive mom.
A Young Family
By this point, Loryn had married a fellow student from her Bible college. Soon after the adoption, she had her first biological son.
Unfortunately, Loryn’s husband left her and the two boys. She moved to Florida and got a job working in a drug and alcohol treatment program. A year or so after getting the job, Loryn married one of her co-workers, Thad.
Thad had always wanted two children while Loryn wanted six. The story God was writing for them would go above and beyond their expectations.
Foster Care
Loryn suggested to Thad that the family get involved in foster care. This way, she reasoned, she could have more opportunities for mothering without permanently growing their family beyond the two that they already had. Thad agreed.
As the family began to foster, Thad’s heart was smitten and Loryn suggested that they have a biological child of their own so that Thad could experience the joys of being a biological father. They had a third boy and then a fourth child, a daughter, not long after.
A couple of years later they had one more son, bringing their total number of children to five.
A Heart for Children
Loryn's husband was now a pastor, and his first congregation was actually a street church. Of course this exposed them to all kinds of people, including immigrants, the homeless, drug addicts, and those with severe mental handicaps.
And this just deepened their love for people and for children. Regardless of circumstances, ethnicity, or social demographics, all people are created in the image of God and are worthy of love.
Loryn opened a private counseling practice through the church. One day, in the middle of a counseling session, through a crack in her office door, Loryn saw a baby outside her office. She went out and the family begged for her to take their child.
The baby boy had registered record levels of cocaine and alcohol for a newborn. Loryn took him in and cared for him as he screamed for three and a half years. Thad and Loryn adopted the boy and their family grew to six children.
A Growing Family
Next, came another surprise. When Loryn went in for a hysterectomy she found out she was pregnant again. Another son was born and Thad and Loryn welcomed their seventh child to the family.
Two months later, they received a call about another child up for adoption. This time it was a girl. Thad and Loryn went to meet the girl and as soon as they walked into the room, the six-month-old girl extended her arms to Loryn and called “Mama!” Just like that, they had number eight.
Under a year and a half went by. Loryn received a phone call from a hospital a couple of hours away asking her to come and pick up her baby. She told them they had the wrong number and hung up. They called back.
The mother of their eighth child had given birth to another daughter. She wanted Thad and Loryn to adopt. They drove to the hospital and picked up their ninth child. Their new daughter had severe physical challenges but this didn’t stop them.
This brought the family’s total children to nine: all between the ages of eleven to newborn.
A Need Close to Home
With nine children under the age of eleven, the Smiths thought they were done. But as it turned out, God wasn’t. One night, Thad approached Loryn and asked her what she thought about adopting a child from China.
The couple prayed about it. Loryn pointed out that adopting in China would cost thousands of dollars. She knew that there were many black boys in the foster care system in the United States who couldn’t find homes because of their skin color. Instead of adopting from China, why not adopt a black boy from the United States?
It wasn’t long before the Smiths got a phone call. There was a five-year-old boy who needed an adoptive family. Loryn asked, “Is he black?” The caller replied “Yes”. Loryn went to go pick him up.
But even at ten, God wasn’t going to stop.
Adopting Teenagers
The Smiths next adoption was a fourteen-year-old boy. He was going to be placed with his grandma but in the middle of a court hearing she told him that she changed her mind and didn’t want him. He had been staying with the Smiths for the weekend but this became his long-term home.
Then a fifteen-year-old girl called and asked Loryn to adopt her. Loryn talked to Thad and the rest of the family and they agreed that they couldn’t possibly turn down this girl who had been so bold to ask. The only member of the family who voted to not adopt the girl was Loryn’s biological daughter. Days later she confessed that she had been motivated by selfishness and she agreed that the family should adopt. So they did.
Their newly adopted daughter had a sister who had been adopted and then sent back into the system. The family knew they couldn’t let her be without a home while her siblings found homes. So they adopted her too.
Now the Smith family was made up of Thad, Loryn, and thirteen children between the ages of twenty-one and three.
God Works a Miracle
In the midst of all this, Thad received a fatal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He was given only six weeks to live.
As Loryn put Thad’s affairs in order she prepared to tackle life as a single mom of thirteen children, including teenagers with challenging behavioral issues. Then one day, a few of her teenagers came home from school and told her about a young man in their school who rode his bike twelve miles to and from school everyday. He lived in the woods.
Her teenage children understood that their father was dying and their mother was incredibly burdened. But they offered to get jobs to help support the family so that they could adopt their schoolmate.
Despite all their preparations for Thad’s death, it never came as scheduled. Thad went into the hospital for a surgery that was meant to ease some of his pain. The tumor, however, had disappeared. Thad made a full recovery.
Pure Religion
Over the next few years, the Smiths adopted more children. They adopted their granddaughter after their adopted teenage daughter became pregnant and left her one-year-old baby girl with them as she ran away from the home. As the rest of their kids moved out, the couple continued to foster children and finally adopted a set of siblings. This brought their total to twenty children all together.
Thad and Loryn were continually trusting that God was writing their story and the stories of every one of their children. Despite the challenges they faced, Thad and Loryn never let those challenges hold them back from loving and caring for children in need of a home.
The book of James defines “pure religion” as caring for orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27). The Smith family took this command seriously and their faithfulness has resulted in fruitfulness. Many of their children are now grown with strong families of their own.
God is the author of each person’s story. Sometimes the chapters are surprising and challenging. But it is always worth it to trust our lives to God who writes masterfully.
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Jace Bower is a writer with a passion for justice and biblical principles. He writes at jacebower.com.
Additional Information about Loryn
Loryn’s adoption agency is Finally Home Christian Adoption Services. They offer 5 programs:
Domestic Adoption
Adoption through Foster Care
Family Coaching
Foster Care
Pre-adoption Training
The entire Smith Family
