Name: Cole Hyman

Topic: Adoption
Title: Adoption is a Gift
Organizational Pattern: Value Persuasive Speech
General Purpose: To Persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience why I believe that adoption
is a gift.
Central Idea:
1. It gives another human life a chance to live a positive life.
2. Every kid deserves the chance to have a family.
Introduction:
I. According to worldorphans.org, There are 120,000 orphans in
the U.S right now and over 153 million worldwide.
II.
I believe that adoption is a wonderful gift not only to the kids but
also to the parents. Now, I realize that all of us are far too young
to be thinking about adoption but Id like to explain to you why I
think that it is such an incredible depiction of sacrificial love,
meaning giving something up for the benefit of another.
III. I have not personally adopted, but I have many friends and even
family that have done so, and have been able to see a large
amount of joy come into their lives. Also, within the Bible, Moses
who is known as one of the most important figures in both the
Jewish and Christian faith was adopted.
IV.
Id like to pose three points to you all today about why adoption
is a gift. First, it gives another human life a chance to live a
positive life. Secondly, I believe that every kid deserves the
chance to have a family.
Body:
I.
Main Point One: Adoption gives another human life a chance
to live a positive life.
A. Subpoint A: Kids in the U.S. and all over the world are left
abandoned by their parents, or are dropped off in
orphanages and foster homes.
1. Imagine how hard it would be to just be abandoned by
your parents.
2. Where many of these kids are now, they are forced into
many horrible places such as the drug trade and sex
trade as internationalkids.com says, Nearly 1,000,000
children enter the sex trade every year.
B. Subpoint B: Adoption can make a complete transformation
in a childs life and future.
1. My roommate here at Elon named Freddy Suppes has three
adopted siblings. There are two girls named Lexi and
Kayleigh and one boy named Christian. These kids are from
Columbus, Ohio and were sent to foster homes when they
were infants and bounced around to 4 different foster

homes. Their father left them with their mom after she
became pregnant and the mom was arrested for drug
distribution 25 years in prison. Freddys parents stepped in
the scene as superheroes and adopted all three of them.
They no longer have to worry about moving around or
financial constraints. Freddy told me that Lexi, the oldest of
the siblings always says, I know I was adopted, but now
Im home and Im here for good.
C. Did you know that according to sos-usa.org, In subSaharan Africa, 1 out of 9 children dies before the age of
5? Also, in Asia over 60 million children are orphaned,
making it the home to the largest amount of orphaned kids
in the world.
1. I once knew a guy named Richard from Ghana who
attended my high school and was adopted.
2. He was brought overseas from Africa at a young age
and was the president of the senior class, a straight A
student, and eventually got a full academic scholarship
to Duke University
D. Also, the Christian Faith presents a clear depiction of
adoption.
1. As a Christian, a person is born into the world and later decides
to follow Jesus and is said to be born-again. The parallel is
evident as in adoption; a child is born to this world and is given a
new chance at life by parents that love them.
2. In the New Testament book of the Bible called Ephesians in
Chapter 1:5 it says, he [speaking of God] predestined us for

adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the

purpose of his will.
Transitional Statement: When I surveyed the class on Monday,
everyone but one person listed family as the most important thing in
their life.
Main Point Two: Every kid deserves the chance to have a family.
A. Subpoint A: Yet all around the world, many kids are unable to
experience that treasure and joy.
1. Mike and Sharon Dennehy of Richmond, Virginia wanted to
give kids that were without it the opportunity to be a part of a
family. They decided after seeing a picture of a Romanian kid
with no arms that adoption was their best shot at achieving
their goal.

2. They went after kids mainly with special needs as they

typically have the most difficult time finding a home. Over the
past ten years they have adopted nine children from all over
the world. The kids are from Africa, Asia, Romania, India, and
not to mention the three kids that they biologically already
had making their family become a number of 12!
3. This family is a wonderful example of how giving a child a
chance to be a part of a family is absolutely incredible.
4. I have a short clip of a video to show you about this extremely
unique and diverse family.
PLAY CLIP STARTING AT 2:10 and ending at 2:55
5. Mike Dennehy also said in an interview with CNN, Adoption is sort of
a model of what God does for us. We just try to tell everybody that adoption on
earth is just like the adoption thats coming later for everyone.
6. According to the author named Kathy S. Stolley, It is estimated that about 1 million
children in the United States live with adoptive parents.
Conclusion:
I. In Conclusion,
II.
III.
IV.

Adoption allows for another human life to have a positive life

and it gives them something that everyone deserves in a
family.
I believe that these two components are what make Adoption
such a gift.
Professional Football player Michael Oher if the Carolina
Panthers was adopted and said, Itstruethatwecanthelpthe

circumstanceswerebornintoandsomeofusstartoutinamuch
tougherplacethanotherpeople.Butjustbecausewestartedthere
doesntmeanwehavetoendthere.
Thank You.