Adoption and Economics

We most often talk about adoption from the perspectives of those most directly involved: birth families, adoptees, and adoptive families. We may even include the agencies, social workers, lawyers, and others close to the process. But what happens when we zoom out further and examine adoption as a complex system involving market forces and pervasive attitudes of cultural, religious, and racial superiority? Today, we speak with Anglican deacon, adoptee, and member of the Faith Collective for Truth and Healing, Colin Fagan, and take a deep dive into the structural underbelly and economic realities of the adoption system, especially as it intersects with our faith communities.

Colin Fagan’s interests and reflections intersect at the connection of theological ethics and spiritual formation as resources for more robust and constructive pathways for the Church’s discussion on adoption, as well as its pastoral care for all impacted by it. As a spiritual director and ordained minister, he cares deeply that the Church be a space for adoptees to thrive and flourish and discover that the tragedy implicit in adoption can be held well alongside the hope of a transfigured life that is discovered in friendship with Jesus.

Colin was ordained to the diaconate in the Anglican tradition and is currently a part of the Diocese of Saint Anthony in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches. He holds an MA in Conflict Resolution and Master of Divinity, both from Lipscomb University. He lives in Tennessee with his family.