Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
This is on the order of truth is stranger than fiction. A single American woman living in Israel had twins by in vitro fertilization using donor sperm and eggs. The donors’ identity is kept anonymous. Recently the mother took the twins now 2 ½ years old to the American Embassy to register them. Now, the U.S. State Department is refusing to grant citizenship to her children because she’s unable to prove that the donors are American citizens. There would be no problem if she had adopted children but there is no law that grants citizenship to children produced by in vitro when the biological parents are not citizens. “You can have a child that is a child without a country,’’ family law attorney Paul Talbert told NBC News. “They are not granted U.S. citizenship because there is no biological connection, and the laws of that foreign country may say they don’t recognize this child as their citizen, either, and the law really needs to address this.’’ U.S. State Department officials say they are sympathetic to the family’s situation but are following the law. It’s sad when children get caught up in the politics of a country or the politics of divorce. No matter what happens in this earthly sphere, though we can rejoice that the Kingdom of God has no borders. Our citizenship first lies in this kingdom and only second in the country in which we live.
Loving God, We pray for children everywhere who are caught up in situations which they did not create and over which they have no control. Help us to love children as Jesus loved them. We ask in His name. Amen.
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