As the resident staff “expert” on adoption, being the adoptive father of two now-strapping young men myself, it falls to me to write about one of the more painful and disgusting stories we have perhaps ever covered. The good news, dear reader, is that I’ll avoid the most sordid details and focus on a bigger picture.

Two Georgia men have been arrested and indicted by a grand jury for incest, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, felony sexual exploitation of children, and felony prostitution of a minor. The victims were two elementary-aged brothers adopted by those two men, who for years have been zealous Rainbow Mafia activists. The two men face over nine life sentences, though if they’re guilty and don’t repent, far worse than that awaits them.

A Townhall investigation extensively documents the case in a four-part series. If you are so inclined to read the truly sickening details, start with Part 1. If not — I could only stomach skimming most of it — let’s just say the evidence of horrific crimes including rape and a pedophile ring is extensive. But those details are not really the point of this analysis.

Before I get to that point, I’ll note the abject hypocrisy of at least one of the two men. “Yes a lot of kids are sexually abused, especially in foster care. Some people only foster for the [money], and don’t give a sh*t about the kid(s),” he wrote in a social media post about his boys’ previous temporary placement. “The boys’ foster parents were not bad people, however, they only did it for the money.”

In other posts, he opined, “All kids deserve a loving and safe home,” and, “How many [parents] may be tempted by … prostitution?” He also railed against the idea of Christian adoption agencies preventing same-sex couples from adopting.

Which brings me to the point, or should I say points.

Adoption exists because something broke horribly and a child’s family of origin no longer functions. Perhaps the parents died, or they were incarcerated, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to safely parent. Kids were placed in orphanages or in foster care, sometimes after having been removed by the state from the home.

In this case, Townhall reports, “The brothers, now ages 9 and 11, already came from a broken home where their biological parents were addicted to heroin.” Family members of the accused now think it was part of the men’s plan to prey on such vulnerable boys.

Adoption agencies and social workers exist to prevent exactly this sort of abusive situation. Our own process was several months long, extensive, and expensive. It included a lengthy and probing application, visits to the county sheriff for background checks, interviews with multiple agency workers, references from and interviews with friends and pastors, and a home study.

Unfortunately, if a family of origin can be broken so horribly, so can an adoptive family. Sometimes prospective parents can hide that brokenness prior to the adoption, or investigators may fail to uncover it.

That seems to be exactly what happened in the case at hand. “In 2018,” Townhall reports, the “co-defendants adopted the two brothers through All God’s Children, Inc., a now-defunct private special-needs adoption agency in Watkinsville, [Georgia,] which focused on children in the state who have ‘waited the longest’ to be placed with a family.” What that agency either failed to uncover or, worse, ignored was that one of the men had been accused of raping a child already, though he was never charged.

Certainly, most homosexuals are not pedophiles, but male pedophiles who prey on boys are by definition homosexual. It’s not politically correct to say so, but there is a far higher correlation with pedophilia among homosexuals than heterosexuals. These two men were clearly not only groomers but far worse, and the Left is trying to normalize both groomers and pedophiles.

As for adoption, unless homosexual partners bring children into a relationship from a previous heterosexual one, adoption is a primary vehicle for male same-sex couples to have children. In my view, Christian adoption agencies should not place children with same-sex couples, as such relationships are clearly in violation of Scripture, by which these agencies claim to be guided or at least motivated. Moreover, homosexuals often come from broken or abusive homes themselves, which makes them far higher risk for continuing such patterns.

In an ideal world, adoption wouldn’t be needed at all. In a better one, children would be lovingly placed in a new and safe family who would work to mend terrible brokenness.

Adoption should be about making life better for kids, giving them a loving family, a home, and opportunity for success. Adoption is not about the gratification of adult desires, especially — and I can’t believe I even have to say this — sexual ones. The two boys in this sordid story have now been severely wounded and broken by two families, the second of which did so for grossly self-serving and exploitative reasons.

That is outrageous beyond what can be conveyed with words on a page. My personal hope is a prayer that these boys will find the great healer and storm-stopper Jesus amidst the immense pain.