Where Healing Begins: My Story of Adoption, Faith, and Helping Hurting Families

My name is Samuel Christian. I was born in Romania and spent my earliest years in a Romanian orphanage until 1997, when I was adopted at four years old by a loving family from Southern California. Along with me, my twin sister and my younger brother were also adopted, and together we began a new chapter in our lives, far from the world we once knew.

Growing up in a family shaped by adoption was both a blessing and a challenge. My parents, filled with love and determination, had their hearts open wide. But loving children from hard places requires more than good intentions. Raising children from Eastern Europe, many of whom faced significant trauma, abandonment, and loss in their earliest years, presented my parents with struggles they never could have fully prepared for. Like many adoptive families of Eastern European children, they encountered language barriers, cultural differences, developmental delays, and complex emotional and behavioral struggles.

Our family’s story is not unique among those who have adopted from Eastern Europe. Many parents report that children raised in institutional settings often struggle with trust, connection, and emotional regulation. Trauma and neglect in early childhood have lasting effects, often showing up as fear-based behaviors, defiance, or detachment from those trying to love them most. These are the deep waters my parents waded through daily.

Over time, my parents adopted a total of 21 children—literally from all around the world. Our home became a mosaic of cultures and stories, but also a battleground where healing and hurt collided. My journey through Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) was one of the defining challenges of my childhood. For those unfamiliar, RAD is a rare but serious condition where a child struggles to form healthy emotional attachments with caregivers. It's most often rooted in severe early trauma, abuse, or neglect.

There are two recognized types of RAD: inhibited RAD, where children withdraw and avoid comfort or connection, and disinhibited RAD, where children lack appropriate boundaries and seek attention indiscriminately from strangers. I was diagnosed with disinhibited RAD. My behaviors often confused and frustrated those around me. I struggled with boundaries, sought affirmation in unhealthy ways, and resisted the very people who loved me most.

But I wasn't left alone in my brokenness. My parents—rooted in their Christian faith—loved me relentlessly. Our home was a place where Jesus was talked about daily, where grace was lived out imperfectly but sincerely, and where prayer was the first response, not the last resort. My faith in Jesus became my anchor. I learned that even when my emotions were out of control and my behaviors pushed people away, God never gave up on me.

I’ve come to realize that my early hurts caused me to build walls of protection—walls that not only kept others out but also kept God's love from flowing freely in. I learned that only Christ’s love, working through forgiveness and grace, can tear down those walls and begin the healing process.

I think often about what Scripture teaches in Ephesians 4:31-32: "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." This is not easy work. It is soul-deep healing that takes prayer, surrender, and honesty before God.

Faith gave our family purpose and hope. It was our constant reminder that healing is possible, redemption is real, and love—true love—never gives up. My parents' faith fueled their perseverance. My own faith sustained me when I couldn't see a way forward.

Today, I serve as the Director of a faith-based children’s home, where I have the privilege of working with families who are in the trenches with their kiddos—many of whom carry wounds and trauma much like my own. At Raising Arrows Ministries, we provide a Christ-centered environment where children can heal, learn, and grow. It is a safe place where families receive support and where young hearts learn that their past does not define them—that God's love is greater than their pain, and that there is hope for their future.

I share my story not as a polished success, but as someone still growing, still healing, and still learning. My life has been shaped by deep pain and deeper love. I hope my story encourages adoptive families, foster parents, and anyone who loves a child from a hard place. The journey is hard—unimaginably hard sometimes—but you are not alone. God is writing a story of redemption, even in the broken places.

I’ll be sharing more in future blogs about adoption, trauma, healing, and the power of faith to transform our lives. Thank you for letting me share my story.