Nelson Mandela - A Love for Children

Nelson Mandela... Few names evoke the reverence and respect of this great leader of our time.

I have reflected much on our "Madiba" and even blogged about him after his recent passing.

However, I wanted to share a few more of his words here at "Caring for Orphans." These words express Madiba's love for children -- not only children of his native South Africa, but children around the world.

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." Nelson Mandela

In order to measure the emotional, physical and spiritual health of a society, we need to look no further than the neediest, most vulnerable members of any society -- our children.

In the United States - are we nurturing, protecting, and providing for our children as well as we can? Do we value our children? Are we spending enough money, time and effort on securing our children's future?

In 2014 I am committed to spending my personal money, time and effort on not only my own four children, but on many children that I will never meet. Through organizations like The CALL and Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), I am joining in the work of empowering Christians to care for the most vulnerable of the vulnerable -- orphaned children.

I am also committed to engaging a national powerhouse - the African American church - for the cause of at-risk children. At the end of 2013 I was invited to lead a movement that will engage the African American faith community for the cause of the orphan, encouraging African American Christians to adopt and foster children throughout the US. 

Through the African American Church Initiative, a ministry of CAFO, an amazing, diverse group of believers is committed to invest much in the lives of "the least of these."

Because we still believe in the Vacation Bible School song we sang many years ago:

Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world.

Red and yellow, black and white

They are precious in His sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

In 2014, what will you do to care for children? What will you invest? Will you commit to pray for CAFO and the African American Church Initiative? 

Let's commit to serve the least of these - or most valuable of these - in 2014.

Making a Difference: Orphan Sunday

Poverty. Crime. Homelessness. Substance abuse. Human trafficking...

The challenges facing our world can seem daunting - insurmountable even. Maybe, like me, you've wanted to do something -- anything -- to make the world a better place. Maybe, like me, you've witnessed the social ills around you and thought, "It's just too much. I'm only one person. How can I really make a difference in this crazy world?"

Maybe you concluded there wasn't anything much you could do to put a mere dent in the world's problems. So you did nothing.

Or maybe you chose to commit to one cause. You've dedicated your heart, your time and your talent to combat poverty or homelessness or human trafficking.

Or maybe, like me, you've discovered a collective way to impact the world for good -- for God. Maybe you've decided to pour your life into aiding the most vulnerable amongst us. The ones who suffer most under the chains of poverty, crime, homelessness, substance abuse and human trafficking.

Perhaps, like me, you've committed your heart, your time and your talents to serve the ORPHAN.

In serving the orphan, we have the opportunity to serve "the least of these."

The ones in need of an advocate. The ones in need of protection. The ones in need of financial security.

The ones in need of a family.

While serving the orphan, we must tell others about this amazing opportunity. We must spread the word, shout out loud for these precious souls that God adores.

On Orphan Sunday, we have that opportunity.

On Orphan Sunday, we can -- we must -- share with others God's call to the Christian to care for orphans.

On Orphan Sunday, we can tell others of the millions of children in the world without parents and a permanent place to belong.

On Orphan Sunday, we can share how AIDS, war and famine have stripped these defenseless children of their parents.

On Orphan Sunday, we can share with fellow believers that 400,000 children in the US are displaced, living in foster care... that many states rely on shelters and group homes because there aren't enough foster parents to go around... that 100,000 US children are available for adoption and waiting for a forever family.

Many of them will wait forever for that family.

On November 3, 2013 we can speak for those whose voices cannot be heard.

On Orphan Sunday we will "defend the cause of the fatherless." Isaiah 1:17

On Orphan Sunday we can join Christian Alliance for Orphans and churches around the world and stand for the orphan.

One day. One voice. One purpose.

One goal: to make a real difference in this crazy world.

Will you join the cause?

Orphan Sunday. November 3, 2013.

One day. One voice. One purpose.

Great Minds Thinking Alike: Jen Hatmaker

A couple weeks ago, I felt a heavy burden in the area of adoption and orphan care.

My burden resulted in my last post, "Orphan Justice: How Adoption Only Scratches the Surface". This post led to a great conversation with like-minded people on the subject, and also led me to writer/ speaker/pastor's wife Jen Hatmaker's blog series - "Examining Adoption Ethics."

When I read her third installment, I kept thinking, "Yes! Amen! Hallelujah!" Because I didn't realize I'd been echoing her sentiments in my own blog.

I'll pull out a few highlights and notable quotes for you:

"...Let's get our numbers straight... There are an estimated 153 million kids who've lost only one parent, so the term "orphan" is somewhat misleading... Unicef estimates around 2 million children in institutional care..."

My tidbit: Folks we've got to get our numbers right when we cite the number of "orphans" in the world. Although 2 million is a very large number (and UNICEF admits that this number is low due to underreporting in certain countries), it's a lot lower than 153 million!

Another thing I'm learning from my friends and co-laborers in the Arkansas Department of Children and Family Services... The word "orphan" is a misnomer for the 500,000 children in US foster care. These children almost always have a living parent, so they are nobody's orphans. As Christians, we understand the biblical mandate to "Care for Orphans," but we have to know in our hearts that we are oftentimes not dealing with a true "orphan."

"If we are truly concerned about orphan care, international adoption simply cannot be where we concentrate all our efforts. It leaves too many children behind."

My tidbit: I wholeheartedly agree with my Sister. And I'm the mother of a son adopted internationally. We've got to find strategies to encourage Russians to adopt Russian children, Ethiopians to adopt Ethiopian children and South Koreans to adopt South Korean children.

In his book Orphan Justice, Johnny Carr emphatically agrees, and works diligently towards that end. But I blogged about that last time...

My last Hatmaker quote:

"It is unacceptable that poverty makes orphans. That is a gross injustice at the root of these astronomical numbers. If you must relinquish your child because you cannot feed, educate, or care for him, the international community should rise up and wage war against that inequity. Every family deserves basic human rights, and I should not get to raise your child simply because I can feed him and you can't. 

"To that end, what better response than working to preserve (or reunite) first families where poverty or disempowerment is an orphan-maker?"

My tidbit: Amen! Amen! Amen!

For the last six months or so, God's been doing a transformational work on my heart. I am feeling a draw to support efforts that not only serve and benefit children displaced from their birth families, but to support the efforts that take a step backwards in this process.

How amazing would it be to not only care for orphans, but to care for disadvantaged families, with the hope and prayer that maybe their children will never become orphans?

This is no small undertaking. This is no minor calling. And this isn't as cute as adopting that adorable brown-eyed nine-month-old from Ethiopia.

No, this is a calling to get into the dirt and grime of material and spiritual poverty.

This is a calling to go where Jesus went.

It's a calling to go where He already is.

Let's go, Family.


Love,

Carla

Hitting Home: Crisis in US Foster Care

What comes to mind when you hear the word orphan?

You may think of children far away, across the seas.

You may think of the Indian or Russian or Sudanese child that has lost his or her parents to AIDS or extreme poverty or civil war.

Your mind may conjure up images of the children you've seen on world relief organizations' commercials -- distended bellies, bodies like skeletons, flies landing on nearly every body part...

And while that image truly exists in many parts of the world, let's not forget a simple truth: There are orphans right here in America.

The orphan crisis in the US may look a little different from other countries, but it's still a crisis, one I've ranted over before.

Well, since it's May and happens to also be Foster Care Awareness Month, I feel the need to rant a little more. Please bear with me for just a bit...

Today over 500,000 children are in state foster care in the U.S. 

Unfortunately, most states don't have a sufficient number of foster care homes to take in these children.

Many foster children end up in temporary shelters and group homes, when what they really need is a safe short-term family.

Of these 500,000 foster children, over 100,000 are legal orphans, meaning while they may have at least one living parent, their parents' legal parental rights have been terminated in the courts of their respective states.

...Which means - there are over 100,000 children in our country waiting to be adopted.

Few of these children are blonde, blue-eyed infants.

Most of them are over the age of 6.

Some of them are teenagers that have bounced from home to home.

Many of them have special needs and behavioral challenges.

Many of them are African American.

ALL of them need a loving family - TODAY.

There are many wonderful Christian organizations working hard to meet the needs of foster children in their respective states: The CALL, Project Zero, Project 1.27, 4Kids of South Florida, just to name a few.

But they need individual Christians to join in their mission.

What can YOU do? What can I do?

It's a question we must ask ourselves.

It's a question we should seek God about.

Will you?


Carla