The Church's Role in Orphan Care: A word from Jason Johnson

If you know me at all, you know I love a great quote.

So when I decided to share some points made by Jason Johnson of Arrow Child & Family Foundation at this past weekend's The CALL Summit VI, I figured I'd share some great quotes from his talk. 

But first, let me introduce you to Jason. Jason Johnson is a writer, speaker and leader in the movement of Church-led, Church-based orphan care ministry. Jason's many roles can be summarized this way -- to equip, train and mobilize church leaders and pastors to live out their calling to "care for orphans", as mandated in James 1:27.

So for my first "J.J." quote...

I. "[Adoption/foster care] is a church issue that has been outsourced to the government."

Jason's main purpose on Saturday was to remind us Christians that God gave the Church the mission of caring for orphans, not the government. We have relied on local and federal government far too long to care for the vulnerable children among us. It is our calling. It is our rightful role. 

We need to stop pointing our finger at the "broken foster care system" and do something about it.


II. "Our goal in this room should not be to recruit more families faster, but to empower and equip better families, longer."

The CALL is a 501c3 that mobilizes the Church in Arkansas to care for orphans by recruiting, training and supporting foster and adoptive parents from local churches. This is an amazing mission, and we are working hard to reach our goal of no children waiting for foster or adoptive families. 

However, it is easy to strive for numbers and statistics, and forget that the mission is changed lives. We advocates for vulnerable children must remember that our goal must be finding the right family for each child, not checking a child's name off a list once they've been placed with a family. 

We must work for stability in the life of a child, not for impressive statistics.


III. "The objective of foster care is not to get a child for my family, but to GIVE MY FAMILY for a child."

Do you hear the contrast in that statement? Oftentimes prospective adoptive parents pursue adoption (or foster care) with the mindset of really wanting a child to "complete" our families. Ouch... I've been there. We really want a boy. Or a girl. Or a cute little African American baby. So we adopt or foster. We figure it's a win-win. We get a sweet child to add to our family. The child gets a new family and home.

But this is the wrong perspective. It's not wrong to desire a child, but wanting a child is not equivalent to the calling to adopt or foster. And if we proceed into those waters with that mindset, we will soon discover our motives were self-centered and off-base. Our motive to adopt and foster should be first and foremost about the needs of a child, not our own desires.


IV. "We need to have a vision of restoration of an entire family, working as hard as we can to prevent children from coming into foster care in the first place."

Our goal in foster care should not only be to restore a child, but to restore that child's entire family. How does this look? It looks like mentorship, not only for children and teens, but also for troubled and/or single parents. It also means supporting vulnerable families. 

Sometimes reunification with a birth family is detrimental and even impossible. However, oftentimes a family can be restored through a healthy, consistent dose of support, encouragement, re-training and prayer.

And where should these families go to receive this support, encouragement, re-training and prayer? 

Not their local DHS office. 

They should receive it from the Church.

So let's get busy, y'all.

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.

Daring to Dream: 4Kids of South Florida

By Carla Adair Hendricks

Last week, I had the awesome opportunity to join an amazing group of foster care advocates on a trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

I know what you're thinking... And yes, we did see the beach. Yet our mission was greater than any beach trip.

Our mission was to observe and learn from the awesome folks of 4Kids of South Florida, folks that have committed to provide "A Home for Every Child in Crisis."

Our mission is nearly the same. We've named ourselves the "No More Waiting" Team, with a commitment to finding the right family for every waiting child in Arkansas foster care.

Last week's trip was exhilarating, emotional and exhausting.

And I can't wait to see all God's going to do.

But I'll get to that later. For now, I'll recap all He already did.

First of all, God helped us celebrate all He's already done in Arkansas.

Our group represented three organizations* dedicated to foster children in Arkansas. I'll give a nutshell on each.

The CALL's (Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime) mission is to educate, equip and encourage the Christian community to provide a future and a hope for children in foster care.

We do this by recruiting foster parents from local churches, then providing the DCFS-required training for these prospective foster parents. The CALL serves as a bridge between our state agency and local churches. We currently serve in a third of the counties in Arkansas, and have had incredible impact.

I serve the Statewide Board, and I had the privilege of sharing the Florida trip with both the Executive Director Lauri Currier and Co-founder of The CALL, Mary Carol Pederson.

Immerse Arkansas focuses on youth that have aged-out of foster care. Without hope and practical help, these young people face a dismal future. In fact, statistics reveal that 40% of youth that age-out of the foster care system will experience homelessness by the age of 24. Immerse Arkansas exists to give these young people support, guidance and stability as they transition to adulthood.

We were blessed to have the Director and Founder of Immerse Arkansas Eric Gilmore not only on our trip, but leading and coordinating it.

Project Zero exists to help find forever families for children that are available for adoption through the state foster care system. The Project Zero team also seeks to raise awareness surrounding the more than 100,000 children in U.S foster care waiting for a permanent and loving family.

Project Zero's Co-directors Christie Erwin and Caryl Watson were an amazing and energetic addition to our team.

Together these ministries are committed to at-risk children in out state. We are dedicated to "No More Waiting!"

Secondly, God helped us dream of what could be in our state.

And this, my friends, is where 4Kids of South Florida comes in.

Last week, we spent an entire day with various staff members of 4Kids. And if those folks don't fire you up for kids in foster care, you better check your pulse.

4Kids President Doug Sauder began and ended our time with a history of 4Kids, which was originally a merger of 3 separate organizations. He gave a nutshell of how they worked through growing pains and did the hard work of becoming a mature and highly-effective organization.

Thom Lukasik, Vice President of Community Engagement, spent almost the entire day with us -- and I think we considered kidnapping him and bringing him back to Arkansas with us. (Can you kidnap a grown man?)

Thom shared his ministry's vision with us, showed us the most moving video about foster children I've ever seem and answered the two million questions we had. He also took us on a tour of 4Kids' group homes and a special place I'll never forget -- SafePlace.

SafePlace is a temporary shelter for children placed in foster care. Envision this: instead of a child sitting in a state agency office, waiting for an open home to welcome him or her, SafePlace offers a warm, engaging environment for the child to stay, while waiting for that home.

When we first entered SafePlace, I think we'd all braced ourselves for a place full of weepy, forlorn and hopeless children. Actually, what we discovered was a place full of giggling, energetic, happy children! We were amazed and I even wondered, "Do these children know they were just removed from their homes? Separated from their families?"

It was amazing.

And I have to mention the beautiful little three-month old baby in a crib. And the volunteer -- yes, I said volunteer -- that told me she loved working in SafePlace so much that she asked if she could work extra hours until she finds full-time employment. A volunteer that's begging to double her hours. Now, that speaks volumes.

SafePlace is a dream I hope to see realized in Arkansas. Maybe I'll be able to share that here someday.

But for now, I'll leave you with a word from Doug Sauder that resonated with us all...

"The dream is free, but the journey isn't."

Ain't that the truth...

It costs nothing to dream of a home for every child in the US foster care system. It doesn't cost anything to dream of a day when we'll no longer need foster care shelters and group homes. Or a day when every sibling group can go to the same home -- together. 

But the journey to those dreams isn't free. These dreams will cost much: work, time, money, and more work, time and money.

But we must keep dreaming. And we must continue the journey.

* Our team also included Pastor Anthony Hendricks of Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas (and my hubby), Jeff Spry of City Connections, Mark and Jennifer Cherry of Summit Church, Diane Heffington of Immerse Arkansas and David Watson of Project Zero

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

Introducing... "Caring For Ophans"

I know, I know...

"Not another blog," you're saying right now.

Trust me, I understand your sentiments. I've been saying those words to myself for months now. Ever since I began feeling the Lord prompting me to create a new blog.

And believe me: I tried to do a Jonah, if you remember that guy in the bible who tried to run from God. Isn't that crazy? How does one "run from God?"

I don't know, but I sure tried.

I've known for several months now that God has been wanting me to begin a blog solely about adoption, foster care and orphans. I just kept saying to myself, "Another blog? Not another blog..."

In my current blog, "Deep Waters", I often publish posts about adoption and/or foster care. I've highlighted famous adoptees. I've shared about my involvement in adoption/foster care nonprofits like The CALL. And I've retold the adoption journey that led me to my now 12-year-old Christian, adopted from Russia.

Sometimes, I post random musings about these subjects like "Five Things Not to Say to Adoptive Parents".

Basically, I've talked a lot about adoption there.

Well, now it's time to talk a lot more about adoption here.

So, my question is: will YOU join me for the journey? The road may be windy and a little bumpy at times, but I'd love to have you here beside me. So...

Let's go!

CARLA