November is Adoption Awareness Month and today is Orphan Sunday, aimed at bringing attention to the orphan crisis in the world and how we can care for the orphan. When I used to hear the word "orphan" the first thing that came to my mind was adoption. And then it pretty much just stopped there. I thought of adoption as the only solution to the orphan crisis. I think that adoption is beautiful. I think that it's a powerful picture of the love that God, the Father, has for us, His children. In fact, I think it's the closest representation of the gospel and the Father's love. The Father reaches out and makes us His own. He brings us into His family. Adoption is so, so beautiful! But adoption comes out of a hard place. I have not adopted and have not been adopted, so I don't claim to know a lot about this. But, I have friends who have adopted or who are currently going through the process, I'm constantly surrounded by a community of adoptive moms through Noonday, I've travelled to orphanages throughout the developing world, and I'm not blind to situations from which adoption rises. Adoption is, indeed, beautiful, but it comes from a hard place. Before adoption comes an orphan. Before being placed with a forever family comes the years of waiting in an orphanage. Before the safety and security of being placed with loving parents comes potentially years of emotional trauma and abuse and neglect and just plain loneliness. Before being included in a loving family comes the ripping from the biological family, whether by death or sickness or neglect or simply the biological family not being able to adequately provide for needs. Adoption is so beautiful, and I'm so thankful for those who are stepping in and answering the call to love and provide for these precious children. I'm a huge fan of adoption and feel that it may be part of what God has for me in the future, but it is not the only way to care for orphans. I want to offer a few ways that we can all join in the work of loving and caring for orphans. You see, we may not all be called to adopt, but as followers of Jesus, I believe we are all called to care for the orphan.
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
This can look many different ways, and here are a few:
This can look many different ways, and here are a few:
1. Financially supporting an orphanage or sponsoring a child in an orphanage. There are tons of reputable orphanages and agencies out there. Find one that speaks to you and that is trustworthy. One that is dear to my heart is The Josephine House on the outskirts of Cusco, Peru. I have a friend who adopted from here and visited it for the first time to provide physical therapy to some of the little ones living there. I got to go back again to visit about 6 months later and it was then that I decided I wanted to sponsor a child there through monthly donations. This place is awesome! The ladies who work in the orphanage do such a great job of loving these kids, most with special needs, but they need money to do it. I'm sure that they would love to have your financial support if you feel led.
2. Foster care. There are an estimated 420,000 children in foster care currently in the United States. The need is great and you and your family could become a loving place of welcome to children in the foster care system, whether through longer term placement or respite care to families already fostering.
3. Shopping fair trade and purchasing with purpose. How in the world does this relate to orphan care you might ask. This is something I didn't understand at all until I began to partner with Noonday a couple of years ago. I've learned that many times children become orphans for fairly easily preventable reasons. Maybe their mother was sick and could not afford medication and she died leaving behind 4 children with no other family to care for them and so they become orphans. Maybe she has no job and literally cannot put food on the table to feed her children and she knows that just down the street is an orphanage where she can take her kids. She knows that if she leaves them there they will be well-fed and clothed and even have an opportunity at an education. And so she gives them over to the orphanage with the hopes that they will have a better life. How sad and yet how preventable. I once had the opportunity to hear Jen Hatmaker speak. Jen and her husband have adopted children from Ethiopia and something she said that day struck me and I still remember to this day. She said, "It's not right that I get to raise your kids simply because you're too poor." When you shop fair trade you are providing sustainable income opportunities to those in vulnerable situations. They now have enough money to provide food for their children, healthcare, and education and they don't have to give their children up simply because they are too poor.
4. Orphan prevention. This was a new concept to me and something that I've just now began to learn about. As beautiful as I think adoption is....I also think it's beautiful if there's never an orphan in the first place. I think it's beautiful if families get to stay together and biological parents get to raise their children. Sometimes they just need a little bit of support along the way for this to happen. Once again, there are many groups out there, but one that is special to me is called Help One Now. I sponsor a little girl in a very poor community in Ethiopia through them and would love it if you joined me in sponsoring a child through this organization.
5. Supporting friends who have adopted or are fostering. Maybe you are not the one adopting or fostering but you have friends who are. Be there for them. Love them. Support them. Pray for them!! Bring them dinner when the child is first placed with them just like you would when your friend brings their new baby home from the hospital. Help them with fundraising. Throw a baby shower. Give their family space and be understanding as they are bonding. Recognize that adoption and fostering are hard and present different parenting issues and situations than you have dealt with before.
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