We're Off.......to the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit

Tomorrow morning Brooke & I leave for Minneapolis to attend the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit VI. We feel privilaged to be able to attend again for the second year. Please pray for safe travel and that God would renew and inspire our passion to serve orphans and vulnerable children.


As we attend the conference, we’d like to ask you consider joining us in praying daily for the Summit over the next week. Aside from praying for what God will do in our hearts and our ministry, here are a few prayer requests from the planning team at Christian Alliance for Orphans.

Pray....

· That the myriad of preparation details would come together even better than we could hope.

· That God’s protection and grace would surround each individual involved, both as they ready for Summit and throughout their time at the conference: from the keynote speakers, presenters, and volunteers to each attendee.

· That God’s great love would become deeply real in the lives of countless orphans, and the Church, as a result of seeds sown at the conference—growing for years and even decades to come.

For more information about Summit VI and the Christian Alliance for Orphans, visit www.christianalliancefororphans.org. We look forward to sharing our new discoveries with you!

Christianity Today Weighs in on International Adoption and the Orphan Crisis

April’s edition of Christian Today contains an important editorial on international adoption and the biblical call to care for the fatherless. Significantly, the editorial holds together two elements that are sometimes falsely presented as being at odds with each other: support of in-country orphan care efforts, alongside strong affirmation of inter-country adoption for children that otherwise would grow up on the streets or in institutions. To read the article, click the following link. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/april/13.55.html

The article pulls no punches in condemning unnecessary barriers to adoption:

The political and cultural barriers [erected by governments to make adoptions very difficult] stem from warped ideas about what is in a poor child’s best interest. It isn’t in the best interest of abandoned children to grow up destitute and barely literate, regardless of the imagined cultural benefit of remaining in their home country. Haiti itself is a vivid example of injustice. The government tolerates a modern form of child slavery by allowing 225,000 children ages 6-14 to work as restavecs (unpaid, indentured domestics). Adoption, domestic or inter-country, should not be looked down upon as inferior at best or as a last resort.

If the article were to be extended, two small additions would be helpful. First, given the natural inclination many people have towards seeing orphanages as the solution for kids that can’t be adopted, it’d be helpful to make clear that orphanages should be viewed most of the time as temporary, last-resort solutions. Children need consistent, personal love and nurture that rarely can be provided in an institutions. Solutions that are as close to a home environment as possible, ideally via adoption, are most often far preferable to an orphanage.

Second, given the confusion over orphan statistics, it’d be helpful to clarify that current estimates of the number of orphans in the world (whether the numbers the U.N. provides or the 210 million referenced by the article) include children that have lost only one parent. Thus, the vast majority of these orphans—while often facing great difficulties and in need of help—are not in need of adoption. Adoption, both in-country and inter-country, is vitally important in situations where children have no parent or relatives that can care for them. But that portion of the overall orphan statistics is relatively small. (For a fuller discussion of this topic, see here.)

Coming from a voice with the gravitas of Christianity Today, this article represents a very important affirmation of the Biblical call to “care for orphans in their distress”—via adoption as well as other means.

Source: Christian Alliance for Orphans Blog

Kay Warren Questions Christianity of Persons who Neglect Orphans

By Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter


Don't call yourself a believer if you're not caring for orphans, said Kay Warren. "If we are doing little to nothing, how dare we, how dare we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ," she said Friday. "Followers of Jesus Christ care about widows and orphans and they understand that it is a litmus test.

"It is not an option."

The weighty words were delivered to thousands of church and ministry leaders on the final day of Catalyst West, a three-day conference designed to challenge leaders to be change agents in the culture.

Stripping the leaders gathered in Orange County, Calif., of their excuses, Warren said caring for orphans is not just for infertile couples or middle-aged folks who have a little discretionary money and time.

"It has nothing to do with personality, it has nothing to do with spiritual gifts, it has nothing to do with economic status, it has nothing to do with your season in life," she stressed. "It has to do with accepting the responsibility that God will one day hold us accountable."

And it's not just a matter of personal responsibility either, she indicated.

There is a theological reason all Christians are to do something to help vulnerable children.

Warren highlighted: "What our Heavenly Father does for us spiritually, He expects us to do physically."

What God did was not only save sinners but also bring them into His family.

"You and I were all spiritual orphans," she said. "We're not just cleared of the guilt of our sin. We belong in God's family. He has taken us and made us part of Himself.

"Now He shares with me everything that He has. Everything that belonged to Jesus belongs to us."

While Christians have a spiritual home, there are 143 million children around the world who don't even have a physical home.

Yet many believers likely are unable to name the names of five orphans, Warren noted.

"This is sinful," she asserted. "This is shameful. This is reprehensible."

Warren drilled into the thousands of Christians gathered that caring for orphans is not just one of many things they should be doing.

"When you understand the theology of it, you will not be able to push it away; you will not be able to put it on the backburner," she said. "You need to understand that adoption represents the heart of what Jesus Christ has done for ... us."

The orphan advocate clarified that the Bible isn't necessarily calling every person to adopt a child. She and her husband, renowned pastor Rick Warren, have not adopted, she noted.

But, she added, the Bible does say Christians have a personal responsibility to do something, whether it's contributing to the fund of a family trying to adopt, providing house cleaning for a family that adopted, or getting involved with church sponsorship of children.

At the same time, it's not enough to simply send some money or place children in orphanages.

"God is a relational God," she said. "And orphanage is an institutional solution."

"What's the best?" she posed. "For children to be in homes with their own families."

Warren challenged every Christian family to ask themselves: "God, do you want our family to adopt?"

In the United States, if one family out of every four churches adopted a child, there would be no orphans in the country, she highlighted.

"You guys, that's doable."

New Insight & Gifts Video from Empowered to Connect

Please click on the link below to hear Dr. Karen Purvis (TCU Institute of Child Development)and Michael Monroe (Tapestry Ministry) talk about the need to help bring healing to adoptive and foster children, and how a new resource tool TCU has developed can help.


http://vimeo.com/6860006



As more and more people answer the call to adopt, it is important that we understand that the children that God will bring into our lives through adoption and foster care will likely have deep hurts and needs. Therefore, an important part of our call is to be prepared to be used by God to help these children heal and become whole. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest joys and privileges of adoption – but we know it will not be easy.

The resources and tools offered by Empowered To Connect are designed to help those whom God is calling and has called to answer that call well – to know what to expect, to be ready and prepared and, ultimately, to help bring long-term healing to their child. It is precisely this kind of 'love in action' that we believe reflects what it means to be called by God to adopt.

With this in mind, Empowered To Connect is excited to announce the Insights & Gifts Video Series. This new 16 video series (developed in partnership with the TCU Institute of Child Development ) offers seven insights and seven gifts that are highly relevant for those who are parenting or considering adopting or fostering children from hard places. Empowered To Connect is also developing a discussion guide for this video series, which will be available in May 2010.

We hope that you will watch this new series and be blessed by the insights and gifts Dr. Purvis offers.

For more information visit www.empoweredtoconnect.org.

Cycling for Safe Families

Cycling for Safe Families is a fund-raising event to increase awareness and to assist children & families in crisis


LOCATION:
old Evangelical Lutheran Church
(across from the fire station)
6621 Main Street
Union, Illinois, 60180

***********************

(14 miles west of Crystal Lake)
(22 miles east of Rockford)
(23 miles northwest of Elgin)
(30 miles northeast of DeKalb)
(42 miles west of Chicago/O’Hare)

REGISTRATION: 8-9/am
Waiver & Safety Pledge signed

START/FINISH TIMES: 9am—3pm

REGISTRATION FEES (online):
$20/Adult (18 & up)
$15/Youth (8-17)
$60/Family Rate (4 or more adults/youth)

LATE REGISTRATION FEES:
AFTER MAY 8TH (online & event day): $25/Adult $20/Youth
$75/Family Rate (4 or more adults/youth)
POST-RIDE PASTA MEAL: 11am-3pm
$5/Adult or Youth (pay on day of ride)

FUND-RAISING EXPECTATIONS:
Adults: $100 minimum
Youth: $50 minimum
(Online or by mail before May 22nd)

THE RIDE…
Various Route Distances for the Novice & Seasoned Cyclist:
5km (3.2mi); 10km (6.4mi);
25km (16mi); 50km (32mi);
75km (48mi); 100km (64mi)

For registration information about CYCLING for SAFE FAMILIES Visit our website: www.safewww.safe--families.org/CfSF

You can also contact Robb at rrennix@lydiahome.org for any questions and ride information or call 815-978-8151.

The Lending Closet

The Lending Closet has been formed to serve Safe Families and Foster Families in the northwest and western Chicagoland areas.

The "closet" is located at Calvary Community Church, 1000 N. Springingsguth Road, in Schaumburg, IL.

If you are a Safe Family or DCFS foster family and are in need of clothing or other articles, or if you would like to donate items, please contact Lisa Phalen at 847-466-2660.

Current Needs:

Pack-and-Plays
Crib sheets
Clothing for boys (all sizes)
Strollers
Bouncy seats
Diapers
Gift cards: Jewel/Dominick's (for formula), Target, Wal-Mart, etc.

Thanks to all the volunteers who have worked so hard to establish the Lending Closet and serve our Safe & Foster families!

Advocacy Opportunity for Russian Adoptions

As the adoption community reels from the unfortunate incident that happened earlier this week, where a precious adopted boy from Russia was send back to his homeland, much has been discussed within the adoption community since this story broke. Some adoptive parents, who don't condone the adoptive mother's choices, still sympathize & empathize with her situation because they have been living with a similar situation. Others have demonized the mother for her actions, with no grace or empathy whatsoever. Wherever you may fall on the spectrum, there is something you can do to make sure that this incident does not sentence thousands of children in Russian orphanages to a life without a chance for adoption. I invite you to join the efforts that the Joint Council on International Children's Services has put forth as a response to this incident. Please read the options they have proposed and take a minute to be a voice for His children.

We Are The Truth: A Campaign and Call to Action


You, the adoption community know the truth. You live the truth. You are the truth.

Join our campaign to bring the truth to light and help children in need find a permanent and safe family.


What You Can Do

1) Sign the letter to President Medvedev and President Obama: The letter asks both Presidents to ensure that intercountry adoption continues uninterrupted and to aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone involved in the abuse of children. To sign the letter, click the following link.
http://www.gopetition.com/online/35485.html

2) We Are The Truth – an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn’t matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth! (I will post your story on our AV4HC blog. Just send it to avoiceforhischildren@gmail.com)


3) Tell Your Truth with Video - make sure the world sees, hears and feels the thousands of successful adoptions from Russia by:

Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption video via email to alexa.m@jcics.org. Video should be a maximum of 3 minutes. A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your video. For a copy of the release, go to http://www.jointcouncil.org/. Joint Council will translate the video into Russian and post it on our YouTube Channel.

4) Tell Your Truth with Words and Photos
Send Joint Council your successful Russian adoption story via email to alexa.m@jcics.org. Send us your stories through:


Photos (please do not send more than 10)
Essays (maximum 500 words)
A release must be sent to Joint Council or we cannot accept your story and/or pictures. For a copy of the release, go to http://www.jointcouncil.org/. Joint Council will then compile the stories and pictures, translate them into Russian and post them on our website and/or blog.

5) Share Your Truth
Joint Council will post, forward and share your stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Joint Council will be updating our YouTube Channel and Facebook page as the stories get compiled and translated, please subscribe to us on YouTube, Twitter and Fan us on Facebook.
You do the same by posting on your Facebook, Twitter, blog and website!

National Foster Care Prayer Vigil

Some Kids in Foster Care Feel Like They Don't Have a Prayer.........Let's Change That!



A Voice 4 His Children and the Compassion & Justice Prayer Team at Willow Creek Community Church invite you to spend a powerful evening, participating in a National movement to pray for Children in Foster Care.

We will be sharing stories and praying for foster kids and families, Safe Families, foster care professionals and the Church. In addition, you will have the opportunity to view the Heart Gallery of Illinois and pray for these adoptable kids by name.

Date: Sunday, May 16th, 2010

Time: 4:30 pizza dinner, 5:30 - 7:00 prayer vigil

Place: Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, So. Barrington, IL 60010, room b100 (under the Chapel)

Child care is provided for those who r.s.v.p. with the number of children and their ages to avoiceforhischildren@gmail.com or call Cecilia at 224-402-8046.

For more information or to let us know you plan to attend, contact Dina at avoiceforhischildren@gmail.com or 630-213-3558.

http://avoiceforhischildren.blogspot.com/
http://www.fostercareprayervigil.org/

Royal Family Kids Camp of Lake & Cook Counties

Creating Hope and a week of "Positive Memories" for abused kids living in Foster Care

Mission: Through a one-week summer resident camp grounded in Christian values, to create hope and positive experiences/memories for abused, neglected, or abandoned kids living in foster care within our neighborhoods in Lake and Cook counties.

Background: Founded in 1985 by Wayne and Diane Tesch, RFKC, Inc. is a national 501(c)3 organization. Today, RFKC holds more than 165 camps in 40 states and 7 foreign countries and serves nearly 7,000 campers each summer. Each camp is a partnership between a church that provides the volunteers; the communities' social services agencies that provide the kids; local businesses, foundations, service clubs and friends that provide the funding; and RFKC that provides the critical training and proven format.

The Campers: The campers are boys and girls 7-11 years old that live in our communities. These children have been neglected, abused and separated from their siblings living in Foster Care or group homes. The children's only memories are of distrust, perpetual anger and low self-esteem. They are victims, longing to be accepted and loved, who would not normally have the opportunity for a camp experience.

Camp Dates: June 13-18, 2010

Camp Location: Lake Geneva Youth Camp, Lake Geneva, WI

Volunteer Opportunities: Counselors (RFKC will train you), nurses, social workers, activity & craft leaders, photographers, Grandpa & Grandma/Aunt & Uncle role models, and leaders in worship, drama & bible stories.

2010 Camp Week Needs List:

1. Foster Child Camp Scholarship
80 needed: $375 per child

2. Royal Family Kids’ Camp T-Shirts (to wear during camp)
80 needed: $6.95each / $563 total

3. White Royal Family Kids’ Camp T-Shirts (clean to wear home)
80 needed: $6.95 each / $563 total

4. Music CD’s with Camp Songs
80 needed: $5 each / $400 total

5. RFKC Children’s Living Bible
80 needed: $9 each/ $720 total
ALREADY PLEDGED!

6. Memory Book/ King Photo Album
80 needed: $3 each / $236 total

7. Royal Court Duffel Bag with RFKC Logo (Take-Home Memory Bag)
80 needed:$6.95 each/ $563 total

8. Camper Activity Books - 2009 Curriculum “Royal Court” (Esther / Daniel)

80 needed: $1.80 each / $144 total

9. CD Players for Take-Home Memory Bag; Batteries
80 needed: $15 each/ $1200 total

10. Everyone’s’ Birthday Boxes

80 Needed: $15 each/ $1200 total
ALREADY PLEDGED !

11. “Everyone’s’ Birthday” Sheet Cake & cupcakes for campers

1 cake & 80 cupcakes needed: $185 total

12. Clear Large Storage Bins, 26 gallon
7 needed: $12 each / $84 total

13. 40 Stuffed Animals for girl campers (already have knitted hedgehogs for boys)

40 needed $10 each/ $400 total

14. Craft / Woodworking supplies

80 needed: $20 each / $1600 total

For more information on volunteering or gifting, Please contact Bart Francour, Volunteer Director, at 847-382-0884 or Tim Vandenbos at 224-512-1940

Mom's Monthly Coffee Gathering

You are invited to join us for a monthly coffee to connect with other Safe Families and DCFS Foster Moms and become apart of a support network for the Northwest Suburbs.

This network hopes to provide assistance with clothing, supplies, babysitting, respite care, emotional support, and all aspects of being a Safe Family or DCFS Foster Family. Even if you are unable to host children in your home but would like to become involved in supporting these families, we would love to have you join us.



When: Tuesday, April 13th, 9:30 a.m.

Where: The home of Julie Wilson

13 Somerset Hills Ct.

Hawthorn Woods, Il

847-847-1230

RSVP: Terri Hooker at thooker@americandooranddock.com


Children are welcome to attend. Coffee, tea, and pastries will be served.

Benefit Concert for Lydia House Residents

A special concert featuring Columbia recording artist Isaac Russell will help send children who are healing from abuse and neglect to camp in 2010. And you're invited! The event will be held on Saturday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at The Catalyst Ranch in Chicago.

The concert is sponsored by projectMUSIC, an initiative launched last year by volunteers Dan and Kim Michelson. Last year's concert helped pay for two sessions of camp, and we're hoping to do it again. Camp takes place at Covenant Harbor in Wisconsin, and provides a unique opportunity for these kids (who live at LYDIA's Residential Treatment Center) to leave their familiar surroundings, experience new challenges and have fun. The concert also is an opportunity to introduce you to an exciting new performing artist in the intimate, eclectic setting of The Catalyst Ranch.

Some important notes:

* 150 tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis
* Tickets are $150 each
* Thanks to the generosity of individual donors and The Catalyst Ranch, 100% of ticket revenue will go toward the cost of sending a child to camp

To attend the event or contribute to projectMUSIC, please click on the following link. http://www.lydiahome.org/Donate.aspx?site_id=10086. Be sure to select "projectMUSIC" under the fund menu.

Orphans and Adoption in the Islamic Context

Al-Masyr Al-Youm (an Egyptian news site) recently carried a fascinating article on the unique challenges facing orphans born in a Muslim nation. While highlighting “Orphanage Day” (April 1)—created to remind Egyptians of the orphans in their midst—the article explains that none of Egypt’s estimated 50,000 orphans can expect the permanency of adoption. The best an Egyptian orphan can hope for is a temporary family, in an arrangement that the child, the family and the broader community all understand will typically not last beyond puberty. As the article describes, “Even when an orphan is lucky enough to be taken in by a loving family or orphanage, however, the time will come when he or she must inevitably face the world alone.”

The article explains:

In Islam, the concept of child adoption does not exist. Islamic Law does not permit an orphan to take the family name of a non-biological parent. “They should be named after their fathers,” said Al-Azhar University scholar Abdel Mouti Bayoumi.

Foster parents can support the child financially and raise him or her in their home, but, in Egypt, there is nothing called adoption, which is forbidden by both civil and Islamic law–so fostering remains the only option.

Because Islam sets stringent rules governing relationships between males and females, foster parents may not keep an orphan in their home beyond puberty. “Religious rules are such that the mother of an adopted boy or the father of an adopted girl must ask the child to leave the house when they reach puberty,” Sheikh Gamal Qutb, former head of Al-Azhar University’s fatwa committee, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The article notes that, under Islamic law, some foster families are able to keep children beyond puberty if the foster mother was able to nurse the child before it reached the age of two. Even in such circumstances, however, the child can never become a true member of the family.

“It is a world that considers him of a lower category,” said Iman Shalaby, chairperson of an orphanage in Maadi. “This world lacks a system that eases their integration into society. As a result, the adjustment to life outside isn’t always smooth.”

…For example, when a boy grows up and wants to get married, the family of the bride will inevitably inquire about his parents and family, and the fact that he is an orphan–lacking a known lineage–could end up being a deal breaker. As a result, orphans often marry each other, Shalaby told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

“Orphans in this society require shelter, respect and secrecy of their origin,” she said.

Click here to read the full article…

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/orphanage-day-puts-adoption-spotlight

(Source: Christian Alliance for Orphans)

Big Trend Changes in Adoption from China

In this photo made March 13, 2010, Bethany and Kevin Durkin hold their daughters Olivia, 7, left, and Lucy, 5, in their in Katonah, N.Y. home. The Durkin's are part of a growing number of parents who have adopted special-needs children from China. Olivia had a weak, underused right arm when she was adopted in 2004, while Lucy had a cleft palate that was repaired through surgery soon after her adoption in November 2007.

A significant AP article (http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/27/1840033/most-adoptions-from-china-now.html) describes well both the big picture and the personal reality of the dramatic changes seen in adoptions coming from China over recent years. Just a few years ago, most adoptions from China were of healthy, infant girls; and the wait time was often between 1-2 years or less. Today, wait times have skyrocketed to 3-4 years or more. Equally significant, an increasing percentage of adoptions from China are of children with special needs—from repairable heart defects and cleft palates to much more serious issues.

Some of the factors behind these changes are positive, including apparent increases in domestic adoption rates and a relaxing of China’s infamous “one child” policy, which prompted many boy-seeking parents to abandon newborn girls. Such developments can be celebrated. But it is also believed that the Chinese government may be intentionally increasing wait times and limited adoptions of non-special needs children, in part to diminish the impression that China has an “orphan crisis.” To the extent that such policies essentially relegate healthy children to life in an institution, they are tragic. Even so, there’s every reason to rejoice that many American families are rising to this new challenge. Adopting a child with special needs should never be done lightly or without serious deliberation. But for families prepared to do so, such adoptions mirror God’s love like almost nothing else in the world.

(Source: Christian Alliance for Orphans)