Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit

TOP 10 REASONS TO LOVE CAFO2015! Inspiring Speakers From heartbreak to jubilation, you'll feel it all as you hear some of the world's most compelling speakers and stories! Affordable Two amazing days for far less than most any national conference. Join CAFO as a member, the price is even lower! Unforgettable Musicians Audio Adrenaline, Jars of Clay & other great artist lead worship, live lunchtime music and much more! CAFO2015 Intensives Want to dive extra deep in your marriage,foster care or orphan care research? Come a day early and get even more. Nuts & Bolts Workshops From connecting with an adopted child at home to global orphan care partnerships, CAFO2015 has 120+ workshops to guide wise action! Woah. oneBIGidea Hear what's on the minds of top thought leaders when they can't sleep at night: the cutting edge ideas and insights that carry huge potential to impact lives. 100+ Exhibitors &  Free Stuff Visit the exhibit booths and win free stuff: iPad, Kindle, books & more. That's right! Experience Join a live radio audience, screen new films, walk the journey of a foster youth, connect with a mentor and much more! Relationship & Connect This road isn't supposed to be walked alone. Find new friends and allies who will go the distance with you! The BIG one Rooting adoption, foster care and global initiatives deep in the heart of God: "We love because He first loved us!" Register Today! Hurry, registration prices increase next week! Forward to a Friend!  |  Connect With Us! Copyright © 2015 Christian Alliance for Orphans. All Rights Reserved.

Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit!!!

 

Adoption. Foster Care. Global Initiatives

The Christian Alliance for Orphans’ CAFO2015 Summit inspires and equips Christians to care for orphans with wisdom-guided love. The CAFO Summit has become the national hub for what Christianity Today called, “the burgeoning Christian orphan care movement.” Last year’s conference drew 2,600 foster and adoptive parents, orphan advocates, pastors and leaders from 35 countries. Together, we explore effective foster care, adoption, family preservation and global orphan ministry. READ MORE

New Book: The Global Orphan Crisis

I highly recommend a new book, The Global Orphan Crisis by Diane Lynn Elliot.  Diane's research, combined with her passion for children has created a must-read not only for orphan advocates but for every Christian.  Diane clearly and concisely provides reasons for the orphan crisis and follows it up with thoughtful and practical solutions. 


Diane Lynn Elliot is an author, photographer and business administrator. Her interest in the global orphan crisis started many years ago with a trip to a hospital for terminally ill children in Siberia, and later to an orphanage in Mexico. Seeing a small snapshot of the great need started her journey and fueled her passion for orphaned children. While writing The Global Orphan Crisis, Diane also traveled to Peru and Haiti, expanding her vision and passion for orphaned children. She has a BA in Communication from Trinity International University and an M.B.A. in Global Management from the University of Phoenix. Diane, her husband David, along with their Alaskan Klee Kai, Kody, live in Wauconda, Ill., and attend Willow Creek Community Church.

For more information about Diane or the global orphan crisis, please visit its website.

To listen to Diane on today's Chris Fabry Show click here:
http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_programtoday.aspx?id=18270

Child Sponsorship in Ethiopia

LifeSong for Orphans is excited to share with you the Lifesong Ethiopia Child Sponsorship program that has just launched!

For just $19/month, you can sponsor one of the kids at the Adami Tulu School and ensure that they get the incredible education, spiritual mentoring and food that they need to break the cycle of poverty. Many of these kids are already orphans; all are vulnerable children sitting on the razor’s edge of extreme poverty that can rip families apart and create orphans for life.

There are 189 children at the Adami Tulu School and thankfully as of today, 45 have already been sponsored!

You are invited to connect your heart with one of remaining 144 students...

Students like...

Abonesh - Age 5

Habtamu - Age 4

Abanezer - Age 4

Head over to the Adami Tulu website to see the 144 students who still need sponsorhip and

how YOU can join this exciting opportunity!

http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/

Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit Recap

If you were at the Summit, relive the richness and re-engage actions you intended to take. And if you missed it, catch a glimpse of what the excitement was all about. (And make plans for May 3-4, 2012 at Saddleback Church in southern California!)

(Be sure to mute the blog music at the bottom of the page before starting the video)

30,000 Orphans Sent back to Russian Orphanages

News outlets are carrying the troubling report that one of every three children adopted by Russian families from Russian orphanages in the past three years have been returned to state institutions. This means roughly 30,000 children were sent back to their orphanages.

This news comes on the heals of the recent uproar over the tragic story of the American woman who sent her adopted Russian son back to Russia.

The reports claims a key cause for the disturbing trend in Russia the fact that the Russian government has failed to maintain many of the payments it had promised to adoptive families. When the payments stopped, the report claims, many of the families decided to return the children.

This situation highlights an array of issues every Christian orphan advocate should keep in mind:

•Children growing up in institutions often carry deep wounds and profound needs. To choose to love such a child—via adoption, foster care or otherwise—can be a very challenging road. It is a discipleship journey, often full of joys, but also refining.

•If adoption and other forms of orphan care are taken on with the wrong motives, whether for financial gain or otherwise, trouble is likely ahead. If we are to “stick with it” through thick and thin, our choices must be rooted first and foremost in the love of the God who first loved us despite our destitution and profound need.

•To love an orphan along a long, difficult road to wholeness, it’s tremendously important to have a Christian community to walk the road with us. In addition, the guidance of true experts—from families that have experienced the challenges we face, to psychologists like Dr. Karyn Purvis—is also indispensable.

•As American Christians discover the truth of this prior point, it’s vital that we help grow that vision beyond the U.S. I believe that over time, the single most important thing American orphan advocates can do is to help local churches worldwide care for orphans near to them via adoption, foster care and other means.

•Potential problems in international adoption are equaled—and often far exceeded—by the realities orphans face daily in many countries. Most all of us felt angry about the American woman returning her adopted son to his Russian orphanage; but for anti-adoption advocates to claim the situation was an argument against international adoption was simply false.

This article is taken from the "Orphan Matchbox" blog of the "Christian Alliance for Orphans".