Whole Life Instead of Pro-Life?

On this final day of "Right to Life" month, this is a wonderful article that fuses the pro-life and adoption issues.



January 28, 2011
by Marc Andreas

More than 50 million abortions have occurred in the US since Roe vs. Wade was decided, 38 years ago, on January 22, 1973. Recent data show that while abortion rates in the US had declined in previous years, they leveled off in 2008 and remain at a horrific level of over 1 million annually. According to international estimates, as many as 50 million babies are aborted worldwide each year.

While the highly charged legalized abortion debate rages on, more and more Christians are taking compassionate action, following what Pastor Rick Warren has called being “Whole Life rather than Pro-Life.” This means caring for the entire life of a child from conception to the end of life rather than focusing only on the lives of unborn children. In a broken world that includes millions of unplanned pregnancies among single women each year, Christian families are called to care for these women and their unborn children.

Across the US, there are more than 2,500 pregnancy resource centers and adoption agencies that offer compassionate, confidential, free counseling and assistance for those facing unplanned pregnancies. These centers and agencies utilize tens of thousands of volunteers each year who counsel women and men struggling with what to do in one of life’s most challenging circumstances. These volunteers include doctors, lawyers, accountants, businessmen, pastor’s wives, and many more who offer their professional services and personal support. There are local boards in every community that need leaders, volunteers and donations to support this Whole Life care for women and children in need.

The Center for Public Justice Guideline on Human Life reflects this thinking when it states, “Opposing abortion and trying to outlaw it are not sufficient ways to achieve the goal of protecting the unborn and supporting life. Protecting life and the life-generating process from before pregnancy (healthy marriage) through birth and human maturation must be the underlying aim of public policies.”

Another important part of being Whole Life is caring for the more than 163 million orphans around the world. God designed children to be raised in loving families. While international adoption can be a wonderful solution for some children, like the two beautiful Haitian daughters in my own family, there are now a growing number of churches and Christian families in countries like China, Ethiopia, Romania and Haiti who are taking in orphans from within their own countries. Churches in the US can now partner with churches in the developing world to provide resources to enable children to be raised by Christian families in their own countries.

In the US, there are still over 114,000 children in the foster care system waiting to be adopted. In most states, these children can be adopted at no financial cost. These waiting children are in all 50 states with dozens or more of them likely in your local county. Recently, author and pastor David Platt, along with his church in Birmingham, Alabama, approached their local county Department of Human Services staff and found 140 children in foster care waiting to be adopted. Their large church was able to raise up 150 families along with the support of their church body to give each and every child a family! Rather than letting children in their own backyard grow up without a permanent mom and dad, this church lived out their Whole Life faith and will impact their community for generations to come.

While it is important to be politically active in the abortion debate, I encourage you to contact your local pregnancy resource center or adoption agency to see how you can be a part of being Whole Life instead of only Pro-Life.

—Marc Andreas is Vice-President of Marketing and Communications at Bethany Christian Services.

To respond to the author of this Commentary: capcomm@cpjustice.org

DCFS Licensing Training Opportunity

Are you interested in investing in the life of a child by becoming licensed to be a DCFS foster parent?

The DCFS Pre-Service training program Foster/Adopt PRIDE will be offered at Alpine Chapel in Lake Zurich IL. The sessions will start on 3/10/11 and will run consecutive Thursday evenings from 6:30p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The 27 hours of training is based on a co-trainer model of a foster parent and agency social work staff member. If you are interested in registering for this class, you must have an agency refer you for the training.

Joyce Moffit, a member of our leadership team, licensing worker from the Evangelical Child and Family Agency and a DCFS master trainer, will be one of the trainers for this session. Foster families who have successfully completed this training program will be well prepared to meet the needs of the foster children in their care.

For more information, please call Joyce Moffit at ECFA at #630-653-6400, ext. #313. Further training opportunities can be viewed at the DCFS web site, http://www.state.il.us/DCFS/library/com_communications_train.shtml.

Evangelical Child & Family Agency (ECFA) Fundraiser

Please join ECFA for their annual "Have a Heart for Life" Bowl Classic. Individuals, families, friends, small groups, etc., are forming teams of about 5 individuals (submitting a fun name for their team, too) and raising funds for the ministries of ECFA.

ECFA is a social service agency in Wheaton, IL, that specializes in Adoption, Pregnancy Support Services, Foster Care, Intact Family Services (Both DCFS programs) and Safe Families for DuPage County.


Saturday, February 12, 2011
11:15 AM to 2:00 PM CST

Fox Bowl
1101 E. Butterfield Road
Wheaton, IL 60189

The fee for an individual is $15 plus a guarantee of an additional $35 dollars in pledges. Families pay a $45 fee, plus an additional guarantee of $105 dollars in pledges. Of course, you can raise as much over those suggested amounts as your imagination allows.

Schedule of Events:

Arrival time: 11:00am
Be sure and get your homebaked heart shaped cookie!

Pizza Lunch: 11:15am

Bowl: Noon

To register simply click here: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=sml9b6dab&oeidk=a07e38nb8cr382dbd5e

For questions or more information, contact Kyle Homburg at 630-653-6400 x 211 or
kyleh@evancfa.org or visit ECFA's web site at http://www.evancfa.org/.

Below is a very moving and compelling video that I strongly encourage you to watch. With tears in my eyes, I was reminded why we're doing what we're doing to raise the banner of caring for orphans through adoption, foster care and orphan care. We must not grow weary of doing good, for we will reap a harvest if we don't give up. (Before viewing the video, remember to mute the blog music at the bottom of the page.)

Adoption Learning Partners offers Webinar

Adoption Learning Partners Presents...
Connecting Your Family Inside and Out:

Helpful advice on how to develop a stronger connection with your child.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 7:00-8:00PM Central Time
Question and Answer Session: 8:00-8:30 PM Central Time
Cost: $15

Secure parent-child attachments are essential to healthy child development, but often adoption can present challenges to the process. Join world renowned attachment expert Dr. Dan Hughes as he shares family centered strategies on how parents can connect to their child as a toddler, tween and teen. Dr. Hughes will be joined by Lynn Wetterberg, Executive Director of ATTACh. Lynn will discuss finding attachment related resources and provide information on finding adoption competent professional support.

*Advice on connecting with your child throughout their development
*Expert insights into attachment and attunement
*Information on finding professional support and resources
*Question and Answer session

Registrants will be contacted and asked to submit questions prior to the event. We will address as many questions as time will allow.

Speakers:

Dr. Dan Hughes, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of children who have experienced attachment disorganization, abuse, neglect and childhood trauma. Dr. Hughes developed Attachment-Focused Family Therapy (AFFT), a treatment model used frequently in attachment therapy. He is the author of Facilitating Developmental Attachment (1997), Building the Bonds of Attachment (2006) and Attachment-Focused Family Therapy (2007).


Lynn Wetterberg, M.S., C.P.A. is the Executive Director of the Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children (ATTACh), a national organization of clinicians, advocates and parents of attachment disordered children.

To learn about other webinars in the series or to register http://www.adoptionlearningpartners.org/webinars/connections-webinar.cfm?utm_source=JCICS&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jcicswebinar

Questions? Please drop us a line:
webinars@adoptionlearningpartners.org

Say Yes

Please mute the blog music before viewing the following video from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

Vote for Royal Family Kids Camp

Hello to my Royal Family Kids' Camp extended family!

My name is Ashley Crompton and my parents and I (Terri and Terry Crompton) have taken over an RFKC here in Southern IL. To help fund our camp we have applied for a pepsi refresh grant and we are only 10 places away from making it into the top 10 and receiving a $25,000 grant that would fund our 1st year of camp. In order to get us into the top 10 we are in need of people to vote for us. Please help us by passing on our voting information to other RFKC family, friends, and supporters so that together we can pull this off and have a successful 1st year of camp.

You can vote 3 ways each day until January 31st

visit www.refresheverything.com/rfkcil login in using your email and your facebook

text votes to phone number 73774 with message 104315

Please help us get the word out so that we can continue to reach out and create positive memories for our campers!

God Bless!

For His Kids,
Ashley Crompton
RFKC Director - Salem
www.ilrfkc.org
618-267-6745

Global Prayer Gathering

The International Justice Mission (IJM) invites you to join them at their Global Prayer Gathering, April 8-10, 2011 in the Washington, D.C., area. During this weekend of prayer, they will praise our Maker for all that he has done in the places where IJM serves, and they will ask for his continued help in bringing rescue and restoration to those who are still being oppressed.

Throughout the weekend, IJM staff from around the world will share about ways they have seen God show up in their casework this year, as well as the urgent challenges in their field offices and cities. We will meet several survivors, will spend time praying together as a global body and will be led in musical worship.

They would be delighted if you would join with them in celebration of God’s faithfulness and in prayer for God’s continued provision. Your prayers are absolutely vital to this work of justice.

For more information, please visit www.IJM.org/gpg. Last year’s GPG registration reached capacity quickly; the event developed a long wait list and, unfortunately, we were not able to accommodate everyone on it. To ensure you are able to attend, please secure your spot today.

10 Ways You and Your Church Can Be Involved in Adoption and Orphan Care in 2011

by David Wooten

“Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1:27

There are more than 163 million orphans in the world today. Even in the United States there are almost half a million orphans in the foster care system. Most of these have been abused, neglected or abandoned. These are the ones the Bible speaks of when it mentions the “fatherless.” The Scriptures are clear that the task of caring for these little ones belongs to His people. Christians can not only show the compassion of Christ in caring for orphans, but also display a picture of the gospel.

The question for any believer is not whether to be involved in the ministry of orphan care, but how. Below are ten suggestions to get you thinking about how you might participate in a ministry that can change the lives of children and families.

1. PRAY
Pray for orphans and children in foster care who will go to bed tonight wondering if there is any place they belong. Ask God to meet their needs and provide a forever family for them. Pray for prospective adoptive families who are waiting for children and children who are waiting for families. Seek how the Lord would have you be involved in the work of orphan care. Pray that your church would effectively engage in the global orphan crisis. Thank God for the work of His Spirit in calling out His children to visit orphans in their distress.

2. LEARN
There is much to learn about the needs, resources, and issues concerning adoption and orphan care. Study God’s Word to see what the Bible says about the fatherless. Learn about children in your local foster care system and what needs they have. Discover the plight of orphans in distant lands. Recognize your responsibility to care in practical ways for vulnerable orphaned children locally and globally.

3. WELCOME
God has opened His heart to the fatherless and wants us to open our hearts as well. Create a climate in your home among your family and cultivate a culture in your church that receives the little and the least. Give them a sense that they are welcomed, loved and that they belong.

4. ENCOURAGE
The life of a foster or adoptive family can have its challenges. Show appreciation for what they are doing in providing a loving family to these children. Your encouraging words may be just the thing they need to persevere through a difficult time. You can support these families by providing respite care to give them a night out, some time away, help running errands, or bring over meals. Be creative and have fun finding ways to be a wrap-around family supporting them in caring for orphans.

5. GIVE
The cost of private or international adoption and the price of ministering to the fatherless can be high. Your financial support can go a long way to help orphans as you give to ministries and organizations who serve the needs of these children. Many of these ministries depend on the faithful, sacrificial gifts of folks like you. Helping cover the high cost of adoption can help make adoption affordable and accessible for a family that otherwise might not be able to adopt.

6. GO
God commands us to “visit orphans in their affliction.” This word “visit” means “to show care and provision for.” You can do this by participating in a mission trip through your church to an orphanage showing compassion to these children and helping them to understand the special place they have in God’s heart. Become a regular visitor to a local orphanage or group home where children in foster care live.

7. VOLUNTEER
Give your time to an organization or family who cares for orphans or is involved in adoption. You might mentor or tutor a young person in foster care. You might volunteer at an adoption agency by helping with a special event, assisting in their fundraising efforts or using your talents in a way that benefits their ministry. You might help one of the 20,000 teens aging out of the foster care system this year by including them into your family’s activities. Become a Guardian ad Litem for a child giving a voice to the neglected and abused.

8. ADOPT OR FOSTER
While not everyone is called to foster or adopt, some are. Perhaps God is calling you to open your home to a child who needs a family. You may adopt from foster care or an orphan from overseas. Through adoption your family will display the gospel in a unique and dynamic way. Adopting a child from America’s foster care system carries little or no cost at all. Many would step up to adopt if they only knew that.

9. MOBILIZE
Launch a ministry in your church that will impact the global orphan crisis. With the permission and direction of your church’s leaders, you can be a catalyst that can meet the needs of children and families in your church, community and around the world. Your ministry might address foster care, adoption or orphans. Doubtless there are others in your congregation who will want to join you in reaching out through this ministry.

10. ADVOCATE
There are many ways in which the current foster care system needs to be revised to be more family friendly. You can be an advocate to speak out for the best interests of children who have been neglected, abused or abandoned. By learning what the current issues are, you will be better able to speak out on their behalf. Let your voice be heard when you can influence legislation or policy change that will benefit children and families and help improve the foster care system.

The Bible says that “true and undefiled religion in the eyes of God the Father is to care for orphans and widows in their distress” There is no clearer picture of the gospel that that of adoption. God took us when we were slaves to sin and brought us into His forever family to become His children. When you become involved in the ministry of adoption and orphan care, you are displaying the glorious gospel for the world to see. Regardless of how you are involved, by engaging in caring for orphans in their distress, you are practicing true and undefiled religion. Yours can be an investment that can impact many lives and will last a lifetime and beyond.

David Wooten is Director of Operations and Development at Embraced by Grace Inc. Adoption Agency

Parent Forum at University of Chicago

Project HOPEFUL in partnership with University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital Adoption Clinic are pleased to offer their first Parent Forum of 2011. These parent forums have been hugely successful educational tools for parents and extended family members who desire to learn more about HIV/AIDS and adoptive parenting.

Come join us February 12th from 10am-noon at the University of Chicago where attendees will benefit from expert medical knowledge regarding the latest in HIV/AIDS treatment and care, along with the opportunity to have specific questions answered by University of Chicago medical staff. Project HOPEFUL will offer real-life practical insights into adopting and raising children who are positive. This parent forum is designed to offer prospective adoptive families a realistic understanding of the joys and challenges of parenting a child or children living with HIV/AIDS.

Topics University of Chicago Adoption Team will Discuss:

Medical, developmental, and psychosocial aspects of adoption
Thriving with HIV in 2011
Topics Project HOPEFUL will discuss:

Day-to-day experiences
Medications and medical visits
Educating family and friends
Preparing for adoption
The session will also feature open Q&A time allowing attendees to question the panel along with several experienced adoptive parents.

To register for the forum simply click HERE http://projecthopeful.org/donate to use our Donate page. Fill out the form and add "Univ of Chi Forum" in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Please be sure to indicate the number of attendees in your party. Registration is only $10.00 per family.


Project HOPEFUL
PO Box 350
Plainfield, Illinois 60544
http://www.projecthopeful.org/