National Adoption Month

"Defend the cause of the fatherless..." Isaiah 1:17

Did you know that November is National Adoption Month? Can you believe a whole month is set aside to promote adoption awareness!? It's true! Sadly, I knew nothing about this until we began our adoption journey.( I really need to push our church to at least make our congregation more aware of it).


Orphan Sunday 2011 from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo
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Some shocking statistics on domestic children in need of adoption:

• there are more than 114,000 children in the U.S. foster care system that are available for adoption
•  each year, more children enter the system than are adopted. 
•  the typical child who has been freed for adoption is at least 8 years old, moves three or more times in foster care, may have been separated from siblings, and will wait five years or more to be adopted. 
•  tragically, tens of thousands will never be adopted and will leave the system at age 18 without families.

** from: PR Web

Some shocking statistics on international children in need of adoption:

• it is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.)
• the current population of the United States is just a little over 300 million… to give you an idea of the enormity of the numbers… (The current population of Russia is 141 million)
• every day 5,760 more children become orphans
• 2,102,400 more children become orphans every year in Africa alone 
• every 15 seconds, another child in Africa becomes an AIDS orphan
• there are an estimated 14 million AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa (a number higher than the total of every under-eighteen year old in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland combined)
• this figure was estimated to reach 18 million orphans in Africa alone by 2010
• 8 out of 10 children orphaned by AIDS lives in sub-saharan Africa
• approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but… 
• each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age sixteen
• each day 38,493 orphans age out
• every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home
• in Russia and the Ukraine, studies have shown that 10% – 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach age eighteen
• these studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals 
• another Russian study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless, and 3,000 were in prison within three years…

** from: Skyward Journey (Please note these stats are a little outdated as I used them from another blogger's post circa 2008, but you get the idea).

Here are some great links for you if you are even remotely thinking about adoption!

To learn more about adoption, here's a  couple of great sites to get you started: Waiting to Belong by Focus on the Family, and The Dave Thomas Foundation.

To those of you who are thinking about adopting, but are afraid to start, or don't know where to take their first steps,  I recommend perusing the same websites as above the Waiting to Belong website or The Dave Thomas Foundation  and in Canada, the Canada Adopts website.

For my Canadian readers. Here's a great resource to help you find your way around the adoption world. It's a website called Adoption Magazine  designed by my blogging friend and fellow adoptive Canadian mom, Sharla. Everything that goes on this site is current to the needs of families who have adopted or are thinking about adoption and is Canadian.

My friend Shana at Journey to Zake also has some great links to adoption resources, so go check out her blog, and here's a great post from my friend Wendy at Born in Our Hearts.

There are many reasons to adopt. Adoption is not for the faint of heart, but when you're called, you will be equipped for the call! It doesn't mean you won't mess up, or that things will be perfect, but there is a contentment in being obedient to that calling.

For those of you who don't feel called to adopt or can not adopt, you can still help!

1} First and foremost, you can pray!! Pray for those who are feeling that call, need, desire to adopt. Pray for those who are in the trenches, waiting (patiently, or not so patiently :oS) for the much anticipated call that they have been matched with a child. Pray for those who feel God tugging at their hearts, but can't make/take the step because they do not have the finances. Pray for those who have adopted. It's not an easy journey, but so worth it. Pray for those many many children in need of loving families.

2} You can help financially. Some families host fundraisers to help bring their children home. Who are we to judge the fact that they need to raise funds to grow their family? After all, they are helping give a child a better life. Really, any gift is appreciated because it shows you support what they are doing.

3} Sponsor a child. There are lots of orphanages that have sponsorship programs. The following are links to just a few:  Children's Shelter of Cebu Philippines, God's Littlest Angels Haiti, Hearth to Hearth Ministries Africa, SOS Children's Villages Canadian Sponsorship, American Sponsorship.

4} Help those who have adopted. An adopted child will have questions for the rest of their life. Parenting these children is not always easy. Just letting parents of adopted children know that you are praying for them and their child(ren) is a burden lifted. You can also offer to babysit so the parents can have an evening out. Drop by some cookies, or a casserole if they're just newly home or if you know they're going through a time of struggle. Be creative! Even just a listening ear sometimes is very helpful.

5} Get your church involved! The easiest way is to go to Orphan Sunday to get started.

"In the United States, if one family out of every four churches adopted a child, there would be no orphans in the country" - Kay Warren (I'm sure the same would apply for Canada).

One thing is for sure. You will never have a dull moment again! :o)