It's June, and in America, we honor fathers during the month of June. There's a reason we refer to the vulnerable children in the title of our book as fatherless. In most societies, developed or developing, mothers seem to bear the larger burden of child care. When mothers are unavailable, it's often grandmothers and aunts who step in to raise the...
Today is day eight of #AskBetterQuestions. In just a few days Amanda and I will be at CAFO2015. As we prepare for this gathering, we want to engage families, churches, leaders and influencers who are passionate about adoption and orphan care to stop and ask better questions. We would love for you to join in the conversation! While most Christians focus on...
It's the fifth day of #AskBetterQuestions. As we prepare for CAFO2015, we want to engage the families, churches, leaders and influencers in a conversation about adoption and orphan care. Today on the In Defense of the Fatherless blog, we have a guest post from Mary Hoyt. Mary adopted a child from DRC in 2011. Today she is a passionate advocate for alternative care...
The Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit 2015 starts on April 30, 2015. Amanda Bennett and I will be attending CAFO2015 along with a handful of other advocates who are passionate about starting a conversation with the leaders of the adoption and orphan care movement. Over the next ten days, we are launching #AskBetterQuestions. We want to engage the families, churches,...
Not everyone has a merry Christmas. This is an all too familiar story. A mother is poor and struggling to care for her children. She is approached by a woman who tells her that there’s a place her children can go for help. A place where they can get food, medical care, shelter, and maybe even school. She makes the heroic...
In Rwanda, we are surrounded by adoptive families (yay!) and ministries that support orphans here in Rwanda. Truly, one of the big reasons we wanted to come to Africa was to get a better picture of this orphan crisis we hear so much about in America. I never referred to this article when it came out, but our story was highlighted...
[caption id="attachment_881" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Our adopted daughter Gabrielle and her brother Zephaniah sharing a moment looking out at our garden.[/caption] What is the Biblical foundation for orphan care? Is it James 1:27, which calls orphan care "pure and faultless" religion? Is it the doctrine of adoption - that God has "predestined us for adoption" (Romans 8:15) and promised us a "glorious inheritance" (Ephesians 1:18)...
I just checked Facebook and Twitter after a day at work and wow - pretty much everyone who has a blog is writing about adoption ethics, the orphan crisis and what we as Christians can do to help without hurting. It is time for this conversation to happen! When I took a sabbatical from blogging for a few months this spring,...
"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation." -Psalm 68:5 I just checked Facebook and Twitter after a day at work and wow – pretty much everyone who has a blog is writing about adoption ethics, the orphan crisis and what we as Christians can do to help without hurting. It is time for this conversation...
[caption id="attachment_872" align="alignleft" width="400"] This is my adopted daughter Ella, now 2.5 years old.[/caption] I want to start by saying I am thankful for Jen Hatmaker, a Christian adoptive mom and writer. She's the author of one of the most thought-provoking books I have read this year, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. She has a huge platform - and something...
Do you feel the tide turning? When I began to speak boldly about corruption in international adoption a year ago, I faced a lot of opposition. The adoption and orphan care movement was growing quickly within the Christian community, as thousands of families and churches where embracing God's heart for orphans. At the same time, there was a lot of fear that talking about corruption in...
My friend Holly is one of the most fearless voices in the adoption blog world. Holly and her family lived and served in Democratic Republic of Congo for four years. During this time, they supported an orphanage in Eastern DRC called Tumaini - or "Reeds of Hope". While living in DRC, Holly adopted two children and began facilitating international adoptions...