There are too many orphans in the world to have one solution. Adoption is a great solution for one child, (or even the 12,753 in 2009 adopted by US citizens, according to the US State Department). But what about the other 163 million? Or even the 5 million in Ethiopia? Americans adopted 2,277 Ethiopian children in 2009. Americans adopting Ethiopians is not the long-term solution to this crisis, but a band aid. Here is one idea on how to address the issue on a big scale. Read this great article on long-term foster care solutions for Ethiopian orphans by Johnny Carr from Bethany Christian Services that ran in the Washington Post:
Orphanages should not be viewed as acceptable long-term solutions for children. Man has made orphanages for children, but God made the family for children. How then do we place as many children in families as possible?
Bethany Christian Services has started bringing together churches in the United States with churches in Ethiopia into long term foster care projects. These are one-on-one relationships; essentially, the U.S. church provides the necessary financing for foster care and the Ethiopian partner inspires its members to help find families and develop loving, local communities. The two churches coordinate their efforts in a symbiotic fashion, working not only on adoption issues, but also any other missions projects that they wish.
To read more, click here.
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