Church adoption/orphan ministry!

Although we are not yet an official ministry of our church we had our first major event! A few of us have been meeting to pray over the past several months. Then Aimee and I attended the Orphan Summit. On Sunday we had a pool party social event and invited those interested in being a part of an adoption/orphan ministy! We had a great turn-out and more importantly a lot of great conversation. As a ministry we desire tooperate in 3 channels. The first is adoption. We want to be a source of information and support for those who are interested in adopting. We also want to provide ongoing care and support for those in process and beyond. We are also hoping soon to start an adoption fund! We have been in conversation with the great folks at Abba Fund and are excited about what that can mean for future adoptive families. The second channel is orphan care. Not everyone at our church may be called to adopt, but we are all called to care for the orphan. We hope to connect our church to a village/church/orphan home, most likely in Africa, where we make multiple trips and have mutually beneficial cross-cultural relationships. The third channel is foster care. To start out, we are hoping to come alongside some foster parents in the area and help them meet some practical needs. Long-term we would love to see our church become a place that recruits, trains and supports foster parents.
Anyone else out there? I would love to hear about other churches doing adoption/orphan ministries!

May is Foster Care Month

I have not been able to stop thinking about all I learned about foster care at the Orphan Summit a few weeks ago! My parents fostered 2 teenage siblings that were friends of friends before I was born. Just as I have always wanted to adopt since I was a young girl I have always been interested in the idea of fostering children as well!
The images in the videos from 4 Kids of South Florida keep playing through my mind. I especially think about the moment that children are taken from their home. I can't even imagine all that a child goes through in those moments - extreme fear and confusion - maybe for some even relief? What I wonder most is if they think THEY did something wrong. How could they not? They are a young child and the police come and take them away in a car - they take them to the police department and take their fingerprints - isn't that what they do to criminals?
And the parents - I can't begin to think what it must be like to have your children taken from you. I see the mom in the video that is standing in the street - screaming after the police car for her children. I am also coming to realize that as much as I'd like to think that I would NEVER get myself to the point where my children had to be taken from me - there but for the grace of God go I! Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done and there are days when I feel "near the edge". Add in major financial stress, relational and emotional duress and it suddenly doesn't seem so hard to imagine!
I applaud those that work in this field - it is a labor of love. I am sure that they are overworked and underpaid and underappreciated! I admire those that have been willing to take these children into their homes and hearts and have helped them see that it is NOT their fault and that they are valuable and loved by God!
I am still praying about what my (and my family's) piece is in all of this. I am trying to research online and learn more about the system here in Michigan and how it works. And I am looking for a starting place, a place to connect and come alongside and support and assist.
At the Orphan Summit we learned about a National Foster Care Prayer Vigil that Family Life is promoting. It is May 19th - 25th. We are not going to formally host an event, but I am going to encourage those that I know to be a part of praying this next week. I would love by next year to get multiple churches involved and have it be a co-ordinated event! It will be intersting to see where we all are next May!