April 28, 2007
Found this on a blog about adoption and thought I would share. I hope that each of us take a few minutes to pray for these orphans all over the world.
Make a difference Join the Movement
The story: At the age of 11, Emily Chapman came back from a trip to Haiti, and her heart was on fire to help the orphans and waiting children around the world. Emily already knew that God wanted her family to adopt, but her parents resisted. So she started praying. We believe miracles happen when you pray.
Now, years later, the Chapmans have adopted not 1 but 3 girls, and they have started an organization called Shaohannah's Hope (named after their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah Hope Chapman) that mobilizes individuals and communities to care for orphans. Shaohannah's Hope has helped over 1,000 orphans find a family, and many others have been impacted by their work. Miracles happen when you pray.
The movement: This movement began long before Shaohannah's Hope. It began long before any of us were born. This movement is rooted in the heart of God (
Ps 10:14) and began with God's infinite love for orphans. This movement will continue long after we are gone, because God loves orphans. This movement consists of broken hearts longing to experience the redemption that is found when we turn our attention off ourselves and love these waiting children.
The forgotten children of the world are some of the most valuable hidden treasures that exist. We seek to serve these orphaned, foster, and waiting children in the name of Christ, regardless of their gender, religion, race, or ethnicity, and we will begin on our knees. Will you join us?
Why Pray?
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." -Mark 14:32
143 million orphans and waiting children. Millions of children longing for the love of a family, for a place to belong, for somewhere to call home. There is so much to do, and yet we are calling people to start with prayer? Don't just do something, sit there!Why pray? I guess it's comes down to the classic answers: "Because the Bible tells us to", "What would Jesus do?" and "Why not?" When we've got a direct line to the omnipotent God of the universe, a God who promises to care and bend His ear to our plea, why wouldn't we start there? When Jesus establishes the primacy of prayer by rising early to pray before starting his ministry, or before going on to accomplish His work on the cross first taking the time to battle it out in prayer in the garden, why wouldn't we mimic his example? And when our gracious God expresses over and over in His Word, His guidebook, His love letter, that He longs for us to come before Him in prayer in all things and on all occasions, why wouldn't we oblige Him? As weak, fallible, and needy beings, we humbly take our proper position before our God. And as we kneel before Him, aware of the injustice around us, responding to the One who loved us first, we pray, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. May Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done, on earth, in the lives of these orphans, in your church, and in my life, as it is in Heaven."I believe it will not be until the end of this world that we will finally get to see the full extent of the power and transformation that is unleashed by that simple prayer.
What Now?
Pray.Spread the word."Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work."- Oswald Chambers
The Facts:
What is the need?
Over 143 million children have lost one or both parents. 1
At least 16.2 million children worldwide have lost both parents. 2
Every 14 seconds a child loses a parent due to AIDS. 3
Conflict has orphaned or separated 1 million children from their families in the 1990s. 4
Where are they?
43.4 million orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa, 87.6 million orphans live in Asia, and 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean. 5
1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe alone. 6
At any given point there are over 500,000 children in the U.S. Foster Care system. 7
In some countries, children are abandoned at alarming rates, due to poverty, restrictive population control policies, disabilities or perceived disabilities, and cultural traditions that value boys more than girls. 8
What about AIDS?
More than 14 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. 9
By 2010, the number of children orphaned by AIDS globally is expected to exceed 25 million. 10
AIDS is more likely than other cause of death to result in children losing both parents. 11
As the infection spreads, the number of children who have lost parents to AIDS is beginning to grow in other regions as well, including Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. 12
What happens to the children?
Children are profoundly affected as their parents fall sick and die, setting them on a long trail of painful experiences often characterized by: economic hardship, lack of love, attention and affection, withdrawal from school, psychological distress, loss of inheritance, increased physical and sexual abuse and risk of HIV infection, malnutrition and illness, stigma, discrimination, exploitation, trafficking, and isolation. 13
Orphaned children are much more likely than non-orphans to be working in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service and in the sex trade. 14
Unaccompanied boys are at high risk of forced or 'voluntary' participation in violence and armed conflict. 15
Orphanages, children's villages, or other group residential facilities generally fail to meet young people's emotional and psychological needs. 16
What about foster care?
On average, children stay in foster care for 30 months, or 2.5 years. 17
118,000 children were waiting to be adopted on September 30, 2004. 18
On average, those children waiting for adoption have been in foster care for 43.8 months, almost 4 years. 19
Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people "age out" of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Of those who aged out of foster care: 20 Outcome 21 Earned a high school diploma: 54% Obtained a Bachelor's degree or higher: 2% Were unemployed: 51% Had no health insurance: 30% Had been homeless: 25% 22 Were receiving public assistance: 30%
Is there any hope?
Yes. There is One who infinitely loves each orphan and calls His people to join Him in caring for the fatherless. Each one of us can Show Hope to an orphan.
If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would show hope to a single orphan, looking after the child in their distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. We can each do something.
