Davion’s plea for a family (and the 101,000 he represents)
Over the last few weeks, the story of Davion spread like wildfire across social media channels. Davion was a foster youth who had been waiting most of his life for an adoptive family. His desperation led him to visit a local church to plead for someone to adopt him. "I'll take anyone," Davion said. "Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don't care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be." [source] His story tugged at the nation’s heartstrings, and I saw scores of . . .
How the Christian orphan care movement may be enabling child abandonment
Last week I got to speak at Idea Camp about orphan care. I shared my concerns about the trend of churches opening orphanages in third world countries instead of working at keeping children together with their parents. I suggested that the solution to poverty orphans (children who are placed as a result of poverty instead of the death of a parent) should be to provide resources to the family, instead of requiring the child to move into an orphanage for assistance. I shared my belief that the . . .
Redefine Positive: Reforming HIV/AIDS Educational Resources in Public Schools
Today’s post is by my sister-in-law Jode Howerton. I am so proud of this initiative she is spear-heading to provide more appropriate education materials on HIV/AIDS, as a mama to a child who is HIV+. I hope you will read about her passion for improving HIV education.. Several years ago, when my oldest was in 5th grade, I previewed the HIV/AIDS video that our local public school uses to fulfill state educational mandates. The video was produced in the 1980’s (might have had an update in the . . .
Two streams of the same river
This is a guest post by Shelley Clay, originally published on the blog for The Apparent Project. I read it last week and it so clearly articulated the thoughts I’ve been having about the polarity of thinking regarding international adoption and orphan care. Shelley graciously let me post it here. For a little backstory, Shelley and her husband Corrigan live in Haiti, working with The Apparent Project.This non-profit seeks to assist mothers and fathers in poverty keep their children, by providing . . .
Six reasons the #FitchtheHomeless campaign is problematic
Today my facbeook and twitter feeds were bombarded with reposts of the clever come-back video by Greg Karber in response to Abercrombie & Fitch. In case you missed it, there has been a quite storm of rage brewing towards Abercombie' & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries for the fact that the store doesn’t carry sizes beyond Large (10) because he doesn’t want fat people wearing the brand. Jeffries has been quoted as saying: That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking . . .
Let’s not leave advocating for orphans to adoptive parents
There is a new documentary touring the country right now called STUCK. The film explores the many reasons that orphans in developing countries get stuck living in orphanages. Of course, ideally all children in impoverished countries would be able to grow up with their biological parents. But for some children, this is not an option, and a lifetime in an institution becomes a likely future for them. International adoption is a solution for children who have no other option. It seems . . .
a visit to krochet kids peru
While this trip was just a fun visit with friends, I was excited to get the chance to witness the work the Goodfellows are doing here in Peru with Krochet Kids. I’ve been a fan of Krochet Kids for a long time. We have some other friends who were involved in started the organization in Uganda, and when they decided to branch out into Peru, Blake and Sarah felt called to move their family here to get this business off the ground. Krochet Kids has a simple but genius model: impoverished women are . . .
from problem to solution: practical ideas for an ethical halloween
I’ve been wanting to do a follow-up post on the connection between child slavery and chocolate. In case you missed it, the low-down is here . . . but in a nutshell a BBC documentary revealed that child labor and even child trafficking is rampant in chocolate production, and that chocolate from most mainstream candy companies can be traced back to farms employing (and even buying) children to work in dangerous conditions. For our family, the response to learning this has been . . .
the inconvenient truth about your halloween chocolate and forced child labor
Last year I wrote a ridiculous post about deciding on a new place to buy my coffee . . . a place where the prices were really low because the store relied on children to work for little money. My intention was to point out how selfish it sounds for someone to willingly turn a blind eye to social injustices just because we want to pay less for something we like, and how shallow our justifications sound. I used coffee as an example because it’s one of those indulgences that people . . .
kids raising kids: the reality of child-headed households in africa
On my trip to Ethiopia with Food for the Hungry, I knew that a portion of our time would be spent visiting the homes of sponsored children, so that we could see the way child sponsorship was transforming their lives. When I saw the schedule for our time in the village of Zeway, there was one description that gave me a catch in my throat upon reading: Child-Headed Household. I've heard this term before, and understood that it refers to a house in which there are no parents. As an adoptive . . .
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