When COVID-19 unexpectedly invaded our world, life changed very quickly. Lockdowns were put into place across most of the United States. The purpose of this piece is not to dissect decisions made by our leaders. Those decisions have been very difficult ones to make. Rather, we want to highlight one likely outcome of the lockdowns. The sad reality is that home is not a safe place for every child. Child advocacy professionals ar...

One of Bethany Christian Services' many programs that helps children is called Safe Families. When parents are going through a crisis, you can temporarily welcome their child(ren) into your home, allowing the parents to take essential steps toward stability. While the stay is short, the impact lasts forever. The goal is to help prevent the need for foster care and keep biological families together, when possible. Our blog post...

Since I can remember, I have always had a special place in my heart for working with children. This led me to pursue a nursing degree, specializing in pediatrics. My experience includes both critical and chronic care. I consider it a great privilege to have met so many beautiful and diverse families along the way who have taught me lifelong lessons about love. In particular, I would like to share about children who have chroni...

The adoption process can take years of blood, sweat, and tears. 

This is not to mention endless stacks of seemingly redundant paperwork, coupled with an agonizing wait.  And we quickly realize ~ that was the easy part. Parenting is inherently difficult, and parenting a child who has already lost his or her first family adds extra challenges.  We are instantly overwhelmed by attachment struggles, the unpacking of trauma, and sor...

The carol describes the baby Jesus as he was soothed by his mother, "little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes."  The cries of an infant are a call for care.

Our Savior came as a tiny child.

Russell Moore describes his first visit to the orphanage in Russia in which he first met his sons. “Of all the disturbing aspects of the orphanage in which we found our boys, one stands out above all others in its horror. It was quiet. The place...

My life has not turned out as I thought it would.  I thought by now, I would be married with 2.5 kids, struggling to balance being a pastor with family life.  In January of 2016, I worked with a friend to set up a new personal budget and set aside funds each month to afford an international adoption, looking towards a child from Haiti.  With less Target and Starbucks, as well as a friend regularly checking in, my adoption fund...

The adoption journey is one of the most beautiful, difficult, and redeeming processes of which one can be a part. It starts with the question, “Why adoption?” Why would you want to involve yourself with someone else’s trauma? There are so many questions that are hard to understand unless you are called to it. 

I was initially very skeptical about adoption because we already had a biological daughter. Eventually, my heart was so...

All of us can do something. 

Not all of us are called to adopt, but we can all do something to support the care of children in need of families. 

My husband and I couldn’t have adopted without the love and support that was so generously given to us through our church and biological families. The experience we had was unlike any other we’ve heard of and the outpouring of grace from the body of Christ was exceptional.  

We too...

Often times, when Christians talk about James 1:27, adoption and foster care are the primary means presented for living "true religion." But the scripture doesn't pinpoint these two options as superior - or the fulfillment of the law. James 1:27 states:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."...

One way my family likes to spend time together is to go out to the park. After long seasons of cold weather, it’s just refreshing to get out and release some of the endless energy that is bottled up in my kids.

One day, last summer, we were playing on the playground and a mother came up to me and began asking about my family. This would have been unusual in the past, but after becoming a foster family, this is a regular occuran...