Faith to Action

Houston Church Supports Families in Guatemala

Tags: Community Strengthening, Transitioning Guest post by Toni Steere, Director of Legacy 68:5 at Houston's First Baptist Church For Houston’s First Baptist Church, the journey to supporting family-based care for orphaned and vulnerable children began with a simple conversation. Legacy 68:5, the adoptive, foster, kinship and orphan care ministry of Houston’s First Baptist Church is committed to providing a supportive community and financial resources for local families pursuing adoption, foster care, or kinship care as well as entities serving the vulnerable globally. Over the last 15 years Legacy 68:5 has been on a wild learning [...]

Houston Church Supports Families in Guatemala2024-01-10T12:58:14-05:00

Ukraine Response

During this challenging time in Ukraine, it is important to help families in crisis stay together and make sure children in residential care are provided for and safe. Below are a few organizations who are supporting vulnerable children and families in Ukraine. A Family for Every Orphan Catholic Relief Services Hope and Homes Lifesong for Orphans Lumos Orphan Outreach Orphans Promise Samaritans Purse Tearfund World Without Orphans World Vision For those working in or around Ukraine, please see the following guidance. Critical Considerations for Movement of Children During [...]

Ukraine Response2024-01-10T12:53:03-05:00

From Abandoned to Transformed: New Case Study on Residential Care vs. Family Care Outcomes

Tags: Adoption | Foster Care It was the dogs that alerted him, their barking incessant and irritating, drawing him toward the small bundle they encircled. What had gotten into them? He shooed them away, bending low to see why they were agitated. Shocked, he saw a newborn, tiny chest heaving with every breath, his body listless. The hospital said the baby suffered from sepsis, a severe infection, treatable with antibiotics. After a brief hospital stay, the infant was brought to a crisis nursery run by Alliance for Children Everywhere (ACE) Zambia, where nurses, social [...]

From Abandoned to Transformed: New Case Study on Residential Care vs. Family Care Outcomes2024-01-10T13:06:41-05:00

How Faith and Perseverance Led to Foster Care in Mexico

Tags: Foster Care | Transitioning Lola* was just five months old when she first came to the orphanage in Chihuahua City, Mexico. At a time when most babies are cooing and giggling from affectionate games of peek-a-boo, Lola was already emotionally and psychologically scarred, struggling from the effects of extreme neglect. Over the next three years, there was little change for Lola, as the stable relationships she needed for healthy development were not met in an institutional setting. Simply put, Lola was suffering from the lack of a family. At 4 years old, Lola was finally [...]

How Faith and Perseverance Led to Foster Care in Mexico2024-01-10T13:04:35-05:00

Imagining a Different Story for Sofia and Marta

Tags: Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment By Nicole Wilke Sofia* was just five years old when her mom left her home unsupervised for the first time. Her dad had left the family and had no contact. Her mom was forced to work long hours at a factory. Until recently, Sofia and her two-year-old sister, Marta*, had spent the hours away from their mom with an elderly neighbor. It wasn’t a perfect arrangement, but they were safe and she let them come for free. When their childcare provider passed away, there were no affordable childcare [...]

Imagining a Different Story for Sofia and Marta2024-01-10T12:39:10-05:00

YWAM Challenges Missions Goers to “Love Wisely”

Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening Every year, around 1500 individuals from all over the world descend on Youth With a Mission’s biggest training base located in Kona, Hawaii. Youth With a Mission, or YWAM (pronounced “why wam”) as it is commonly called, is an international volunteer missions movement and one of the biggest short-term missions-sending organizations in the world. In 2017, a small group of YWAM volunteers came across ACCI’s KINNECTED resources regarding best practices in supporting vulnerable children during short-term missions. They learned research shows the majority of children in orphanages are not actually orphans, [...]

YWAM Challenges Missions Goers to “Love Wisely”2024-01-10T13:12:11-05:00

Christians are Shifting Support to Family Strengthening

*This article originally appeared in the Better Care Network November 2019 Newsletter The global church plays a vital role in care reform, as perhaps the largest group of direct providers of care to children and significant funders of residential care. Over decades Christians have unknowingly played a role in the unnecessary separation of children from families every time they built, visited or funded orphanages. However, since the development of the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care, there has been increased momentum to support quality family care for vulnerable children. We are seeing responsible reintegration of children and transitions of [...]

Christians are Shifting Support to Family Strengthening2024-01-10T14:12:14-05:00

For One Church, Orphan Ministry Isn’t an Orphanage!

Tags: Community Strengthening A banner hangs on the wall in Christ Our Shepherd Church that reads, “My House will be called a House of Prayer for all Nations” (Mark 11:17). This is a commitment that this 300-person congregation in Southeast Washington, DC takes very seriously. So when members of the congregation came to the church in 2009 and informed us about the needs in Mongolia and work of Light of the World Church, we could not help but pay attention. We began a relationship of support and prayer that has seen the some of [...]

For One Church, Orphan Ministry Isn’t an Orphanage!2024-01-10T14:10:27-05:00

From Orphanage Volunteer to Family Care Advocate!

Tags: Transitioning | Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment I’m privileged to have recently joined Faith to Action as the Director of Engagement, eager to step into a critical role of equipping churches, organizations, and individuals with information about the importance of family-based care. As I reflect on all that has prepared me for this role, I’m honored to tell the story of how I began my journey of caring about vulnerable children. In 2006, fresh out of college, feeling called to “do more” and utilize my time and (limited) talent to care for vulnerable children, [...]

From Orphanage Volunteer to Family Care Advocate!2024-01-10T14:09:19-05:00

6 Ways Churches Can Use Short-Term Missions to Promote Family-Based Care

Tags: Community Strengthening Many churches are choosing to move toward a missions program that supports family-based care for orphans and vulnerable children. Grace Church, based in Noblesville, Indiana, is demonstrating this shift through their partnership with the Ethiopian nonprofit Berhan Yehun. Their partnership is a wonderful example of how a short-term missions program based on best practices can take a family-strengthening approach.Grace Church believes that the best place for a child is in the family. Caring for the vulnerable is a central tenet of their missions work, so when they learned about the ways poverty can [...]

6 Ways Churches Can Use Short-Term Missions to Promote Family-Based Care2024-01-10T14:06:12-05:00

Transitioning to Family Care for Children: A Guidance Manual French and Spanish Translations Now Available

The Faith to Action Initiative is excited to announce the Transitioning to Family Care for Children: A Guidance Manual has been translated into both French and Spanish languages. This manual provides practical guidance and tools for churches, faith-based organizations, donors, and others who are transitioning care for children away from residential care to care within families. This resource is aligned with biblical principles, a strong evidence base, and a growing movement within the Church that affirms the importance of family in every child’s life. The Guidance Manual provides an overview of the key concepts and steps that are important [...]

Transitioning to Family Care for Children: A Guidance Manual French and Spanish Translations Now Available2024-01-10T14:00:36-05:00
Translate »
Go to Top