BLOG Archives - Faith to Action

Organizations Implore Prioritizing Family Care to Support Ukrainian Children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, April 14, 2022 Contact: Heather Douglass SAN FRANCISCO, April 14, 2022 — The Faith to Action Initiative and members of its coalition today implored those working on the ground in and around Ukraine to prioritize providing family-strengthening-focused support to the children and families impacted by the current crisis. “The loss and trauma that the people of Ukraine are experiencing are unimaginable. As millions of children lose their homes and the lives they knew, there is an urgent need to provide support to keep them in families where they can be loved and find hope, said Karmen Friesen, [...]

Organizations Implore Prioritizing Family Care to Support Ukrainian ChildrenAllison Coble2024-01-10T12:59:39-05:00

Christian Child-Focused Organizations Urge International Leaders to Invest In Family Strengthening In Response to New COVID Orphans Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, February 24, 2022 Contact: Heather Douglass Christian Child-Focused Organizations Urge International Leaders to Invest In Family Strengthening In Response to New COVID Orphans Report SAN FRANCISCO — The Faith to Action Initiative and members of its coalition today urged individuals, churches, and international leaders to support family and community strengthening efforts in response to the latest global child welfare report from The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal, “More than 5.2 Million Children Affected by Global Surges in COVID-Associated Orphanhood and Caregiver Death.” The new report reveals that an estimated 5.2 million children worldwide have lost a primary or secondary caregiver due [...]

Christian Child-Focused Organizations Urge International Leaders to Invest In Family Strengthening In Response to New COVID Orphans ReportAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:00:16-05:00

Christian International Child Welfare Organizations React to CDC Report on COVID Orphans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, July 20, 2021 Contact: D.J. Jordan Christian International Child Welfare Organizations React to CDC Report on COVID Orphans Faith To Action Initiative Members Call on Christians To Invest In Efforts to Strengthen Families Around The World SEATTLE, WA - The Faith to Action Initiative and several of its coalition members today released statements on a new global child welfare report entitled, Children: The Hidden Pandemic 2021, which details the number of children worldwide who have lost a caregiver to COVID-19. The report shows that by the end of April 2021, 1.5 million children had lost a [...]

Christian International Child Welfare Organizations React to CDC Report on COVID OrphansAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:02:56-05:00

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 MartaAllison Coble2024-01-10T12:39:10-05:00

How churches can learn from past viral crisis in responding to vulnerable children

This article originally appeared in The Christian Post. As coronavirus spreads across the world, many are warning of the potential catastrophic consequences in poor countries with little infrastructure and few resources. Recent media reports from India have highlighted the challenges for the nearly 1 billion adults and children living in overcrowded slums and more attention on developing countries are expected to increase in coming weeks. World Vision recently released a report showing, “Secondary impacts will threaten many more children’s lives than COVID-19 itself.” Major funders, such as the World Bank and U.S. government, are now providing billions to help developing countries. Children in [...]

How churches can learn from past viral crisis in responding to vulnerable childrenAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:11:47-05:00

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 StrengtheningAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:12:14-05:00

A Kenyan’s First Thanksgiving: Reflections on His Domestic Adoption

Tags: Adoption For the first time, I’m going to be in the United States during Thanksgiving. In my country Kenya, the only holiday that attracts the kind of excitement I have witnessed would be Christmas and to a lesser extent Easter holiday. In the midst of all the excitement, I have found myself reflecting about what I am thankful for. What is it that I am thankful to God at this point in my life? This is my first semester at the University of Toledo and of course I am thankful for the opportunity [...]

A Kenyan’s First Thanksgiving: Reflections on His Domestic AdoptionAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:11:17-05:00

New Podcast Available on Supporting Careleavers!

Careleavers are youth and young adults who transition from living in a residential care center to independent living. This transition period can be very difficult, especially when the transition occurs without appropriate planning and support often resulting in unemployment, homelessness, early pregnancies, trafficking and sexual exploitation. On this Faith to Action podcast, we interview Peter Kamau, Founding Partner of Child in Family Focus – Kenya, about his experience growing up in an orphanage. Listen and learn as Peter shares why many careleavers struggle after leaving care, the best services to offer careleavers, and resources to help those supporting careleavers. Listen Now! [...]

New Podcast Available on Supporting Careleavers!Allison Coble2024-01-10T14:03:00-05:00

To Love and to Serve

Tags: Economic Empowerment The long stretch of Kenyan coast is famous for its eye-catching sandy beaches shadowed by swinging palm trees along the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. But the sunny beaches hide the atrocities against children. The socio-cultural practices and tourism sector contribute to rampant child sexual abuse and exploitation in the forms of child marriages and pregnancies, incest and the transactional activities that result in child prostitution and sex tourism. Called to love and serve The late Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Malindi, Rev. Emmanuel Barbara, became aware of these [...]

To Love and to ServeAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:02:19-05:00

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 AvailableAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:00:36-05:00

The Bond That Forms: Empowering Women with Lifesaving Maternal Care

Tags: Community Strengthening A weekly visit, a nutritious meal and the deepening of relationships. Over nine months, trust builds and a bond forms—a bond with the women who stand by her side, who hold her hand, who breathe with her, and help her bring her baby into this world safely. After the calamity and torrent of giving birth, then there is the peace—the peace of time, the peace of space, the peace of bonding and nurturing this new life. These are all luxuries afforded pregnant women and new mothers in many parts of the world, but [...]

The Bond That Forms: Empowering Women with Lifesaving Maternal CareAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:55:03-05:00

Thank You for Supporting Faith to Action!

We know children grow best in the love and care of families. This basic truth has driven Faith to Action for over 10 years to serve as a resource for those seeking how to best respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. It’s during this season of thankfulness that we wanted to share how much we appreciate you! It is only because of your support this year that... Inspiring stories showing the importance of family care, like that of Pastor Charles and his daughter Andaiye in Uganda, were shared with thousands on social media. Christian university and seminary [...]

Thank You for Supporting Faith to Action!Allison Coble2024-03-11T11:37:40-04:00

5 Essential Steps for Transitioning to Family-Based Care

It has been a few months since we gathered with more than 2,000 global child welfare advocates and faith-based leaders in Nashville, Tennessee at the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit (CAFO2017). Attendees heard from renowned speakers, shared ideas, and asked themselves, as CAFO President Jedd Medefind put it, “what does the world need most from me?” For the Faith to Action Initiative, CAFO2017 was an opportunity to build relationships, share our and host family care experts in our Effective Strategies for Transitioning to Family-Based Care workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Faith to Action’s Executive Director Sarah Gesiriech, [...]

5 Essential Steps for Transitioning to Family-Based CareAllison Coble2024-01-10T13:48:47-05:00

Can Conferences Change the World?

Five Reflections after the International Wholistic Missions Conference Like many others, the Faith to Action Initiative has a vision to change the world and see all children raised in loving families. Over the years, participating in conferences has been a main strategy in pursuing this vision. After facilitating a workshop track on orphans and vulnerable children at the 2017 International Wholistic Missions Conference (IWMC) in Phoenix, Faith to Action reflected on the opportunities of conferences, such as IWMC, to support our efforts to change the world. 1. Overcoming competition to explore opportunities for partnership. One of the benefits [...]

Can Conferences Change the World?Allison Coble2024-01-10T13:47:11-05:00

Five Lessons Learned Through Global Church Partnership

Tags: Community Strengthening Global church partnerships are an exciting idea, but pursuing a genuinely reciprocal relationship across the world can be challenging. Pulpit Rock Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been partnering with World Orphans for three years to support a local church in Leku Keta, Ethiopia in caring for the vulnerable children there—single or double orphans living with one parent or without a birth parent in an informal foster family. Local volunteers in the Leku Keta Kale Heywet Church visit these families regularly to check on the children and their family’s overall wellbeing, provide support, [...]

Five Lessons Learned Through Global Church PartnershipAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:30:14-05:00

Noonday Collection: Strengthening Families through Fair-Trade Business

Tags: Community Strengthening If you were to journey across the ocean to Uganda and enter a lively artisan workplace filled with the sounds of chatter and fluttering fingers rolling colorful paper beads, you would meet Olivia. Olivia’s story is not unlike those of other women in the room. Just two years ago, Olivia was a single mother unable to find consistent employment. Out of sheer desperation, she was on the brink of sending her beloved daughter Rachel to an orphanage. Herself an orphan and survivor of exploitation, Olivia felt that she had no other options [...]

Noonday Collection: Strengthening Families through Fair-Trade BusinessAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:24:04-05:00

Reaching Vulnerable Teens Through Life Skills and Mentoring

Tags: Community Strengthening When someone envisions orphan care and adoption, it is likely that images of babies and toddlers come to mind. However, across the globe, the group that most often remains overlooked and largely at risk are the adolescents who are on the verge of aging out of orphanages or foster care. These youth are at risk of never having the opportunity to experience the importance of being part of a family. For nearly 12 years my context has been the government-run orphanages of Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. Upon moving to Ukraine [...]

Reaching Vulnerable Teens Through Life Skills and MentoringAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:17:15-05:00

Following God’s Lead: My Journey into Family-Based Care

Tags: Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment Journeys in life rarely take a straight path, and my journey into orphan care is no exception. Yet, God promises that if we trust in Him, he will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5–6). In my case, God’s directing was a U-turn. In 2010, I signed up to go on a short-term mission trip to serve at an orphanage in Zambia. Five years later, I found myself in Uganda empowering local churches to support vulnerable children and their families, advocating for family-based care rather than the use of orphanages. When [...]

Following God’s Lead: My Journey into Family-Based CareAllison Coble2024-01-10T14:14:54-05:00

Building a Children’s Home? Ten Thoughts to Consider

In our work with Casa Viva, we have the privilege of interacting with a variety of people around the issues of children separated from their first families. We are deeply aware of our shared calling and common motivation to care for children in need. As people have come to us seeking insight on the particulars of 24/7 care, a list of reflective questions to consider has been slowly taking shape. We share them with you as a way to begin the dialogue on what is best for children when they need a safe place to sleep. These are not [...]

Building a Children’s Home? Ten Thoughts to ConsiderAllison Coble2024-01-10T23:34:58-05:00

The Threshold Is a Sacred Space: The Casa Viva Story

The story of Casa Viva is a story of children, family, and the local church. As the founders, we can see that it stretches from our childhood summers visiting grandparents in Nebraska to our present work in Costa Rica caring for children through local families and the local church. We are well aware that our parents created homes that were safe and delightful. Our memory of family when we were children is deep and rich. Our motivation to get involved with the issues facing children and families around the world is embedded in the collective past of our strong [...]

The Threshold Is a Sacred Space: The Casa Viva StoryAllison Coble2024-01-10T23:42:12-05:00