The adoption agency saw a 13-percent increase from 2009 to 2010 as it placed more than 1,900 children with families. That growth is expected to be the result of a number of factors, including the growing acceptance of adopting older children and an increase in international adoptions following the earthquake in Haiti.
"These children are all different types of adoption together," explains ministry spokesman Marc Andreas. "They include some children internationally, they include some children born...here in the United States, and they also include some children adopted out of foster care here in the United States."
But he points out that one of the most heartening figures is the increase in the number of older children who are being adopted, which she says helps ease a "global epidemic."
"A lot of people don't realize [there are] 163 million orphans worldwide, and the most troubling statistic in there is that 95 percent of those children are ages five and older. So, many of those children are the ones who aren't quite as easily interested in, from an adoptive family standpoint," the agency spokesman laments. "So it's our job at Bethany to help promote the needs of those waiting children here in the U.S. and around the world."
But though Bethany Christian Services sees reason to celebrate, they know that adoption is not the only solution to caring for the orphans of the world. So the ministry is actively partnering with church leaders and encouraging them to support foster care, adoption and orphan care within their ministries. Andreas expects 2011 to be another good year because the North American church continues to open up to the global orphan crisis and how believers are called to help meet their needs.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
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Illinois Federation for Right to Life
2600 State Street, Suite E
Alton, IL 62002
Phone: 618-466-4122
Fax: 618-466-4134
Web: www.ifrl.org
E-mail: mail@ifrl.org
