Hope for Orphans Blog

In recent weeks, the world has watched as the stories of Haitian orphans have been broadcast to billions.  The faces are etched on all of our minds as we see them on TV, in print, on the internet…it seems like everywhere we turn, we are faced with the plight of Haiti’s neediest children.  Through it all, God is awakening more and more of His people to the needs of orphans, not just in Haiti, but around the world…including those in our own backyard.

There are currently more than half a million children in the United States Foster Care System.  Of those, more than 120,000 are currently waiting for adoptive families.  Each year, about 20,000 will age out of foster care and onto the streets…18 years old…with few if any life skills, and no family to call their own.  Their lives after foster care will all too often be marked by homelessness, addiction, crime, imprisonment, teen pregnancies, and worse…

Many in the church have taken on the cause of foster care, and God is using His people to bring real transformation to many children’s lives as a result.  Still, far more must be done if we will see the number of waiting children and emancipating youth reduced to 0.

Where do we start?  We start where we should always start – on our knees before our God, pleading on behalf of our nation’s most vulnerable and at-risk children.  We never know what will happen when we pray, but we do know that prayer helps align us with God’s will for us and for the world. For that reason, we pray expectantly, knowing that God can and will use the prayers of His people to do things we can never imagine.

A few years ago, a handful of people gathered in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The purpose was simple – to pray for the needs of the children and others involved in the Pulaski County foster care system and to be available for what God wanted to do through them.  That small gathering has exploded into a ministry that now involves 150 churches in more than 15 counties in Arkansas (with a chapter in Alabama as well).  The C.A.L.L. (Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime) is now hard at work helping children find their forever families, children who might still be waiting had it not been for that handful of faithful believers who gathered to simply pray.

That small prayer vigil has exploded in other ways, too, on a national level.  In 2008, the first National Foster Care Prayer Vigil was organized as a joint effort by Hope for Orphans, Focus on the Family and Shaohannah’s Hope (now known as Show Hope).  That first year, there were 100 vigils in 32 states.  Last year, the numbers grew to 220 vigils in 47 states, and this year we hope to see 500 vigils in all fifty states.

If you would like to be an advocate for the kids in your local foster system, please visit www.FosterCarePrayerVigil.org and learn how you can host a prayer vigil in your church, home, workplace, etc…  Once you have planned your vigil, please take a moment to register it on the website, so we have an idea of how many gatherings are happening, when, and where.

The needs of the children in the foster care system are tremendous.  God’s love for them, however, is greater than their needs, and His plan for them is you…and me.  We must make ourselves available for how God wants to use us in their lives, and the way to start…is on our knees before Him.