Changing the Approach

The idea is simple; keep vulnerable kids with families not institutions. Those families can take the form of foster homes, adoptions, or reunification. Home-based solutions offer children a better chance at success and improved emotional well being.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Bethany brought foster care expertise and a good reputation thanks to a successful Ethiopian program, says Naa Adjorkor Mohenu, Country Director of Bethany Ghana. The partnership begain in 2012. Now, the nonprofit is an integral part of policy change, providing needed technical support.

“We became very core in the government’s process with the care reform system… As we speak now, Bethany has been able to help the government launch, it’s foster care training model, which has all the steps in training perspective foster care,” Mohenu says.

What’s Wrong with Institutions/Orphanages?

The Bible asks believers to care for widows and orphans, but what is the best form care can take? While food, water, and shelter are necessities, so is emotional support, love, and a family.

Orphanages aren’t always able to support these pillars of development, and the resulting damage is often permanent. Research shows caregivers are often detached, overworked and not consistent. This results in children with stunted physical and emotional growth, issues that persist into adulthood. Read a summary of these findings here.

Of particular concern to the government of Ghana was that many of these children in orphanages were not actually orphans.

“They did a survey and realize that most of the children…either have one parent, a living parent or even have both parents alive, but were rather taking these children into the orphanages because to them the orphanage looked like they had the best physical facilities to provide for their children,” Mohenu says.

For families in poverty, orphanages looked like a way to give their children the best chance at life. Realizing what was happening, Ghana determined major changes would need to be made to reform the childcare system before the problem got out of hand.

Enter Bethany and their ideas to promote family based care.

What Bethany Brings to the Equation

Thanks to decades of foster care experience, Bethany designed a formalized foster care system. This includes family assessments for foster families and child assessments. Both receive background checks and Bethany provides perspective foster families with 40 hours of training. Bethany works to match a child’s background and needs with what a family can provide, Mohenu says.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Some children remain in orphanages, but measures are being taken to improve their care.

“We are looking at the best practices of orphanages, the few ones that are left to ensure that even if a child stays there for one night, the child gets the best. We train them with topics like attachment, bonding, and trauma and all those things to look out for when a vulnerable child comes into their care,” Mohenu says

Bethany encourages these orphanages to make the child’s stay as short as possible and place them with a family.

How Can I Help?

Most donors to organizations like orphanages and adoption services come from Western countries, Mohenu says. Donors often want to see something tangible, such as a child they are supporting or sponsoring. This can lead them to well-meaning support for institutions and orphanages. However, this often isn’t what’s best for the child or community. Instead, Mohenu would like to see more holistic support that keeps children in families and protects their psychological development.

“They can still help a child within their biological family on alternative family and still see the impact,” she says. Rather than rejecting donations, they want to use give those funds more impact by investing in family based solutions and care.

One such program uses $30 per month to support a child and their family, providing food, shelter, and medication. Learn more here.

How Can I Pray?

Mohenu asks believers to pray for this family-based initiative. Changes of government and changes of partner leadership can bring progress to a standstill if these new leaders don’t share the same vision. These obstacles are a consistent threat. Pray initiatives promoting family-based solutions will continue to be supported by those with influence.

Pray more churches will become involved in these programs, as churches are Bethany’s primary partner for advocacy and recruitment. Church support keeps programs like this one running.

Header photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook.

Setting the Scene

Over 1,000 millionaires reside in the greater region of the Grand Rapids area. The city has been named one of the best cities for raising kids in the United States. At least 2,800 nonprofits are in the area.

Grand Rapids, United States. (Photo by Keenan Barber on Unsplash)

Between the philanthropy and public services, it’s hard to believe that 43.7 percent of children under the age of 18 live below the federal poverty level in the city. The unemployment rate for young adults aged 16-24 was at 23.35 percent in 2016. However, these statistics are not a blanket statement. Instead, they vary based on racial demographics. For example, in 2014, Grand Rapids was ranked as the second worst city in the U.S. for African-Americans to live.

(All statistics are from the Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation found here.)

Grand Rapids is a city of oxymorons. The disparity of wealth and poverty is shocking, especially given the fact that there are hundreds of churches and hundreds of nonprofits in the area.

Bethany’s Work With GRCCT

That’s why Bethany Christian Services partners with a collaborative called The Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation. GRCCT has a vision to transform the city into a place where all people can thrive.

“There’s actually five organizations. One is, like I said, Bethany. The other is a social enterprise, Rising Grinds Café. Another is Building Bridges Professional Services, a church-based community development operation called The Grand Rapids Nehemiah Project, as well as the local chapter of the NAACP,” Director and Founder of GRCCT Justin Beene explains.

(Image courtesy of Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation via Facebook)

The center has a unique focus on young adults aged 14-24. Beene says this means GRCCT’s work expands “from GED completion, mentoring, case management, working with youth in foster care and housing, all the way to advocacy.”

Bethany’s work with GRCCT focuses on the development of young adults. This includes life skills support such as help with career exploration, resume building, job searches, finding internships and paid employment opportunities, and even interview training.

Another aspect of Bethany’s work includes education. Bethany helps young adults with college planning, the admission process, GED courses, student housing, and high school completion/credit recovery.

Bethany also provides youth development and life skills classes, leadership and mentoring opportunities, and community development services at a free or reduced cost. Learn more about Bethany’s work with GRCCT here. 

Opportunity for the Local Church

Last year the GRCCT served about 320 young adults. This year it is expecting to serve about 400 young adults. Beene says through GRCCT’s work there has been a decrease in trauma symptomology in the young adults served, and over 100 people have been placed in jobs. And the Church is invited to help.

“I think this is a real opportunity, for sure, for the Church to engage. I think, again locally, it would be great to see that statistics changed because folks in the Church have stepped up and decided to do something different. To make some sacrifices and to really work to change the system so that those who have been oppressed and marginalized really can have more opportunity to participate in, what I say, both the social and spiritual renewal of a city,” Beene says.

Get Involved

Through its Ignite: The Movement campaign, GRCCT is currently raising $3.65 million to purchase and renovate a space to support its operations, for the community to congregate, and to create jobs while also creating a venue for revenue in the community.

Will you consider giving to this project? To give or get involved, click here.

(Photo by Nina Strehl via Unsplash)

“We welcome folks coming to [take] a tour. We say one way you can support us is just hire our landscaping company or go visit our coffee shop, and by making those purchases or using our catering service, you’re actually helping create jobs for folks who otherwise might not otherwise be able to find employment,” Beene says.

“Church groups have come here and actually done a short Sunday service and then actually got to work on our building. There are lots of ways that folks can engage.”

Pray for the GRCCT, the impact it is having in this community, and for God’s love to be made known through the process. Also pray the Church in this area would step up to the challenge of selfless, self-sacrificing love and get involved with community transformation.

Learn more about the Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation here.

Header photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash.

“I think the Bible is so clear on this issue. I mean, as Christians we’re called to love. We’re called to step into working with anybody who’s marginalized. Anybody who is vulnerable. Anybody who needs assistance,” Anderson says.

Bethany is not a political agency, but it is in the business of helping vulnerable people. Unfortunately, sometimes issues pertaining to vulnerable people get politicized. However, Anderson, who has worked with refugees and immigrants for 15 years, says in regards to people crossing at the southern border, the situation was worse about four years ago.

Why People Are Fleeing

But, let’s draw it back to the “why” behind some of these crossings. Many individuals and families are fleeing horrors in South and Central America.

“Which is essentially that’s what a refugee does. A refugee runs and they cross an international border without permission, right, because how can they wait for permission because they are unsafe,” Anderson says.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Anderson says people at the border are fleeing situations where children are threatened to be killed as manipulation tactics against parents. Situations where women are raped and neighbors are victimized. These are not occasionally occurrences for a statistic war. They are instead very real threats.

“Everybody is programmed to want to live, right? Nobody is going to stay in an unsafe situation. If I came home today and somebody said ‘If I see you tomorrow I will kill your child,’ I would leave. I think we all would. And so, that is what is happening. That’s the reality of what is happening. These people are refugees and they need help,” Anderson explains.

“And so, as Christians I think we step into that and we say how can we assist you. How can we join you?”

Love: The Greatest of These

Let’s take a leaf out of Jesus’ book (otherwise known as the Bible). In 1 John 4:7-21, the author boils God down to love. This scripture states that whoever loves knows God, and those who do not love do not know God. The author even says that there is no fear in love. In fact, love is a theme in Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV). Here Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment in the law, to which he replies:

“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

But, what is love? God authors the answer in 1 Corinthians 13, particularly in verses 4-8 (NIV) which say:

vs. 4: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
vs. 5: It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
vs. 6: Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
vs. 7: It always protects, always trusts, always hope, always perseveres.
vs. 8: Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Reread 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 while keeping the refugee, the vulnerable, and the immigrant at the forefront of your mind. For example, read it as love is patient [with refugees]. Love is kind [towards the vulnerable], etc.

Ways to Respond

Bethany currently has numerous programs to help refugee/immigrant children and unaccompanied minors across the U.S. Anderson says “any child under the agent has the right to remain in the U.S. until an immigration judge hears their story.” During this waiting period, Bethany helps provide these kids with foster care until they are reunified with a relative. Currently Bethany serves about 200 kids in this way.

Bethany also has a large refugee program to help resettle refugees and refugee children from around the world.

(Photo Courtesy Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Not sure how to love well in this scenario? Bethany has an extensive volunteer program for folks to get involved with. Volunteers can help by tutoring or mentoring children. A volunteer can come alongside a refugee family and help them resettle into a new apartment.

“Refugee families and refugee children just need so much. They need so much care and so much love and so there’s just ample ways to get involved if people have that desire,” Anderson says.

Regardless of the politics surrounding helping people different from ourselves, take the opportunity to come alongside a vulnerable person or family with Bethany. Use that opportunity to obey God, share a love that drives out fear, and learn about someone’s story.

“We don’t have to be afraid of refugees and immigrants. We don’t have to be afraid of them. I have worked with this population my entire career and I truly think that the people that I have encountered are amazing, are lovely, lovely people who truly just want to have the opportunity to raise their families, to be safe,” Anderson explains.

Always Be Prayerful

Pray for a heart that draws near to Christ and is capable, through Christ’s strength, to love without fear. Ask God to lead your heart in how to respond to refugees and other vulnerable people, as well as ways to tangibly help. Finally, pray that God will move among the vulnerable, the immigrants, and the refugees to make known His love and the truth of the Gospel tangible.

Get involved through Bethany here!

Header photo by Daan Huttinga on Unsplash.

However, seeing the desperate situation of these children, Bethany Christian Services is helping to change their lives through their Refugee Foster Care Program.

Refugee Foster Care Program

(Photo and header photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

“Bethany Christian Services has a program that we actually help refugees from all over the world,” Bethany’s Ana Jose says.

“We have kiddos coming in from Central America. We have kids from Ethiopia, the Republic of the Congo. We have kiddos from Afghanistan in our program. Right now, we have a huge need for foster families to be able to open their home, their hearts to give our kids an opportunity to be part of their family.”

After refugee children have fled their home country and end up in refugee camps, Bethany receives their referrals and helps to get them processed, then brings them to the United States to live with a loving foster family.

Jose says there are millions and millions of refugee children who are in need of foster care. Bethany receives up to 60 referrals every week.

Placing Kids with Families

“Once we receive the referral, then we have to make sure that we find placements for those kiddos and that’s the biggest challenge that we have with the kids and the families to make sure that we are able to find families to take care of our youth.”

Jose says Bethany is trying to create awareness within the Church, and with the help of the Church, that refugee children are in desperate need of homes where they will be loved and cared for.

Many of the foster families come from the Church because they feel God calling them to serve.

“There’s kids out here that want to be a part of a family, a good family, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

When Bethany first starts searching for a family for kids, they look for any family members children may have in the United States.

“That’s our main goal,” Jose says. “We don’t want to separate kids from their family and we work diligently to ensure that we find family members and make sure that they actually qualify and can take care of the kiddo because, a lot of time[s], they might have a cousin, an aunt.”

However, sometimes even if a child does have a relative in the United States, they may not be in a position to take care of them. And many do not have any family in the country at all. When it comes down to this, Bethany searches for unrelated foster families who are willing to take a child in.

Foster Family Process

For foster families, the process is a lot of work. To start, they begin with an orientation with Bethany which covers the responsibilities of parents, the agency, and policies, and procedures.

“We want to make sure that family have a clear understanding of what it will take to become a foster parent,” Jose says.

“After that, the family can actually move forward to the next step, which will be to attend one of our [trainings], which consists of 10 consecutive weeks of training. The training is a little bit intense and one of the reasons why we offer that training is because we want to make sure that we provide foster families with the necessary tools in order for them to be successful in having a youth in their home.”

Changing Lives

Though the process to foster children is a lot of work, Jose says it’s truly rewarding because foster families are literally changing lives.

“A lot of [children], for the first time, when they come to the United States is when they know what it is to be in a home setting. That’s when they know what it is to have a mother figure, a father figure, even a grandparent, sometimes even a sister or a brother in their home. So, it means the world to them.”

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

For some children, it will be the first time they attend school or are taken care of when they’re sick.

Jose says once the children’s parents are found or are back on their feet, Bethany will help to reunite families in the United States and set them up for a successful future.

May is National Foster Care Month. Celebrate that with Bethany by fostering refugee children. Open your home and your heart to serve and minister to kids who’ve lost almost everything.

Visit Bethany’s website to take the next step.

However, Bethany Christian Services’ Chris Palusky shares, “We’ve been following in the news and what we understand is there was a deal with the previous administration with those refugees in the states allowing them to stay while their case was being heard. We’ve heard that’s being overturned or at least going to courts right now.”

After coming to America, some of these believers were unaware that they needed to apply for an asylum visa within one year of their arrival. WNYC News reports that under the Obama Administration, a deal was struck so Indonesian Christians could live freely if they met with the ICE on an annual basis and were not involved in crimes or other offenses.

But after President Trump signed an executive order last year, that has changed and it seems the deal has been brought to an end.

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

The order mandates ICE to detain those suspected of immigration violations, regardless of their criminal history. This is what led up to the arrest of the Indonesian Christians and the court case.

Around 50 believers are being affected right now, many of whom have been in the states for decades, have built up lives, been married, and now have children.

The case of these Christians was heard in February and for now, the judges have blocked their deportation. However, follow-up hearings will be this month, and if the people are deported they could face problems in their home country.

Religious Persecution

Many of these believers have fled Indonesia because of the religious persecution they saw or faced in the Muslim majority nation.

“In a place like Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country in the world…it’s a large majority of Islamic groups and the Islamic leadership. So, Christians are a minority in Indonesia. And in many cases of Indonesia – it’s a big country – they face persecution,” Palusky says.

WNYC News says that Arthur Jemmy, one of the Indonesian believers who is being affected, left Indonesia twenty years ago after seeing a preacher beheaded by a Muslim mob.

Persecution of Christians continues today. Just last month, an Islamic extremist attacked a Church in Java, Indonesia.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has stated that the country is religiously free, but it is still #38 on the Open Doors World Watch List – eight places higher than it was last year.

What Bethany is Doing

Bethany helps resettle refugees who have faced persecution like this as they come to America.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

“Usually we try to partner with churches. So, when we resettle refugee families, we work with a church partner and we try to have them linked up so they’re able to welcome them to the United States, help them to find appropriate housing, which we also do, and get them signed up for school, proper clothing, and then really build a partnership and a friendship,” Palusky says.

A number of these Indonesian believers have sought refuge in their churches so they wouldn’t be detained or deported. In this way, they have found a home and created deep friendships.

Bethany encourages you to reach out to refugees in the United States.

“Become involved. I think right now in the United States, we’re a bit fearful of what refugees are and what we have are preconceptions,” Palusky says. “But they’re usually women and children displaced by war and they’re the most vulnerable. So please find out about refugees, get to know a refugee, and get involved with refugees. It’s a great opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ.”

To get involved, contact Bethany here.

Pray these believers will be allowed to stay in the country. Pray for hope to stay intact no matter what the future holds.

“I’ve known about Bethany and I’m excited to even have the opportunity to talk about Bethany. When they were going through the recruitments– it’s one of the largest social service organizations in the world and they help a lot of kids, so I was excited to have that conversation,” Palusky says.

A Passion to Serve

Palusky has served in ministry for 20 years with a focus on international relief and development. He has worked with World Relief and as World Vision’s US Vice President of Private Funding and Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs. His work has taken him all over the globe, including Asia, Latin America, and the Balkans.

Palusky has a driving passion to serve at-risk children, which is one of the reasons he was drawn to work with Bethany.

“Bethany is also focused on the well-being of children in the U.S. and across the globe,” he says. “Even more pivotal to that, there’s a lot of organizations out there that work with kids for the well-being of children, but faith – faith is also very important to me. And Bethany has a tradition of leaders and an organization that faith is the foundation of it.”

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Palusky is excited to be on board with more than 1,500 staff members full of faith in what God can do with a vision to serve vulnerable children and families.

Palusky says faith is simply part of who the organization is, which is imperative in the challenges ahead.

A Firm Foundation

As Palusky moves forward, he knows the world has changed significantly in recent years, shaping the work Bethany does.

Refugee crises and conflicts have broken families and endangered children all over the world. And in the U.S., where Bethany works in 40 states, Palusky has seen that “more and more children are in need of foster care.”

Since Bethany helps with local and international foster care and adoption as well as refugee resettlement, there’s a lot of work ahead. But Palusky says Bethany has a firm foundation that turns these challenges into opportunities to serve vulnerable families and children around the globe and in the U.S.

“It’s an opportunity because Bethany has, again, a strong history, [and has] been around for 75 years doing social services,” he says. “And we have very professional staff. So, I think that we’ve got a good reputation, and we know what the challenges are… [but] we’ve got a wonderful team of people that know the business and know what needs to be done.”

Short and Long Term Goals for Bethany

In the next few weeks, Palusky will have the opportunity to meet even more staff members. He will be traveling to Bethany offices in Ethiopia, California, and Georgia. His near-term goal is to learn more about Bethany, to understand where the ministry is at, and who the staff and partners are.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

“I don’t want to come in with some preconceived ideas of ‘this is Bethany’,” Palusky says. “I want to learn Bethany. I want to get the flavor of Bethany within myself so I can better understand that.”

Looking at how widely Bethany has touched lives over the last 75 years, Palusky’s long-term goal is to cast a vision for what the next 75 years could look like and what the ministry hopes to accomplish.

Please, pray for wisdom and guidance for Palusky as he takes on this new role. Pray that the ministry will continue going to great lengths to serve the world’s most vulnerable and to minister and encourage the broken.

“I believe that God has put us all here for a purpose, and I have faith that God is good and God is using ministries like Bethany to reach the world’s most vulnerable.

“So, again, it could be in a place like Ethiopia, working with South Sudanese refugees, or it could be in southern L.A. working with kids that have been through a really difficult time. But I have faith that God is guiding us. I have faith that God is with us, and I have faith that God is working a way out for our vision and our future.”

Who’s affected?

In September, the revised ban was revealed. This time, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Chad, and North Korea are on the list along with some government officials from Venezuela. The specifics of each country is different, but the majority of civilians from the first seven nations will not be allowed to enter the US at this time.

Bethany Christian Services has been following the travel ban saga over the last year. We spoke with Kristine Van Noord regarding this latest update.

“We were not surprised by this development based on other decisions that have been made recently. We were expecting that it probably would be upheld,” she says.

A segment of Bethany’s work has been devoted to settling refugees in the United States, something that this Christian ministry sees as an important part of living out the Christian faith.

(Logo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

“Our biggest concern as a ministry is that we really want to be able to love and serve the orphan and the stranger and the widow. And this newest development, it’s really focusing on those that have some of the greatest needs—so like the refugees coming out of Syria. And so, what it means is that there are many people that we will not be able to welcome here.”

The other problem is that the new ban leaves a lot of people in limbo, including the churches and groups ready to help with resettlement, and those who have been separated from family.

“We have a lot of family members that are currently here. They’re waiting for their family members to come and join them. And those families will continue to remain separated. And so that’s an area of great concern for us.”

Compassion versus Security

At the heart of the dispute on this travel ban are two ideas: compassion for people in desperate need, and national security. And while the discussion has even been hotly debated within the Church, Bethany believes there are ways to accomplish both.

“I think one of the biggest concerns here is security and really ensuring our nation’s security. We are completely committed to that and believe that it is very possible to have the highest security screening measures which the US refugee resettlement program has had and continues to have, and also to be able to be welcoming to those that are the most vulnerable, that really need this opportunity of resettlement. So it is possible to do both and to able to fulfill that calling that we have as Christians to care for those that have been greatly persecuted.”

Continuing to serve

Whether this ban is here to stay or not, Bethany will still serve those who have fled unstable conditions in their home country and are able to come to the United States. That means there are still plenty of opportunities for you to get involved.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

Van Noord says, “We have refugees that are already currently here, even from those countries that definitely continue to need services—that need volunteers and English tutors and American friends to come alongside of them and support them. And we do have new arrivals still continuing to come. Primarily we’re receiving people from Bhutan, Burma, and the Congo.”

They also are in need of churches and small groups and individuals who can come alongside these people and welcome them. To learn more, click here.

“Thankfully we are able to continue to welcome other refugees into the area, and so we will continue to do that. But there’s this large population of people that are just really needing this opportunity and a hope and a future here in the United States that we will not be able to offer that to.”

With that in mind, would you pray?

“I think we can be praying for our leaders to have wisdom and understanding of how to balance the need for security but also for that humanitarian aid heart that America and the Church has had for so long. I think we can be praying for the refugees whose families are separated and for those that are coming here that they would be able to start their life off well here in the United States.”

“The US has a long, beautiful history of welcoming refugees and we pray that that will be able to continue.”

Header photo courtesy of Geoff Livingston via Flickr.

The proposal to cut the adoption tax credit was unveiled by House Republicans two weeks ago as part of a 429-page tax reform. But the proposal to repeal this credit caused an uproar from groups on both sides of the aisle. From the Christian community, Focus on the Family and Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman were among those who spoke out against its repeal.

The adoption tax credit has been available for the past 20 years. With this break, adoptive families can be credited up to $13,460 after their taxes.

Kris Faasse, Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations at Bethany Christian Services, explains, “The tax credit is not a deduction. It’s actually a credit that someone gets when they get done with all of their other taxes. And the adoption tax credit, which is indexed for inflation and is now over $13,000, it’s really meant to help families who bring a child into their family through adoption with either the cost of adoption or the cost of just bringing that child into your family and accessing the necessary medical or psychological treatment that kids might need.”

Without the adoption tax credit, Faasse points out the cost of adoption would be overbearing for many families.

“The average cost depends on the type of adoption first and foremost and then it depends on the state where the adoption is taking place because adoption law and requirements are state law. Generally, adoption of a child out of foster care is at no cost to the adoptive parent or at very low cost because those kids are the wards of the state and it’s certainly in the interest of the state to have those kids move into a permanent family.

“Domestic, infant adoption can range anywhere from say $25,000, I’ve heard of some agencies in some states that may charge up to $50,000. Intercountry adoption is also in that range, and that is very much impacted by the travel cost to the country where the child is and the fees that might be charged by that country as well as any expenses to pay for the staff and the process here in the states. So again, it’s a range.”

However, even for families that adopt a child in foster care, they can still face substantial costs. “Kids who’ve been in foster care who are available for adoption are in foster care because of abuse and/or neglect. So they come with hurts and traumas that families need to and want to address, and the tax credit makes that more possible because not everything is covered by insurance. A lot has to come out-of-pocket.”

While the adoption tax credit is here to stay, Faasse says the conversations it has generated should serve as a reminder to the Church of our biblical mandate to care for orphans.

“We’ve always seen a role for the Church in wrapping around families, having adoption ministries, providing that ongoing support for families…. We know a lot of churches may step in and help with fundraisers for the family to meet the cost of adoption.”

Bethany has several opportunities for you and your church to get involved in caring for orphans and vulnerable children. In doing so, you can be a tangible extension of Christ’s love and grace in a kid’s life. Click here to learn more at Bethany’s website!

For National Adoption Awareness Month, they shared their adoption story.

When the Schnyder’s decided it was time to start a family, they learned that they couldn’t have biological children. But this isn’t where their adoption story began. In fact, for Beth, it started several years earlier.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

She says, “For me, that was just fine. [God] had placed adoption on my heart at a very young age and I had been open and willing to do that for quite some time.”

But Harold had a few reservations about the adoption. He explains that a lot of it grew out of a misunderstanding about what adoption, particularly open adoption, looked like in reality.

Reservations about adoption

Growing up, he witnessed at least one open adoption in his church. The adoptive parents invited the child’s birth mother to church, and she often joined them.

“It was always rather mysterious to me how that all worked,” Harold says. He wondered if there were any disputes between the parents and birth mother about raising the child.

His concerns seem pretty reasonable and are probably not all that uncommon.

“I didn’t know what to expect for some child that wasn’t mine because … I think we all have possibly an idolatrous view of what we would wish in a child. We would like them, maybe, to look a whole lot like us and I don’t doubt that was rattling around in my head as well.

“And it was the skepticism of my broader family and other people that I knew that surely got into my head as well. They had not been first-party to an adoption before. They had witnessed it from afar.”

Some of these people had strong opinions on the subject and it made Harold a bit hesitant.

But the couple decided to start the process anyway.

Everything changed…

Beth says, “We were both very excited about what God was going to do through this and our first daughter came April 4, 2000. And I would say—and Harold would probably say—definitely yes that once we brought her home, he had no hesitation about adoption at all after that.”

(Picture courtesy Bethany Christian Services)

As with any new child, there were some growing pains. Beth says they had to work through challenges specifically related to the open aspect of the adoption. With their daughter came new relationships with her birth mother, sister, and grandparents. But through these relationships, God opened their eyes to the struggles of other people and grew their compassion. Their child’s biological family became their family, too.

“And since then, we just felt, again and again, God calling us to just try it again,” Beth says.

And it turns out, adoption is contagious. Neither Beth’s nor Harold’s families had a history of adoption. It was unfamiliar territory for them. But now, a spirit of adoption has infiltrated Beth’s family. Both of her sisters and their husbands have now adopted.

“Altogether there are nine on my side of the family that have been adopted,” Beth says.

An unexpected blessing

More recently, the Beth and Harold adopted a baby girl. But unlike the other adoptions, this baby came as a total surprise.

Beth says, “This one, we were not planning on, and we actually hadn’t done any paperwork nor taken any steps. But the Lord knew. And what happened was our son, who’s our fifth child, he was three—had just recently turned three, and his birth mom told us that she was pregnant again and still in a tough situation, still feeling like she couldn’t adequately provide for this child.”

She asked the Schnyders if they would be open to “parenting another munchkin.” At first, they didn’t know how to respond.

“We just took time to pray for a couple of weeks and asked many people to pray for us. We are not young. We are 48. So that was in the back of our minds. And it was just amazing throughout that two-week period the Bible verses that came to mind or that we opened up the Bible and they appeared.”

She references Psalm 127:3 which says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Even the story of Abraham and Sarah having a child at their old age reminded them, they really aren’t that old. They also trusted in the teaching of Philippians 4:13 which proclaims that Christ’s strength makes all things possible in our lives.

So after those two weeks, they knew that the answer was yes.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been easy. We’re very busy but she brings us so much joy as well and we’re just so thankful,” she says.

Adoption through Bethany

The Schnyders were familiar with Bethany Christian Services because their church supported the ministry. They liked that it was a Christian ministry and after six adoptions through Bethany, they’ve never had any reason to look for another agency.

(Logo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

“We believe the help we received was competent and correct. And we also think that the birth parents received good counsel from there.”

Bethany isn’t just focused on the legal aspect of things, but they also counsel the birth parents who are struggling.

Adoption: a picture of salvation

We asked the couple how much their faith interplayed with their decision to adopt, and their understanding of it after.

Not without emotion, Beth says, “Before adopting, we knew that we were adopted, spiritually adopted, that we call God our Father, that we are his children.”

In other words, they knew that adoption was a picture of the Gospel. But after actually adopting their own children, this picture took on much more meaning for them.

Harold says, “We’re not naturally members of his household because we walked away from it and we’re received back in through Jesus’ work and given all the benefits of that household.”

Adoption didn’t just give them a deeper understanding of their relationship with God, it deepened their faith so that they adopted again and again when they felt God calling them to it.

Encouragement to those considering adoption

Have you considered adoption, but feel like you don’t have all your ducks in a row? Maybe you’re not sure that you’ve been uniquely equipped for adoption. Or, you are just scared to take a risk. Making the decision to adopt should never be done lightly. The Schnyders share some advice on how to navigate the uncertainty.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

Harold says, “You can’t always discern what the end of something is from the beginning. In adoption, it’s well to not think too far ahead, but rather to be willing to take the first obvious step.”

He explains that if you’re waiting until you can see clear to the end of the process, you’ll likely never begin. Part of that is because we are only human and cannot possibly anticipate all the outcomes of a decision. The other part is that God has mysteriously and divinely orchestrated each adoption story.

“Now what holds a lot of people up perhaps is the idea that they have to be utterly sorted out on all the details. And I say that that’s never the way that you ever approach any challenge that’s before you. You always take the first step and you pray ardently about it,” Harold says.

That may mean scheduling your home for an inspection. They suggest you go for it and see what happens. By starting somewhere with prayer, you’ll know soon enough if God is opening or shutting doors. God has done both for Beth and Harold, allowing them to adopt the children they were meant to have, and keeping them from adopting children who are meant for a different family.

Beth says, “Bottom line … God is sovereign, and just take the steps as [Harold] said and God will either continue to open doors or close them.”

Now for the other issue: you’re convinced that you’re an ordinary person, unequipped for the special call to adoption. But maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it. Take it from Harold:

“We’re not superhuman. We collapse into bed at the end of the day. We perhaps wouldn’t have regarded ourselves as gifted specially for this and indeed don’t regard this being able to adopt these children as the ultimate act of service that anyone could do.”

He continues, saying, “We would like it to be well understood that this is an enterprise for average people because we don’t have an average God. We have a superior, supreme God. So I hope that that would be an encouragement to those who think that you need special characteristics to be adoptive parents. I would like to say that that is not the case. If special characteristics are required, they are given to you as meets the occasion and as they are requested from our all-knowing and fantastically rich God who can gift us with anything that is required.”

If you’d like to learn more about adoption, consider speaking to a Bethany Christian Services representative. To get connected, click here.

“I think what the report is highlighting is that [it’s] not a humanitarian process, [it] doesn’t take into account the complexities of our system,” says Dana Anderson of Bethany Christian Services. “Under U.S. law, children deserve certain constitutional rights to seek asylum once they reach U.S. soil.”

From being given enough time to understand immigration laws to the opportunity to go before an immigration judge, these rights aren’t being granted to families escaping to the States from around the world.

(Logo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

“Many of them are literally running for their lives. If they were turned and sent back to Guatemala, they would possibly be murdered. So to ask them to very, very quickly be able to not only understand on their own our complex asylum laws, but then to tell their story to an asylum officer who’s a white male, who’s wanting them to move fast, who may or may not understand their indigenous language, it’s just not working.”

So what can be done about it? Anderson says many refugees simply need the resources and knowledge to effectively plead their case. Yet more than that, they desperately need the hope of Christ and the promise of a freedom that extends beyond any borders and any lifespan. That’s where Bethany comes in.

“We believe at Bethany that we’re the hands and feet of Christ, and if can sit down, get to my knees and get face-to-face with a little four-year-old that just literally crossed into the U.S. and is so afraid and had a horrendous journey. And if I can say, ‘You know what? You’re safe now.’ It’s just an unbelievable thing to do.”

Bethany’s new program works alongside Homeland Security to provide an alternative to the usual detention as women and children go through the process of entering America. It also provides them with resources they normally wouldn’t have.

“They get case-management services, they get access to medical treatment, they have the ability to talk with somebody, and that allows them to work through their trauma so they’re prepared when they go before an asylum officer to share why they should be able to remain here in the U.S.”

One of the biggest ways Bethany and other organizations can help is by providing lawyers who know what they’re doing to guide the refugees through the entire complex process of immigration.

“If they have access to a pro bono attorney, they usually 90 percent of the time win their asylum case. For those same vulnerable people groups, if they don’t have access, they often will be deported.”

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

But what about you? What can you do? Anderson says, “There’s ample opportunity to get involved into the immigrant community, to help and connect with people, and really put yourself in their shoes and understand just how difficult their journey is.

“We’re always looking for foster parents, we’re looking for mentors, we’re looking for volunteers, we have post-relief services which means when children are reunified with their parents here in the country we have comprehensive services for those families to make sure they are integrated well into the community.”

If you want to get involved directly, click right here. Meanwhile, the biggest help for these people is prayer. Remember in prayer those who don’t even make it to the border, and ask God to open hearts to a hope that extends beyond policies and provides true, eternal freedom.