Adoption Awareness Month

 November is Adoption Awareness Month and I have asked Illona Roman of Bethany Christian Services to give us some insight into adoption and the need that our nation's children face. Please read her contribution as follows: 

November is Adoption Awareness Month, a time set aside to promote the many orphans around the world who need forever families. On any given day in West Virginia, there are 1,000 children who are ready to be adopted out of the foster care system. Ready to be adopted means their mothers and fathers have had their parental rights either relinquished or terminated. These children are waiting for a forever family.

Then there are women and men who are facing a crisis pregnancy. For whatever reason, these individuals are not ready to care for a child. They can be teenagers, young people, married, divorced, or single. They can be of any race, religion, culture, ethnicity or economic situation. They can be supported by family, friends, or completely alone. These babies need to find a family who is ready to parent them, and help them grow into adulthood. Individuals that place their babies for adoption are not uncaring, unloving or cruel. They are normal people who realize that caring for a child is a great responsibility, a responsibility that they may not be ready to take on. They love their child so much that they not only choose life for them, they also choose a bright future, one they are unable to provide. Some choose to have a completely closed adoption, while others choose a completely open adoption, but most choose what is called a semi-open adoption. These birth parents get the privilege of seeing their children grow up through pictures and letters. This is a blessing that has not always been available.

There is an estimated 153 million children around the world who have either lost one or both of their parents (UNICEF). In many countries, children are forced to leave the orphanage at a certain age due to overcrowding and a lack of resources. Many children end up in the slave trade, child labor or other horrific lifestyles. 100,000 to 300,000 American kids are victims of sex trafficking annually.

James 1:27 says Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress… NIV. Throughout the Old Testament, “orphans” and “the fatherless” are mentioned forty-one times.  Deuteronomy 27:19 Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow. NIV

Adoption is not an option for every family, but there are children who need those families who have never given adoption a thought to pray about what they can do. Bethany Christian Services (BCS) has been helping children find families for almost seventy years. BCS works with domestic adoption, children who are placed for adoption by their parents within the United States, international adoption from 12+ countries, and foster care adoption, where children find forever families. BCS also works with independent adoption, and embryo adoption.

If you would like to find out how you can help an orphan find a forever family, please call our office at 304-620-2695. BCS has monthly information meetings; please call to register and/or to request an information packet. Bethany Christian Services manifests the love and compassion of Jesus Christ by protecting and enhancing the lives of children and families through quality social services. Visit our website for more information.