CAFO2021 is just around the corner. As its myriad details weave together, I especially marvel at one thing yet again this year: how so many amazing organizations, churches, and individuals are all playing a part to build CAFO2021. WITH is not just the theme of CAFO2021. As we gather in Cincinnati, we will see, taste, […]

The post CAFO2021 SUMMIT: Thank You, Signature Sponsors! appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

Several new reports highlight what those laboring in the field of child welfare have experienced since the beginning of the pandemic:  although COVID-19 has a very limited direct impact upon children, COVID’s indirect impact upon children has been immense. A study in July’s volume of the Lancet estimates that 1.1 million children have been orphaned by COVID – losing […]

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When Jenni Olowo and her husband, Ade (pronounced ahh-day), set out to ask churches, organizations, and businesses to work together to address the foster care crisis in Bryan-College Station, Texas, they knew three things:  First, they believed that providing more than enough for children and families in foster care in their county was possible.  Second, […]

The post Taking On The Biggest Foster Care Problems in Your Community…Together appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

New findings from the CAFO Center on Applied Research indicate that children who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) may be more likely to overuse screens.   While ACEs and other history of what’s often referred to broadly as “trauma” are very serious matters, however, they are not destiny.   Rather, the special challenges associated with […]

The post New CAFO Research Findings: Adverse Childhood Experiences Appear to Drive Up Kids’ Media Use appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

In a moment when American society seems to be pulling apart, last week the Supreme Court pulled decisively in the opposite direction. Its 9-0 ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia is narrow, but delivers a sweeping message that points the way to a very different future than the division and tribalism that define much […]

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The best stories aren’t tidy.  They often carry as much ache as joy.  But they remind that, by God’s grace, new life can rise from wreckage, like flowers springing from earth scorched by fire. I heard one such story last week from a dear friend, Anja Goertzen.  She’s been laboring for years in home country […]

The post A Story from Paraguay: Celebrating Motherhood and Family Like Never Before appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

Do you want to change the world? Especially in my teens and twenties, there was nothing I wanted more:  to dare great things, to do great things, for good, for God. To make an impact. Transform lives. Like William Wallace in Braveheart. Like Queen Esther or William Wilberforce or Jim Elliot. I wanted to be […]

The post The Best and the Worst of a World Changer – The Founder of World Vision, Bob Pierce appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

At a CAFO Summit a decade ago, an energetic guy in his 30s jumped up when the emcee asked for help tossing t-shirts to the cheering crowd. He was a blend of Olympian and celebrity as he ran up and down the aisles, heaving t-shirts up even to the balcony to laughter and cheers. I […]

The post Gifts from a Man Who Grew Up in Foster Care appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of a growing friendship with a remarkable young man named Trent Taylor.  Trent is just a couple years out of high school, but I can think of few people I respect more, of any age. Trent has tasted the world at its most broken:  severe neglect, […]

The post Trent Taylor – A Changed Life Who’s Changing Lives appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

I found myself truly moved today watching a short video from a young woman adopted as a child from Romania, Chelsea Sobolik. In it, she reflects on her life journey with an honesty and simple beauty that brought tears to my eyes.   So often, when adoption is spoken of, it is with an accent […]

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Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, child advocates have warned that the isolation, economic impact, and other consequences of lockdowns could hit vulnerable children especially hard. Studies on what has actually played out over the past year are only beginning to come in, but the data thus far appear to confirm that concerns for children […]

The post How Has COVID-19 Impacted the Most Vulnerable Children in America? appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

People often associate professional athletes with ego and self-interest. However, one of the things I’ve noticed over the years is how good many of them are at sharing credit with their teammates at press conferences. When an athlete gets asked by a reporter about a spectacular play they made, they will often deflect the praise […]

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In the book, The Great Divorce, CS Lewis’ imaginative portrait of hell contains no horns or pitchforks.  Rather, what gives the netherworld such horror is the utter separation.  Its residents are eternally divided from their Creator and one another.  Unable to bear with others, they move continually further apart.   This fanciful image reveals a fundamental […]

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 Unexpecteds defined 2020, from masks to toilet paper runs, canceled church to at-home school. Many of these unexpecteds carried loss, some of it beyond words. And yet, as always is the case, hidden alongside (and sometimes within) those losses came so many unexpected gifts as well.  I’d like to add one last unexpected for 2020, […]

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In a year of unexpected things, this has to be one of my very favorite: a 2-minute football story that somehow makes you both laugh and cry at the same moment. Kari Stewart helps lead the vibrant foster and adoption ministry at Timberline Church in Colorado.  I had the privilege of spending time with Kari […]

The post Why #9 Matters So Much to This College Football Player appeared first on Christian Alliance for Orphans.

In a year that often felt heavy with darkness, glimpses of light shone all the more brightly. That was certainly the case with Orphan Sunday and Stand Sunday 2020, all across America and around the world. The theme this year could not have been more apt:  Be the Light.  Despite the challenges of the pandemic, […]

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Foster care activity isn’t bad.  In fact, foster care activity is what has protected children, reunified families, and created new families for decades.  Foster care activity includes all the functions of professional agencies and other organizations that seek the well-being of children and families. So, foster care activity isn’t bad — it just isn’t enough.  […]

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You’ve seen the images hanging on the wall in your church sanctuary, smiling out from social media squares, or attached with a brightly-colored magnet to your friend’s refrigerator:  the precious faces of children from around the world receiving support through a child sponsorship program. Perhaps your own heart was pricked by their sweet faces, and […]

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Bishop Aaron Blake, a bi-vocational pastor and high school guidance counselor, arrived in family court for the first time regarding the case of one of his teenage foster sons.  He recalls, “One of my boy’s rights were being terminated – I didn’t know what that meant.”   He sat there through the morning waiting for the […]

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The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) hosted a web-based event for DC policymakers and leaders nationwide, Child Welfare in the Midst of the Pandemic.  The event offered a serious look at the impact of COVID response on children and child welfare systems across the country.  Presenters spotlighted a range of critical issues, from the projected spikes […]

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