Christian Alliance for Orphans

Collateral Beauty of COVID-19: Gifts We May Have Missed

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 17:08:58 GMT

We’ve all experienced disruption and difficulty from COVID-19, some of it severe. But amidst it all, many gifts have also arrived unexpectedly — some of them despite, and some even because of the hard things. At the CAFO “Small Matters” gathering last month, one workshop speaker asked participants to share unanticipated hardships they’d faced due to […]

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Anxious this Year? Little Choices Can Make a Difference ("Small Matters” Keynote)

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 17:11:30 GMT

I’ve felt the tug of anxiety this year more than ever in my life. I don’t mean the sharp, clinical kind. Rather, it’s more like a low-grade fever. Sometimes the feeling fades to almost nothing. Other days it threatens to color everything I see. Many, many friends have confessed similar feelings. It’s as if anxiety […]

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Groundbreaking Study on Adults Who Experienced Childhood Separation from Parents

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 19:37:17 GMT

This month, the CAFO Center on Applied Research for Vulnerable Children and Families is launching an expansive new research project on the unique experiences and special strengths of individuals who lived apart from parental care as children in any nation around the world — whether in residential care, foster care or otherwise. A huge array […]

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Washington Examiner: US Children Facing Increased Risk of Abuse under COVID

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 02:37:21 GMT

The article Invisible Children in the Washington Examiner explains how COVID lockdowns and closures – while protecting children from catching or spreading the virus – have boosted risks of abuse while decreasing the likelihood anyone will notice. It begins with statistics on dramatic drops in reports of child abuse: from 51% in New York to 55% in Massachusetts. But […]

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New: CAFO Study on the Rapid Return of Children in Residential Care to Family as a Result of ...

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 01:00:37 GMT

COVID-19 continues to impact vulnerable children and families around the world. In response to the pandemic, some governments have required residential care providers to rapidly return children to families without proper preparation for the transition. While family reunification should be a priority whenever possible, these mandates put many nonprofits in a challenging position by forcing […]

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Citizenship for Adopted Kids Who Were Left Out

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 20:20:44 GMT

CAFO’s primary focus isn’t government, but we see every day that government policies can have a profound impact – for good or for ill – on the lives of children. That’s certainly the case with a loophole that has existed for many years in U.S. international adoption law. As a result, some individuals adopted decades […]

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Humanitarian Photographer Ronnie Mosely – Pictures That Move You to Action

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 15:00:52 GMT

Photographer Ronnie Mosely came to his vocation through pain. He and his wife Carol lost their beloved daughter to cancer. They’ll mourn that loss the rest of their days. But they also have seen God’s redemptive work amidst it, leading them through their own sorrow to advocate for others who face deep sorrow as well […]

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NEW: CAFO Study of COVID-19 Impact on Vulnerable Children and the Organizations that Serve Them

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 01:42:38 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact life across the globe. As in virtually all crises, the most impacted are often those who are already the most vulnerable, including children at risk. To learn more about how this unprecedented situation is influencing the lives of vulnerable children and families, the CAFO Center for Applied Research, Samford […]

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FREE CAFO Family Devotional Event & Guide – September 10 – Responding to Evil

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 15:17:16 GMT

Our world today often feels out-of-sorts. Hurting. Upside-down. We feel it. Our kids do, too. From the constraints of COVID … to the pain of racial conflict … to personal anxiety. It all leaves us asking, “What do God’s people do when we encounter evil and brokenness in our world?” At 7 PM EST on […]

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The Connected Parent: Real-Life Strategies for Building Trust and Attachment

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:19:04 GMT

There Is Hope for Every Child, Every Parent, and Every Family Parenting under the best of circumstances can be difficult. And raising children who have come to your home from “hard places,” who have their own set of unique needs, brings even more challenges. You may have discovered that the techniques that worked with your […]

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The Gospel Coalition Highlights Unique Struggles of Adoptive Families

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 22:36:04 GMT

The Gospel Coalition this week released a penetrating article spotlighting the sometimes-intense struggles that adoptive families can face, particularly as children who’ve experienced severe neglect or abuse enter adolescence. “As Adoption Ages: How Parents Are Handling Teen Challenges,” by Sarah Zylstra. The article’s title hints at the large number of families that adopted children a […]

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On Speaking Up for Little Brothers

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 14:05:30 GMT

I have two older brothers which can be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, you have someone to play baseball with. On the other hand, you have someone who can throw a baseball REALLY hard and can hit you in the stomach with it when you are up to bat in your backyard, rendering […]

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Executive Order to Strengthen Child Welfare

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 22:27:12 GMT

Fewer and fewer issues today transcend red versus blue political lines. Thankfully, the protection and well-being of children still often does. Today, President Trump signed an Executive Order designed to strengthen America’s child welfare system. Analysts and advocates are sifting through the details, but the objectives of the order and the high-level directives it carries […]

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Day 4 of "Four Actions to Teach Our Children in Response to Evil”: ADVENT

Sat, 13 Jun 2020 13:24:29 GMT

It’s easy to imagine we are more virtuous merely because we’ve felt or expressed something – whether conviction or indignation or righteous anger or even guilt. The Bible never does. “Dear children,” urges John, “let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.” Yes, whenever we see the ugly consequences […]

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Day 3 of "Four Actions to Teach Our Children in Response to Evil”: ASCENT

Fri, 12 Jun 2020 16:18:27 GMT

Life can leave us feeling that there is no hope, that nothing can change. The Bible never does. Yes, Scripture is brutally honest about evil. But then, always, it lifts our eyes. It calls us to ascent. Like the ancient Hebrews on their yearly pilgrimage, we are invited time and again to a Godward journey. […]

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Day #2 of "Four Actions to Teach Our Children in Response to Evil”: REPENT

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 19:20:53 GMT

Many of the world’s great philosophies deny that evil is present in every human. The Bible never does. “All have sinned,” stands the verdict. It is easy to see and condemn this sin out there, in others. But Scripture always begins within us. “The heart is deceptive above all things and desperately wicked,” describes the […]

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Day 1: LAMENT ("Four Actions to Teach Our Children in Response to Evil”)

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:55:56 GMT

Christians sometimes fail to mourn evil, particularly when we’ve not felt its impact personally. The Bible never does. From start to finish, and especially in the Psalms, the Bible names and mourns all that is bent and broken in our world, from hidden thoughts of the human heart to the affairs of nations. “How long, […]

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Four Actions to Teach Our Children in Response to Evil

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:54:03 GMT

Our nation is freshly torn by old wounds. We grieve and grapple with the killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and others … and with what has transpired since … and with all that it represents. Among many questions, parents wrestle with how to guide our children’s thoughts and feelings in this time. Indeed, what […]

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What the Coronavirus Has Taught Us About the Pivot in Foster Care

Fri, 22 May 2020 20:59:12 GMT

When the topic of elementary school P.E. teachers comes up with a group of adults, it is usually a little divisive. Some saw their P.E. class as a welcome escape from a desk-bound, math-riddled, sentence-diagramming school day. Others saw their P.E. teachers as agents of torture. I, for one, had a GREAT P.E. teacher. […]

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Small Choices Amidst the Crisis

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 01:18:47 GMT

Crises sometimes demand actions big and bold. An Alamo stand. A Dunkirk rescue. A Selma march. But just as often, it is small, easy-to-miss choices that – cumulatively – turn the tide. Think of the resolve of the British throughout the siege of London, digging out of the rubble brick by brick each morning. Or […]

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