07/02/2009

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Awards $7.75 Million in 2009 Grants

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Bethany Christian Services has been participating in the Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruitment efforts in Georgia and New Hampshire. As a proud partner we are pleased to share their latest announcement. Bethany commends this organization for its work in bringing attention to the needs of waiting children in North America.

     The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption announced on July 1, 2009 a total of $7,750,000 United States grants issued this year, including $7,223,000 from Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, the Foundations signature program. In addition, $594,700 was awarded to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids grantees in Canada. The remaining $480,000 in U.S. grants provided critical funds to qualified national organizations aggressively working to move children from foster care into safe, nurturing and permanent adoptive homes.

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids
, a signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, began in April 2004 with 7 pilot sites and has grown to120 grantees, operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The Foundation awards grants to local adoption agencies to hire recruiters and execute aggressive child-focused recruitment programs targeted exclusively on placed foster care children in loving, permanent adoptive families.

“We work very hard to raise funds in partnership with Wendy’s restaurants, distribute them effectively and hold our grantees accountable to achieve our mission of a family for every child,” said the Foundation’s executive director, Rita Soronen. “The investment in our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program has resulted in the creation of an effective, replicable model to find families for the victims of child abuse and neglect who have been waiting the longest in U.S. foster care. To date, more than 1,000 children have been adopted as a result of the program.”

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a nonprofit public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing the adoptions of the more than 150,000 children waiting in North America's foster care systems. Created in 1992 by Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas, who was adopted as a child, the Foundation works to fulfill its mission by implementing result-driven national signature programs, awareness initiatives and advocacy efforts. The Foundation is driven by the vision that every child needs a permanent home and a loving family. To learn more, call 1-800- ASK-DTFA or visit
www.DaveThomasFoundationforAdoption.org.

07/01/2009

Bethany Expands Care for Children in Ethiopia

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Bethany Christian Services and our local partner in Ethiopia, Yezelalem Minch, are proud to announce we have received a 1-year grant to expand our care for orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia. The grant came from World Learning for over $197,000 and was matched with over $35,000 from other secured funds and in-kind donations.

With this funding, Bethany and Yezelalem Minch plans to reach 1,000 children in providing life-sustaining support and engage 40 community volunteers to visit children and families in need of help. Our goal is to not only provide them with the basic necessities of life, but also to empower orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS to build community awareness and reduce HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination. Bethany is directly providing management support, professional training, technical assistance, and program evaluation in order to build the capacity of local project partners

A picture named M2   A picture named M3   A picture named M4   

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06/29/2009

Southern Baptist Convention Passes Resolution on Adoption and Orphan Care

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Dr. Russell Moore is a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention.  He is currently the Vice President of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.  More importantly, Dr. Moore is a dad of two boys who were adopted from Russia.  

God is moving on the heart of many leaders in churches and denominations today about taking seriously James 1:27 and the many other verses in Scripture that tell us to care for the orphan.  Last week at the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Moore introduced a resolution encouraging all Southern Baptist Churches to take at least one Sunday each year to focus on God’s heart for the orphan and adoption.  The resolution passed overwhelmingly.  

You can view Resolution 2, “On Adoption and Orphan Care” by clicking here

Read more about the resolution and Dr. Moore’s story at his blog here

06/22/2009

Pastor Rick Warren Preaches on Adoption and Orphan Care

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Bethany Christian Services had the privilege of participating in Father's Day weekend services at Saddleback Church in Southern California. Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay Warren, gave a powerful and inspirational message about the need for Christian families to step forward and adopt or foster children both in the United States and around the world. Pastor Rick challenged his congregation to have 500 families step forward to become adoptive or foster parents. Several Bethany staff attended the weekend services, as we were invited to have several booths on Saddleback's campus where we talked with many potential adoptive families.

Saddleback is following up with adoption information meetings where Bethany staff have been invited to provide guidance and expertise on the details of the children available for adoption and about the overall cost and process of adoption.

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Pastor Rick Warren & Bethany's Johnny Carr


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Bethany Staff & their booth on Saddleback's campus

06/19/2009

Happy Father's Day

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Many families around the country are enjoying their first Father’s Day after adopting through Bethany. As we celebrate this weekend, our prayers also go out to all birth families who may be dealing with grief and loss this time of the year. We’re also thankful for the many birth families and adoptive families who share the holidays through an open adoption relationship.

Here is a West Michigan family appearing on a local talk show to share their adoption experience.

06/17/2009

Bethany Featured on Star 99.1FM in NJ

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Bethany Christian Services works with many Christian radio stations around the country to promote the needs of children in the US and around the world waiting for the love of an adoptive family. We appreciate Star 99.1FM for promoting Bethany Christian Services as their featured ministry this week. Star 99.1FM plays excellent contemporary Christian music across the state of New Jersey and into the greater Philadelphia and New York City areas.
Visit their website to see how they are featuring Bethany Christian Services.

06/16/2009

The Peachtree Presbyterian Promise

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A pastor in Atlanta became the center of attention last Sunday with this promise,"I make a promise to you now and I don't want you to keep this a secret, the Peachtree Presbyterian Church will care for any newborn baby you bring to this church. We will be the family to find a home for that child, and there's no limit on this. You can tell your friends, you can tell your family, you can tell the whole world ..."

Pastor Vic Pentz, the Senior Pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian, has met with the Bethany Christian Services’ office in Atlanta and has plan in place to partner with Bethany to help fulfill this promise. He has asked some of the staff to come to the church later in the summer to help train and educate his congregation on adoption.  

Bethany is partnering with churches all over the country to help them better educate and engage their congregations in Orphan Care and Adoption Ministries much like what is happening in Atlanta. Our approach to these ministries can help large and small churches reach out to the orphan. Contact your local Bethany Christian Services office for more information.

Watch a video report from the NBC news affiliate in Atlanta.

06/08/2009

Children in Need

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By Maelanie Schweitzer, Raleigh NC Supervisor


Who are the children in need of families in today’s world?

Domestic Infants with Special Needs
Did you know that the national trend for domestic adoption is that fewer and fewer expectant parents are placing their children for adoption? Often we do not have enough potential adoptive families for children with special needs.

Older Children Waiting in the Foster Care System
The need for families to adopt a child age five and older is tremendous. Nationally, there are more than 500,000 children in the foster care system, and thousands of those children need a permanent home.

Frozen Embryos
Did you know that more than 400,000 embryos are currently in a frozen state in the U.S? Frozen embryos are a result of couples who have had in vitro fertilization procedures and were not able to use all of the embryos that were created from that process. Other couples—in which the potential adoptive mother is able to carry a pregnancy—“adopt” these embryos. The adoptive mother then carries the pregnancy and gives birth, which is a unique opportunity in an adoption situation.

International Children Available for Adoption
The number of orphans worldwide is staggering–more than 100 million. The statistics for what happens to children who age out of orphanages overseas are grim. Intercountry adoption is a complex process, but it is very rewarding when one considers the opportunities that a family can give a child.  

We believe…
…that every child, regardless of his or her circumstance, deserves a nurtured life and a permanent family. If you would like more information about vulnerable children and Bethany’s programs to serve these children, please contact your local Bethany office or visit www.bethany.org.

05/19/2009

Safe Families program featured on CBS News

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Last night, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric featured the Safe Families for Children program as the first installment in a series about children and the recession.
View the report  

Originally started in 2002 by Chicago-based LYDIA Home Association, Bethany Christian Services has since partnered with LYDIA to run a Safe Families for Children program in both Atlanta and Chattanooga.

For more information visit:

www.bethany.org/atlanta

www.bethany.org/chattanooga

05/14/2009

One Family's Special Adoption Journey

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When Karin and Jerry Freihammer began their adoption journey with Bethany Christian Services, they had no idea what God had in store for their family.  Initially seeking a “healthy” infant from China, they eventually decided to open up to children with special placement needs and truly allow God to show them His plans.  They were excited to bring home their daughter, JunFen, in April, 2008. JunFen has what some would consider moderate to severe medical needs, but the Freihammers just saw her as their daughter.  JunFen recently had extensive surgery and was followed by a local news station. Enjoy her heartwarming story here:
www.wcco.com/video/?id=60075@wcco.dayport.com  

You can also read more about the story in their own words in the April 6, 2009 entry on Bethany’s China blog:
http://www.bethany.org/blogs/chinablog.nsf

And on the family’s personal blog:
www.journeytojunfen.com