Bethany News Blog : Archive

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Posted by Sarah J. Ronan At 08:21:11 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Category international foster care
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Bethany Christian Services International, in collaboration with a local Chinese nongovernmental organization Amity Foundation recently completed its annual "Every Child Deserves a Family" Conference. This year's gathering was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, near the site of the 2008 devastating earthquake. Orphanage directors, foster care managers, and government officials participated in the 4-day experiential gathering of a wide range of leaders from western China, home to many of China's ethnic minority groups.
 
"Every Child Deserves a Family" strives to bring new and experienced professionals together to discuss children's rights and professional foster care practice as well as lessons learned in China since foster care began in the mid-90s. It ended with a field trip to a community that has placed over 200 children with disabilities in loving families. They have advocated for education and medical rehabilitation for their children and now have a community center that provides these services.
 
This summer, Bethany plans to begin a new foster care program in the impoverished western province of Guizhou. The staff of the orphanage in which we will be working were active participants in the conference. The director stated "Before this conference, I didn't know anything about  foster care- I never heard the term before. This conference has changed our work forever. I thank Bethany for its support and interest in our province."


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Posted by Krystal L. Emerson At 09:32:24 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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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.
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Posted by Sarah J. Ronan At 08:23:12 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Category International Foster Care
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While Bethany is often known more for helping families adopt international children, we are also very proud of our work to improve the lives of orphans and vulnerable children who remain in their country of origin. Bethany is now working with governments in China, Ethiopia, and Romania to help enable children to move from living in orphanages or institutions to living with local families in foster care. Other international organizations are also doing this important work and research shows the improvement in children's lives when living in foster care compared to institutional care. The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute June E-Newsletter included the following research and link:

Research from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project found that children ages 4.5 years who had been moved from an institutional environment into foster homes at least two years earlier showed significantly fewer internalizing disorders than those remaining in institutions...
The study also compared children in institutions and in foster care to Romanian children in the community, finding that children with any history of institutionalization showed more psychiatric disorders than those growing up in the community (53% vs. 22%). To access an abstract, click here

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Posted by Sarah J. Ronan At 12:53:39 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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We are excited to announce a new international section to our website where you can find a wide range of opportunities to help children in need at www.bethanyglobal.org. On the global map, there are dots for every one of the 17 countries where we minister to approximately 40,000 children and families every year. Each country can be selected where you can learn about the range of projects we are involved in. While we are often known for our adoption services, we have been involved in caring for orphans and vulnerable children for nearly 20 years.

There are 15 projects currently on our site and we will be adding at least a dozen more projects in the coming weeks. For example, you can learn about our Milk & Medicine program in Zambia or our Foster Care program in China where we are working with the Chinese government to help move special needs children from orphanages into caring families. All of our international projects need financial assistance to help us sustain and grow our ministry to children and families. You or your church may be able to help a child grow up in a loving family rather than face the world as an orphan.
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Posted by Krystal L. Emerson At 11:59:40 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Bethany is very excited to be part of a new show on MTV, called 16 and Pregnant. The show features Catelynn from Eastern Michigan and how Bethany walked with her through pregnancy. Dawn Baker, pregnancy counselor, supported and counseled Catelynn and her boyfriend through their adoption plan.
Tune into MTV tonight at 10 p.m. EST and 9 pm CST to see the emotional and touching story!

Check out MTV.com for information for a preview of tonight’s show, where Catelynn first meets the adoptive family from North Carolina.

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Posted by Sarah J. Ronan At 02:46:53 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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This adorable sibling group has just received a $7,500.00 grant from Brittany's Hope Foundation!

This cute sibling group of 3 located outside the United States came into the orphanage in May of 2008.
All 3 children, aged 5, 3, and 2, are full of personality and spunk. They are bright, intelligent, and strong-willed. They have grabbed the hearts of everyone who has met them and they are very dear, loving children.

If anyone knows a family who might be interested, please contact prayerwarrior@bethany.org
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Posted by Sarah J. Ronan At 01:07:11 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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Bethany is a proud member of the Christian Alliance for Orphans. We agree with the Alliance that orphans deserve a better reputation than what will be portrayed in the film Orphan coming out on Friday, July 24. The Alliance recently said, "The Alliance is launching the Orphans Deserve Better campaign to counter Warner Bros’ upcoming horror film, Orphan.   One key role of the Alliance is to enable the Church to speak with a strong, unified voice to “defend the cause of the fatherless.”  This campaign seeks to do just that.
 
Although the messages conveyed by the movie are deeply troubling, we do not desire to “bash” Warner Bros.  We do intend to raise a strong voice to confront the messages conveyed in the movie.  But even more importantly, we desire to harness this opportunity to rouse individuals to the needs of orphans and the joy found in reaching to them in love."

We believe every child has been made in the image of God and deserves to grow up in a loving family. There are more than 130 million orphans in the world and our goal is to see every one of them cared for in a loving family. To see more than dozen projects around the world where Bethany is assisting orphans and other children in need, visit bethanyglobal.org.

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Posted by Sarah J. Ronan At 01:21:45 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Two Bethany leaders were recently interviewed by Moody Broadcast's national radio show Prime Time America, which aired on 300+ stations nationwide. The broadcast gives some insight into Bethany's involvement with MTV and its hit show "16 & Pregnant" and does an excellent job of promoting our comprehensive pro-life perspective. You can listen to the 7-minute interview at the link below. http://moodyradiopaulbutler.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/adoption-highlighted-on-mtv-reality-show/
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Posted by Krystal L. Emerson At 10:43:57 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Bethany Christian Services, as a member of  the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS), would like to inform you of the Families for Orphans Act--a landmark piece of legislation that has been introduced to the US Congress that will help to "ensure that US government programs, policies, and funding are directed toward a singular goal: a permanent family for every child".  

To learn more about the Families for Orphans Act through a one page summary, JCICS has more information.

Further, we encourage you to check out the JCICS website on how to get involved.

Please join with Bethany Christian Services in actively seeking to provide permanent families for orphans throughout the world!

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Posted by Sarah J. Ronan At 02:52:00 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)