I guess I have never actually written a specific blog post with details about why we should care for orphans, so let’s just start this off assuming that we should. But even with that belief or obligation, it is an entirely different thing knowing we should do something than actually having a clue what to do.

Sometimes it seems like the only way you can care for orphans is to adopt them. Well that isn’t really true. There are a few other important ways you can help. You can prevent orphans from becoming orphans in the first place. You can sponsor orphans. You can pray for them. You can learn enough to talk about orphans with your friends, organizations, or churches to inspire others. You can foster a child temporarily or help other people adopt (such as with fundraising or support).

I often run into new stuff about ways people are caring for the parent-less, and I figured I should overview these things occasionally  so that way you too can know more and be involved.

Making Adoption Easier

I ran across this organization last fall. These guys are sick of how amazingly difficult it is for us to adopt (along with every family who is adopting). Or course we know that a lot of the difficulties and costs go into protecting the children who are being adopted. But, more often than not, adoption costs go to bureaucracy, corruption, and, well, more often than not, the time and money invested in adoption isn’t necessarily to help these kids who need parents.

If you know something or know nothing about adoption, please check out the trailer of this documentary. You yourself might never consider adoption, but we still need you to step in with passion to be part of the change:

You can purchase and download the whole movie here for $12 at the Both Ends Burning website.

Also, please sign their petition on Change.org which is still far from reaching its goal.

Inspiration:

This video was fascinating to me. I can’t just imagine making a box, setting it out, and it actually filling up with children! It highlights an average guy who didn’t know how to make a difference, but did what little he could. Now he practically has an orphanage!

I show you this trailer to inspire you, reminding you that normal people can love with such impact!

I had heard a rumor that this guy might be facing difficulties legally with his endeavor. What I can’t figure out is:
1.) What is happening with this guy in Korea over the last year or two.
2.) What we can do to help him.
I guess the movie production team is still trying to get the full movie out and are in the process of trying to create an organization to help guys like this pastor and his wife in South Korea. If you want to get emails from them, you can do so by clicking here.

Prevention:

Along the lines of prevention, this organization is dedicated to helping end the gendercide in China, where females are killed as infants, abandoned as orphans, or prevented from being born just because they are girls. Backed with religious fervor, All Girls Allowed is determined to love mothers and their baby girls to show that females have value. In encouraging mothers to embrace their babies, they prevent these little children to be abandoned in China, where the plight of the orphan is infamous.

One of the ways you can help these guys out is helping provide baby gifts for their girls, such as hosting a blanket sewing party or signing their petition to pressure China to end their one child policy.

Other Ideas for Action:

  • Look at this awesome resource, a next-step guide put out by Christian Alliance for Orphans. It lists hundreds of organizations helping the orphan, each with their own ways to help them. They have much better ideas than I have!
  • You can sponsor the care of an orphan for a month with organizations such as Back2Back to pay for the cost of raising “your” orphan 24/7 for about $100 a month. You obviously won’t be the caretaker of your child, but you can write to them and visit them.
  • In India, were US Currency goes a long way, you can even sponsor a whole orphan/widow home through Warm Blankets for between $500-$1500 a month. Although this sounds like a lot, in reality you might be able to care for a whole orphanage of kids with only 10% of your income! What a legacy!
  • Don’t forget to plan for Orphan Sunday in November!
  • Lastly, Pure Charity, a fundraising platform, just started doing specific fundraisers for adoptions. There are a lot of orgs out there that help fund adoptions, but this new one is joining in. Check them out here.
If you have anything else you’d like to share that you’ve learned about to help us care for the orphan, be sure to put it in the comment section!