There are many ways to adopt and/or care for widows and orphans. There are so many, actually, that many people who desire to do something may not know where to start. Here is one opportunity.

Right now, there are approximately 130,000 kids in US foster care. There are 10,000 kids in the Washington state foster care system and between 1,000 and 1,500 of those kids have no legal parents and want to have them, meaning, they want to be adopted. There are also over 5,000 churches in Washington state. It seems as if Christians could do something.

Enter the Wait No More event on September 24. From 1:00-5:00pm on Saturday, at Overlake Christian Church in Redmond, Focus on the Family is arranging information and agencies to get families in the process to adopt kids from the foster system. Here is a one minute overview video.

Washington Wait No More Promo Video

Focus on the Family has already held eight events in seven other states (two in their home state of Colorado). They only go to states with significant interest and existing infrastructure to make things happen. They are spending their own resources to build trellis, organizing placement agencies and state officials and churches, not only to make the needs known, but also to recruit families to adopt.

The event is free, however they do ask that people register so they can have enough materials for all who attend.

1:00-3:00pm will be a gathered time for education and motivation. Then, from 3:00-5:00pm, there will be time to interact with many of the ministries and adoption agencies. Those who are interested will be able to sign up before they leave and will be contacted soon therefore for the next steps.

Adopting through the foster system isn’t for everyone. For that matter, adoption, whether through foster or private or international, isn’t for every family. But loving the unloved and dying to bring life is. Here is one opportunity, where other people are spending all sorts of effort to build trellis that we can utilize.

Additional things you can do:

  1. Read Adopted for Life by Russell Moore, a fantastic resource about adoption in general.
  2. Visit 127adoptions.org and/or read Chuck Weinberg’s blog that tells their family’s story of adopting from China.
  3. Talk with Esther about serving at the 127 table on Saturdays. Those of you who follow her on Facebook already know some of the updates and that info is now on the church website as well.
  4. Email me with questions about adoption or about the event itself.
  5. Pray for attendance and interest in the Wait No More event.
  6. Register and attend, or tell others about, the event: icareaboutorphans.org