Colorado Leads The Way In Adoption; Will Christians In Other States Follow This Example?

The Denver Post is taking notice of the huge impact the "Wait No More" adoption campaign has made in Colorado.

"The number of Colorado children in foster care awaiting permanent adoption has been cut in half by a partnership between churches and government that places parentless kids in "forever homes."

When the Colorado Springs-based ministry Focus on the Family began spearheading the "Wait No More" adoption initiative in November 2008, the state had 8,000 children in foster care. That number included almost 800 children who were eligible for adoption because their parents had lost parental rights after the state found serious and repetitive neglect and abuse in their families.

In early 2010, only 365 children eligible for adoption remain in foster care, said Sharen Ford, manager of permanency services for the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The success of the initiative has surprised even its many partners — the state, nine counties, New Life Church in Colorado Springs, and dozens of other churches and private agencies. Ford called the results "phenomenal."

Last year alone, more than 1,000 adoptions became final, Ford said. Because children constantly enter and leave the system, the numbers are always in flux, but by the end of 2009, 6,287 were in foster care.

"I'm stunned by the number of kids we've moved off the waiting list," Focus on the Family president and chief executive Jim Daly said. "I was one of those kids — a kid that doesn't have a mom and dad. I was never adopted, but I was very appreciative of the people who came along to mentor me."

Daly said orphan care is a core mission of Christianity..."

This movement needs to be taken nationally and hopefully a national adoption campaign can prove that there is an alternative to abortion. You can read more about this at the I Care About Orphans website.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

It is increasingly clear that we cannot trust the Obama Administration to follow through on it's rhetoric of abortion reduction. The Christian Churches in America must lead the way even if opposed by the government at some levels.