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It’s May 15, 2008 and hopefully this day will go down in history for 2008 as the day Bloggers United For Human Rights.  Thousands of bloggers worldwide are uniting with BlogCatalog to bring awareness to their causes. I cannot imagine any more weighty than the worldwide orphan crisis.

I consider myself to have my wide eyes open to the plight of hurting children. As a parent of ten children, five that have been adopted from U.S. foster care, I am keenly aware of the pain orphans face. My wife and I since founded a planned community, Ark of Hope For Children, that will allow us to keep some abused siblings together that live in U.S. foster care. In the U.S. there are currently 514,000+ foster children living in “Domestic Orphan Care.” That’s a huge number right?

As part of the Christian Alliance For Orphans in their 4^th annual Orphan Summit in May 2008 we sat with 600 individuals, representing dozens of worldwide nonprofit organizations discussing how we could all unite for the sake of the orphans of the world. I soon realized I had carved out my piece of the pie but my vision was too small considering the 143 million orphans in the world. That is truly a staggering number.

143,000,000 children arm in arm would stretch more than 4 times around the world! That’s almost equal to ½ of the population of the United States! As a colleague shares, “Can you imagine if one out of every two Americans was a child living on the streets, living in absolute hopelessness and despair?”

Consider these statistics that I gathered from the Christian Alliance partners;

• 44,000 children are orphaned every day
• 16 million children were newly orphaned in 2003.
• 87.6 million orphans live in Asia.
• 43.4 million orphans live in Sub-Saharan Africa. (Each year, millions of children are being orphaned or abandoned in Africa as a result of the AIDS pandemic.)
• 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Almost 1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe.
• More than 800,000 children pass through America’s foster care system each year

Challenges facing orphans worldwide …

• Orphans are 13 percent less likely to attend school than non-orphans.
• Only 10 percent of all the children orphaned because of AIDS have access to critical social services.
• Children who lose their parents, especially in the developing world, often face years of economic hardship, lack of love and affection, little education, abuse and risk of HIV infection, malnutrition and illness, stigma, discrimination, and isolation.
• Orphans have few means of supporting themselves and are often forced to work in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service, and in the sex trade.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, one in six households with children is caring for at least one orphan. Yet this still leaves millions of children who are left in the care of strangers — or with no one.
• In countries increasingly ravaged by AIDS, orphaned children not only lose their parents but also teachers, health workers and civil servants who die of the disease.

Challenges facing domestic orphans in the U.S.

• · 65% of foster children have 1 or more siblings
• · Only 30% of siblings live together in foster care
• · Foster children often bounce between 2 to 6 homes per year
• · Each year 20,000 domestic orphans “age out” of the U.S. foster care system at 18

3+ years after “aging out” in the U.S.

• · Up to 60% have experienced homelessness
• · 40+% of U.S. prison population spent time in foster care (estimate)

Adoption in the U.S.

• More than one-third of Americans have seriously considered adopting, but no more than 2% have actually adopted.
• Only 4 percent of families with children (1.7 million households) contain adopted children. 
• 118,000 U.S. children were waiting to be adopted in September 2004. (72,000 had been waiting for 2+ years)
• On average, children waiting for adoption have been in foster care for 43.8 months, almost four years.

At the Orphan Summit we were a representative of an army of Christians that are laboring to meet the monumental physical and spiritual needs of the world’s orphans. But what about the millions who will still be suffering?  God has a plan for them too.  His plan for them is you.

It’s time for the body of Christ to step up through every denomination of “the Church.” The urgent needs of orphans around the world are calling the Christian community together in a radical step of faith. Every church, family and person can make a difference. It is time to mobilize the body of Christ to take action on behalf of the orphan. “The world sees God’s heart when people see Him working through his people to help the helpless. Caring for orphans is such a perfect picture of our relationship with God.”

Christian Alliance For Orphans

In the midst of this crisis, organizations from around the world are joining forces to make a difference. The Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAO) seeks to “motivate and unify the body of Christ to live out God’s mandate to care for the orphan.” Sponsored by Dennis Rainey’s FamilyLife, Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, and Steven Curtis Chapman’s Shaohannah’s Hope, members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans are lifting the cause of orphans with one voice in order to see Christians, churches, and organizations united for change. We believe that “you are God’s plan for the orphan” – each of us with our own role to play in caring for His children.

The Christian Alliance for Orphans has four categories for membership: Orphan Care, Adoption and Child Placement, Church-based Orphan Ministry, and Advocacy and Awareness. These mission organizations serving in a host of countries, including the U.S., are ready for any type of support you can provide.

How you can help

· Sponsor a fund-raising event to help rescue orphaned children

· Start an orphan care ministry in your church

· Sponsor a child

· Have your group sponsor a cottage of 8-10 children

· Adopt a child or two

· Provide assistance to a family that has adopted or fostered children

· Take part in one of many National Foster Care Prayer Vigils - May 19 - 25, 2008

A “short” list of countries served by CAO member organizations (many include orphanages supported or run by member organizations)

Burma - Cambodia - China - Columbia - Dominican Republic of Congo -

Ecuador - El Salvador - Ethiopia - Guatemala - Guyana - Haiti - India -

Indonesia - Kazakhstan - Kenya - Kyrgyztann - Liberia - Mexico -

Myanmar - Philippines - Russia - Rwanda - Sudan - Thailand - Uganda -

Ukraine - United States

With 143 million orphans in the world today.  Only one “organization” has enough reach, resources, and people to connect with every one of these children: it is the church. Thousands of remote villages around the world don’t have a store, a school, or a medical clinic.  But they have a church. There is a rapidly growing movement of churches who have made orphans ministry an integral part of what they do.  Imagine if, because of this, every orphan knew someone who loved Jesus.  Maybe God has a plan to start an orphan ministry in your church.  Maybe His plan starts with you. As you ponder how you might be able to help consider the following borrowed from a CAO member website;

In the past hour… 

· 1,625 children were forced to live on the streets by the death or abuse of an adult

· 1,667 children under the age of five died from malnutrition and vaccine-preventable diseases

· 115 children became prostitutes

· 66 children under 15 were infected with HIV

· 257 children were orphaned because of HIV/AIDS

Blair and Verna Corbett, Ark of Hope For Children and the GiveitaKiss.com/blog are proud to rub shoulders with such sacrificial, loving and active Faith based organizations. The most current list we could find is below.Click any of the CAO member (or as in Ark of Hope’s case, soon to be member) links to learn more about them. And please pray about how you, your small group or your church might get involved for the orphans of the world.

Members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans for whom orphan care is their primary area of focus:

Advocate for Orphans International

All Kids Can Learn International

Buckner International

Caroline's Promise

Every Orphan's Hope

Food for Orphans

Forgotten Children International

Global Aid Network

God's Kids

Hope Unlimited for Children

LOVEM Care Ministries, Inc.

Loving Shepherd Ministries

Orphan Helpers

Orphan Outreach

Orphan's Promise

Orphanos Foundation

The Amber Outreach Project

VisionTrust International

Warm Blankets Orphan Care Intl.

World Orphans

Members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans for whom foster care is their primary area of focus:

4KIDS of South Florida, Inc.

Christian Family Care Agency

Colorado Family Services

His Children

Lydia Home Association

Ark of Hope For Children (future member)

Members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans for whom foster care is their secondary area of focus:

Adoption 4KIDS

Bethany Christian Services

Buckner International

Lifeline Children's Services

Project 1.27 Adoptions

Members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans who are local churches with established Church Orphans Ministry:

Adoption by G.R.A.C.E.

Calvary Church Open Arms Ministry

DFW Alliance of Adoption & Orphan Care Ministries

First Church of the Nazarene Adoption Ministry

Heartbeat Ministries

Here I Am Orphan Ministries

Hope Church

Hope Missionary Church

Lifeline of the Vine

Project 1.27 Adoptions

Saddleback Church

Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle Adoption & Orphan Care

Tapestry (Irving Bible Church)

The MICAH Fund

Members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans who focus on serving churches in the launching and growing of Church Orphans Ministry:

Antioch Adoptions (Antioch Bible Church)

Birthmother Ministries, Inc.

FamilyLife's Hope for Orphans

Focus on the Family

His Children

Shaohannah's Hope

Members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans for whom adoption is their primary area of focus:

Adoption 4KIDS

America World Adoption

Antioch Adoptions (Antioch Bible Church)

Bethany Christian Services

Birthmother Ministries, Inc.

Christian Adoption Services

International Christian Adoptions

Lifeline Children's Services

LifeSong for Orphans

Love Basket, Inc.

Nightlight Christian Adoptions

The ABBA Fund

The LYDIA Fund

Hope INC (future member)

Members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans for whom adoption is their secondary area of focus:

Advocate for Orphans International

Caroline's Promise

Christian Family Care Agency

The MICAH Fund

Advocacy and Awareness organizations that are members of the Christian Alliance for Orphans include:

Crown Financial Ministries

FamilyLife's Hope for Orphans

Focus on the Family

Shaohannah's Hope

“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

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families . . .  Psalm 68:5-6a

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. Deut 10:18

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:3-4

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; Isaiah 42:3

"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Mark 9:37

Wow! I am back just in time from a hiatus due to extreme work overload. The overload is far from gone but I am back  anyhow.... And just in time! BlogCatalog is preparing for another "Bloggers Unite; Human Rights" campaign, this time we are blogging for human rights. If you've never joined this global effort now is definitely the time.

Copywrite, Ink.: Blogging For Rights: BlogCatalog.com

Bloggers Unite; Human Rights

As you are doing so keep Ark of Hope For Children in mind. We are working hard for abused siblings, children, youth that live in foster care. After building our first home and filling it with adopted and birth children totaling 10 so far, we are raising fund to build and fill our second home, this time with sibling foster children! Read about our efforts here but there's much more!

In our own "Hype For Hope" Ark of Hope and I have partnered with a huge music video & CD double disc project that will celebrate and promote foster care and adoption. Set for national release and in pre-recording prep is The Melodical Hearts Foundation's "Project 50 Files." Project 50 Files is unique because it incorporates a plethora of national recording artists that are passionate about foster care and adoption due to their time as foster parents, as part of the foster care system, as adoptive parents or having been adopted. Artists to include; Jewel, Steven Curtis Chapman, Faith Hill, Wayne Warner, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift a complete children's choir and many more!

Click GiveitaKiss.com/project-50-files or Ark of Hope For Children/Project_50_Files help drive this campaign!

Ark of Hope and many other nonprofit agencies that care for abused children 24/7 will benefit directly from this project! This effort has the potential to build Ark of Hope For Children's second home while blessing the 514,000 children in U.S. foster care and the 119,000 awaiting adoption from the U.S. Please click on GiveitaKiss.com/project-50-files or Ark of Hope For Children/Project_50_Files to learn more and help us drive this campaign.

We are heavily trying to promote everyone's efforts through many channels including but not limited to a brand new Project 50 Files MySpace Group and our Project 50 Files Facebook Page and Change.org Causes about Project 50 Files. Let's join these, invite our network of friends to join and even donate to help us in this great effort.

Many updates to come and we thank you in advance for your support!

Blair Corbett, Ark of Hope For Children, GiveitaKiss.com and GiveitaKissTravel.com

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. Our family includes 10 children, 5 adopted from foster care. Did you know there are 115,000 children and youth awaiting adoption in the United States at any given time? Won't you consider adotion? Contact us by email or fill our the brief form to the left and we'd be happy to help and encourage you in any way! Check out the

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