International
(MNN) — November is National Adoption Month. Throughout the month, Buckner International is
raising awareness for the large amount of children who need families, not just
in the U.S. but globally.
In
the U.S., Buckner is focusing much of their efforts in Texas.
"Buckner
Foster Care and Adoption provides Texas families with a number of ways to ‘be a
family' to a child in need, including foster care, foster-to-adopt, adoption of
Texas Waiting Children and domestic infants," according to Buckner's Web
site.
In
the states, the need is great as Child Protective Services (CPS) investigated
165,010 allegations of abuse and neglect in 2008 alone. From these children,
14,295 were removed from their biological families; 70,589 were confirmed
victims of abuse or neglect; 213 died from abuse and 43,697 were placed in
foster care.
Buckner's
foster-to-adopt services are meeting a great need. In fact, because of this
program, Jim and Linda Kimberly of Carthage, Texas, are now in the process of
adopting siblings, Ethan, 6, and Alisa, 4. The siblings came from a family
where alcohol, drugs and violence were common.
Buckner
partners with Dillon International to provide homes for children across the
globe in China, Korea, Haiti, India and Hong Kong. Buckner also helps children
in Ethiopia, Russia, Honduras and Guatemala.
Specifically,
in Guatemala, at the Buckner Baby Home, children ranging in age from infancy to
10-years-old are waiting for families.
Although international adoptions in Guatemala are closed, the
children in the baby home in Guatemala are being placed in country with
Guatemalan foster and adoptive families.
The
home was designed as a temporary place to provide care for the children until
they are adopted. Buckner is now placing a high priority
on finding families for them in country and working with the
appropriate government officials to help foster care and in-country adoption
succeed.
However,
the older children of the house continue to wait for someone to take them home
and make them part of a family.
Please
pray for these children and others across the globe as they are in desperate
need of a loving family. Also, when children are placed in loving homes through
Buckner, they get the chance to hear about Christ' love and how He died for
them–some of them for the first time.
To
learn more about Buckner's foster care and adoption, visit beafamily.org.
