After seeing several articles about the drop in international adoptions, I decided to put together this graphic to help clarify the magnitude of the decline. Like me, you may wonder, “what happened?” We seem to be more aware of the problem than ever before. The next generation is certainly keyed in on the plight of the vulnerable and more churches seem to have some sort of orphan care ministry.
So why the drop?
My opinion is that the most effective organization on the planet, the Church, is also the least equipped. I believe church leaders find it very difficult to navigate the turbulent waters of foster and global orphan care. And if church leaders aren’t comfortable leading out, church lay people have to carry the load. We all know that the church will never reach its full potential unless there is “buy-in” from the leadership of the church. Frankly, that is exactly why our ministry exists.
These statistics come from the Intercountry Adoption section of the U.S. State Department’s website. Go ahead and click on your state below to see the stats and then look at the graph below to better understand the decline.
Here are a couple of other good illustrations:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/world/international-adoption-main-story-decline/
http://travel.state.gov/content/adoptionsabroad/en/about-us/statistics.html
Let us know how we can serve your church!
Steve Gillis
Founder | Exec. Director www.patchourplanet.org info@patchourplanet.org
