What is the Need?

Show Hope: A Movement to Care for Orphans

Show Hope is a ministry that enables individuals and communities to change the world for orphans by not only addressing a child’s need for food, shelter, care, and spiritual nourishment, but by also addressing the root issue for an orphan: the lack of a family. They mobilize individuals and communities to meet the most pressing needs of orphans in distress by providing 1) homes for waiting children through adoption aid grants, and 2) life-saving medical care for orphans with special needs. 

The story

At the age of 11, Emily Chapman came back from a trip to Haiti, and her heart was on fire to help the orphans and waiting children around the world. Emily already knew that God wanted her family to adopt, but her parents resisted. So she started praying. We believe miracles happen when you pray.

Now, years later, the Chapmans have adopted not 1 but 3 girls, and started an organization called Shaohannah's Hope (named after their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah Hope Chapman) that mobilizes individuals and communities to care for orphans. Now called Show Hope, this organization has helped over 2,000 orphans find a family, and many others have been impacted by their work. Miracles happen when you pray.

The movement

This movement began long before Show Hope. It began long before any of us were born. This movement is rooted in the heart of God (Psalm 10:14) and began with God's infinite love for orphans. This movement will continue long after we are gone, because God loves orphans. This movement consists of broken hearts longing to experience the redemption that is found when we turn our attention off ourselves and love these waiting children.

The forgotten children of the world are some of the most valuable hidden treasures that exist. We seek to serve these orphaned, foster, and waiting children in the name of Christ, regardless of their gender, religion, race, or ethnicity, and we will begin on our knees. Will you join us?

The Facts

What is the need?

* Over 130 million children have lost one or both parents.
* Every 18 seconds another child becomes an orphan, without a mother or father.
* At least 16.2 million children worldwide have lost both parents.
* Every 14 seconds a child loses a parent due to AIDS.
* Conflict has orphaned or separated 1 million children from their families in the 1990s.

Where are they?

* 43.4 million orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa, 87.6 million orphans live in Asia, and 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
* 1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe alone.
* At any given point there are over 500,000 children in the U.S. Foster Care system.
* In some countries, children are abandoned at alarming rates, due to poverty, restrictive population control policies, disabilities or perceived disabilities, and cultural traditions that value boys more than girls.

What about AIDS?

* More than 14 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
* By 2010, the number of children orphaned by AIDS globally is expected to exceed 25 million.
* AIDS is more likely than other cause of death to result in children losing both parents.
* As the infection spreads, the number of children who have lost parents to AIDS is beginning to grow in other regions as well, including Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.

What happens to the children?

* Children are profoundly affected as their parents fall sick and die, setting them on a long trail of painful experiences often characterized by: economic hardship, lack of love, attention and affection, withdrawal from school, psychological distress, loss of inheritance, increased physical and sexual abuse and risk of HIV infection, malnutrition and illness, stigma, discrimination, exploitation, trafficking, and isolation.
* Orphaned children are much more likely than non-orphans to be working in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service and in the sex trade.
* Unaccompanied boys are at high risk of forced or 'voluntary' participation in violence and armed conflict.
* Orphanages, children's villages, or other group residential facilities generally fail to meet young people's emotional and psychological needs.

What about foster care?

* On average, children stay in foster care for 30 months, or 2.5 years.
* 118,000 children were waiting to be adopted on September 30, 2004.
* On average, those children waiting for adoption have been in foster care for 43.8 months, almost 4 years.
* Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people “age out” of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Of those who aged out of foster care:
Outcome
Earned a high school diploma: 54%
Obtained a Bachelor's degree or higher: 2%
Were unemployed: 51%
Had no health insurance: 30%
Had been homeless: 25% 23
Were receiving public assistance: 30%

Is there any hope?

* Yes. There is One who infinitely loves each orphan and calls His people to join Him in caring for the fatherless. Each one of us can Show Hope to an orphan.
* If only 7% of the 2 billion Christians in the world would show hope to a single orphan, looking after the child in their distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. We can each do something.

Momentum is growing, but the need is great.

Due to lack of funding, Show Hope must turn away 60% of adoption grant applicants, leaving thousands of orphans still waiting for a family.

Most of the above was taken from Show Hope's website, with permission.

Comment Away!

Do you want to help orphans? 

SixSeeds is partnering with ShowHope to help bring children to their forever homes.  Leave one comment below -- express love and appreciation for their ministry or anything else you'd like to say -- and we will donate $2 toward their efforts!  Not only will you be helping orphans, you will also receive a weekly e-zine from SixSeeds.tv, offering the best in good, family, fun!  

Comment away, send others to this page, and spread the word about this offer which extends throughout the entire month of November!