Adoption Conference

This past weekend, Mom, Rubia, and I had the opportunity to attend an adoption conference put on by Focus on the Family, called “Wait No More.” We had received an email about the free event and I quickly jumped on the idea of attending. :-) Orphan care is something that I am incredibly burdened about.

 

Thankfully, we did NOT get lost driving to the Dallas area. We had our GPS, but the D/FW area is constantly changing, sometimes without the GPS knowing it. Since we were running a tight schedule, we were grateful that the church where the conference was being held was easy to find.




After we registered and picked up our packet, the conference started. The Pastor of the church welcomed everyone and then introduced the worship team from the church. They led everyone in a few worship songs. They were really good and quite energetic!
Photo Credit: Betsy.

The adoption event was emceed by Kelly Rosati, the Vice President for Community Outreach at Focus on the Family, where she oversees the Adoption & Orphan Care Initiative. She is also an adoptive mother of 4, via the foster care system. She was quite energetic and funny, and it was also very clear how passionate she is about her ministry.

The first speaker was Shannon Vander Ark. She grew up in a home with her Mom and her mom’s abusive boyfriend, who abused Shannon and her sister. She described very well what it was like growing up in the foster care system after she was taken away from her Mom. She was extremely grateful to her faithful foster parents whom she now knows as “Mom and Dad” even though they never officially adopted her (Shannon’s parents’ rights were never completely terminated.)
Photo Credit: Betsy.

The next speaker was Tiffany Jorgenson. Her story nearly brought me to tears. Her story was very similar to Shannon’s. But at age 8, Tiffany was basically “Mom” to her 3 younger siblings while their real Mom did drugs and alcohol. When her infant sister died, the children were removed from the home, separated, and entered the foster care system.
Photo Credit: Betsy.

Thankfully, Tiffany was fostered and adopted by a wonderful Christian couple when she was 11 years old. They also adopted her two remaining siblings, so they could all be reunited.

 

The next speaker was John Moore. Adoptive father to 7 children from the Los Angeles Foster Care system, he did an excellent job of weaving an appropriate amount of humor into his presentation on a very serious subject. He also did a great job of speaking specifically to the men in the audience on the incredible need for DADS for foster care children.

 

John J. Specia Jr. was the next speaker. He became the Commissioner for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services 6 months ago after being a judge for many years. His perspective was very sobering. Today there are over 3,000 children in the foster care system in the state of Texas. In the Dallas area alone, there are over 900.

 

Those numbers truly broke my heart. As a high-school student, there are many years ahead of me before I can foster and adopt children. But there are THOUSANDS of churches in Texas. If every eligible Christian family in Texas adopted a child, this wouldn’t be a problem anymore. There are so many horror stories of Child Protective Services, but the reality is, they don’t want to exist either! The government is not suited to raising children, and they know that.

 

But because the church has slacked in its role to care for “orphans and widows in their distress” somebody HAS to step in. How I long for the church to step up and fill this role so that every child in the Texas foster care system can have a loving and nurturing family!

 

Dr. Sharen Ford spoke next. She is the Manager for Permanency Services for the Colorado Department of Human Services. She also brought the perspective of someone involved in the government side of foster/orphan care who wishes that her job was in the hands of the church.

 

Kelly Rosati closed out the conference by discussing the adoption process and the next steps that could be taken following the conference.

 

I came away from the conference feeling very convicted. I have prayed for years now about adoption. It is an incredible burden God has placed on my heart. I’m not entirely sure why He has placed such a strong desire on my heart at an age when I cannot follow through, but I trust that there is a purpose. One of them is to speak up for these children and help them in as many ways that I can right now.

The conference provided a free lunch from Chick-fil-A.
Photo Credit: Betsy.

After lunch, we went into the building where the vendors’ booths were. It was SO crowded! We were literally pushing our way through people. Needless to say, we didn’t stay super long, but we still picked up a lot of materials to look through.
Photo Credit: Betsy.

From there, we left and headed over to Fort Worth for a little field trip (more on that tomorrow.) But I am so grateful we had the opportunity to attend the conference. I learned a lot, and my conviction and passion to care for the orphan children in my own backyard has grown. I am praying about what God is calling me to do with this knowledge and conviction!