Is your church’s orphan strategy reuniting families?
Churches have been strong champions for international orphan care, but is their approach effective? Our co-director Kristen Lowry is helping churches rethink the ways they have been serving vulnerable children.
As a consultant for Send Relief, Lowry is helping churches transition away from supporting institutions that indefinitely house children. (Research is showing most “orphans” have families.) Lowry is showing churches how to work with “family-based” organizations that find children safe, loving families through reunification with parents, kinship care, adoption, or foster care.
This shift can be difficult for churches who have sent long-term financial support to partner institutions, or who have sent short-term teams to serve the same orphanages for a few days each year.
Lowry commends churches for serving children, but short-term teams may not be benefit children who may have attachment disorders due to abandonment and/or other trauma. Also, churches should ensure their financial gifts are supporting legitimate strategies.
How can a church pivot to more effective orphan care? Reach out for free a personal consultation with Lowry here.
Other tips to flip the conversation for your church:
Learn about family-based care.
Approach your outreach leaders with questions about the strategies used by orphanages your church supports.
Plan a vision trip to a family-based place like Shelter Yetu.
Consider alternatives to temporary care for children: Empower their caregivers, encourage social workers & long-term missionaries, train teachers, equip parents, etc.
Listen to Lowry and other church leaders on this “Think Orphan” podcast:
