GraceSLO: Adoption & Foster Family Ministry

GraceSLO Adoption & Foster Care Ministry

At GraceSLO, three realities compel us toward the care of orphans through adoption and foster care. The first is the reality that the family is God's thing. God designed and ordained marriage and the human family as the building block of human society and human flourishing. Therefore, children belong in families. The second is the reality that the Gospel is all about adoption. The Gospel is the good news of God's grace in the person and saving work of Jesus Christ to bring lost, blind, spiritually dead sinners into His eternal family. As those who have been adopted, we are eager to promote and practice adoption and foster care. The third is the reality that the Bible speaks repeatedly about God's care and our responsibility to care for orphans, as the people of God. (Deut.10:18, Ps.10:14, Is. 1:17, Jer. 22:3, Jam. 1:27). The Gospel compels us toward gracious care.

These 3 realities give rise to our mission and vision. Our mission is to celebrate, proclaim and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ by caring for orphans and children in need of families. Our vision is to encourage and support both local and international adoptions as well as foster care among the GraceSLO family so that we might see the lives of orphans and children in need of families transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We pursue this mission and vision through the oversight of the GraceSLO Adoption Fund and through ongoing efforts to promote and educate the GraceSLO Family about the joys, challenges and opportunties to care for orphans and children in need.

Information Seminars

Several times a year we offer Adoption & Foster Care information seminars. The purpose of these gatherings is to expose the larger GraceSLO family to the needs and opportunites for orphan care. Our aim is to gently keep this issue in front of our church family and provide ongoing support for families whom God is moving toward adoption or foster care.

The GraceSLO Adoption Fund

The Grace Adoption Fund has been established by GraceSLO to help families at GraceSLO overcome the financial obstacle of adoption. The cost of many forms of adoption seems financially impossible to many Christian couples. That realtiy results in thousands of children remaining in orphanages or being adopted by unbelievers instead of learning the gospel of Jesus Christ in a forever family. God has commanded His people – the Church – to care for those in need. We believe God wants to use His church as part of a couple’s financial provision in adoption.

For more information or to request financial assistance for your adoption, please contact the Adoption & Fostercare Adoption Team at adoption@graceslo.org

Adoption & Foster Care Resources

To encourage GraceSLO families toward the care of orphans, we offer the following list of resources as a starting point. The views expressed in and by each, do not necessarily represent the perspective of GraceSLO in every instance.

Websites & Organizations

"Hope for Orphans -Directory of Helpful Resources and Organizations, published by FamilyLife, includes books, DVDs, Adoption Journey Starter Kit, Church Orphan Ministry Starter Kit, List of Orphan Care Organizations, List of Adoption Agencies

Books & Other Resources

The Whole Life Adoption Book by Jayne E. Schooler
Adopted for Life by Russell Moore
www.tapestrybooks.com - Specialists in books on adoption
Twenty Things Adoptive Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge
After the Dream Comes True: Post-Adoption Support for Christian Families by Michelle Garner
Successful Adoption: A Guide for Christian Families by Natalie Nichols Gillespie
Loved By Choice: True Stories that Celebrate Adoption by Susan Horner, Kelly Fordyce Martindale
The Adoption Resource Book by Lois Gilman
When Love is Not Enough: A Guide to Parenting Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder by Nancy L. Thomas

GraceSLO Adoption & Foster Care Team

We are a team of local Grace families passionate about Foster and Adoption care. We are made up of the following families.

	Mike & Katie: We have four biological children and one adopted son. Our adoption journey began early in our marriage. We have always had a heart for children, biological ones as well as orphans. After our third child was born we began talking more seriously of adoption. In 2006, after completing about a year of paper work, appointments, signatures, and a really long airplane ride, we brought our sweet baby boy home from Ethiopia at the age of four months. Right on his heels our fifth child was added to our family. We love having a big family and look forward to again adding to it though the blessing of adoption!
	Russ & Rea: Russ and Rea Berg are the parents of six. Their two youngest children, Tatiana (16) and Katie (11) were adopted in 2001 from RiVoy Roq, Ukraine. Their adoption journey has been one of the most challenging, demanding, and also intensely rewarding experiences of their life. They would be happy to share with anyone who is considering international adoption particularly from Eastern Europe!
	Troy & Becky: Troy and Becky have pursued international adoption since 2006 in Vietnam. The country then closed to adoption in 2008. In 2009 they adopted Emma at age 7 months, through our local county. We currently have adoption paperwork pending in Taiwan. They would be happy to talk to any families interested in international or domestic adoption.
	Dori & Larry: Larry and Dori have three biological children ages 22, 20 and 16. They felt the Lord calling them to become foster parents almost four years ago when their first son left home. Since then they have been blessed with being the "Middle Mom and Dad" for eleven little ones. While they have taken in children who have suffered neglect, trauma and abuse, their specialty is newborn drug-exposed infants. They believe this ministry is filled with both heartache and great blessing but it is a privilege to be used by the Lord to make such a difference in the lives of these vulnerable babies.
	Jim & Kathy: We have 4 biological children, we've always had a heart for adoption. God placed a desire to adopt in our hearts and then faithfully guided us along the journey that led us to adopt our daughter, Miranda when she was three years old. Her placement date with us was actually her third birthday. Her birth parents were Honduran, but she was born here in the US and had been in the LA County Foster Care system since birth. We chose a domestic program, a Co-op with LA County Social Services and our adoption agency, International Christian Adoptions (ICA), because it was more affordable than adopting internationally. Miranda spoke only Spanish when she first came to live with us, but within 3 months she spoke English fluently. What a blessing it is to see God's plan for Miranda unfold before our eyes, and even more that He chooses us to play a part in that plan!
	Todd & Jill: Todd and Jill flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and brought home 18 month old Daniel in August, 2008. Daniel is an awesome little brother to his delighted big sisters Karena and Violet.