Team Jesus, let us go before the Lord for these child and families.
Baptist Press
By Diana Chandler, posted October 25, 2024 in Foster Care & Adoption
WASHINGTON (BP) – The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has urged the U.S. government to intercede for the American families and Chinese orphans caught in limbo by the end of China’s international adoption program.
In an Oct. 24th letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, ERLC President Brent Leatherwood asked Blinken to advocate at the highest level for the adoptions to be completed, while also working for the wellbeing of some 100,000 orphans in China who’ve lost a potential lifeline.
“While we are concerned about the fate of all of these children in China, we urge you to prioritize at the highest level a resolution for the 300 American families previously matched with children in China,” Leatherwood wrote Blinken, copying President Biden, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng.
“It is essential for the State Department to advocate for these families, ensuring they have a pathway to complete their adoptions and provide permanent homes for the children they have lovingly pursued for many years,” Leatherwood wrote. “We encourage the State Department to leverage all channels to bring about a successful conclusion that respects the needs of American families and children in China.
“High-level engagement is vital in navigating this complex issue and finding a way forward that aligns with our shared commitment to protecting vulnerable children.”
Not only were the parents heavily invested in the adoption process, many of them having spent time with the children and established loving parental relationships with them, Leatherwood stressed, but the children have also developed strong hopes of entering secure family units.
“This change not only harms American families who have invested so much,” he wrote, “but it brings immeasurable emotional harm to these already vulnerable children, who still believe that someone is coming for them. Instead, they are being forcibly abandoned.”
Hannah Daniel, ERLC director of public policy, said caring for orphans is a key concern of the Southern Baptist entity. More Here
