Liam. Mercedes. Kalaya. Anthony B. Tocara. Joel.
Some of the 14,000 children in foster care in Arizona.
Children who cannot return home because of neglect, abandonment, or abuse. The Children’s Heart Gallery features these children’s stories and those of many more children needing a safe and loving home to lay down their heads every night.
Every child deserves a safe and loving home. Thankfully, due to Governor Doug Ducey and First Lady Angela Ducey’s leadership as well as many in the faith-based and general community, the Arizona numbers are down from about 20,000 a few years ago. Yet the numbers are still way too high. Nationwide, the number of children in foster care is 125,000.
President Trump declared November National Adoption Month with this statement celebrating the “life changing act of adoption.” The President declared, “Adoption affirms the inherent value of human life and signals that every child ‑‑ born or unborn ‑‑ is wanted and loved.”
Governor Ducey also issued this proclamation:
WHEREAS, the State of Arizona recognizes the importance of giving children who cannot safely reunify with their birth families a permanent, safe, and nurturing family through adoption; and
WHEREAS, state and private agencies work collaboratively with the courts, community members, and members of faith-based organizations to unite children and adults through the process of adoption; and
WHEREAS, adoption places children into loving, permanent homes where they can flourish and grow up to be happy, healthy, productive members of our community; and
WHEREAS, adopting a child is a great joy, but also a great responsibility for adoptive families and the communities who support the families who care for them; and
WHEREAS, people interested in adopting can visit the DCS Children’s Heart Gallery website (https://www.childrensheartgallery.org/) to learn more about Arizona Children who are in need of safe, permanent family settings; and
and their adoptive families; it is a story in which all Arizonans can share.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Douglas A. Ducey, Governor of the State of Arizona, do hereby proclaim November 2019 as
ARIZONA ADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH
and urge all citizens, communities, and support organizations to renew our commitment to increasing the number of Arizona children who find permanency through a loving, adoptive family.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Scripture tells us to take care of the orphans in our midst. At Christian Family Care alone, there is a tremendous need for families to rise up and adopt these orphans. Otherwise these precious children have little hope for a forever home that protects them from homelessness, sex traffickers, and the evil in our world today.
Each one of us can do something. Consider these options:
- Participate in Arizona’s Foster Care Tax Credit.
- Christian Family Care explains the tax credit and how you can participate here. https://cfcare.org/ways-to-give/arizona-foster-care-tax-credit/
- Arizona Department of Revenue lists all the qualifying agencies here. https://azdor.gov/sites/default/files/CREDITS_2019_qfco.pdf
- Learn more about being certified to be foster or adoptive parents as well as volunteer:
- Christian Family Care provides comprehensive foster and adoption care services. cfcare.org
- AZ 1.27 is a movement of local churches engaging the local church in the child welfare system. (Az127.org)
ICYMI
- Learn more about the federal government’s efforts to take care of these children at childwelfare.gov.
- Dobson and James Gottry ask, “Do Religion and Morality Still Belong in Our Society?”
- California Family Council addresses a tragic trend in “Aborting Children Because of a Potential Down Syndrom Diagnosis is an Unnecessary Tragedy”
Stay connected and consider receiving additional publications by joining the CAP Network.
