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Stories tagged with: adoption

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  • Okla., Kan. adoption bills guard religious liberty
    by David Roach, posted Tuesday, May 15, 2018 (11 months ago)

    iStock
    OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- Legislation passed in Oklahoma and Kansas to protect the religious liberty of adoption agencies has drawn praise from Baptist leaders in those states and criticism from homosexual activist groups.

    In Oklahoma, Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed Senate Bill 1140 on May 11. The measure protects private organizations from being required to take part in the placement of a child for foster care or adoption when the action would violate their "written religious or moral convictions or policies." The law permits faith-based adoption agencies to abide by their religious convictions in refusing to place children with same-sex couples. Read More

  • Vulnerable children, foster care & what you can do
    by David Melber, posted Monday, May 14, 2018 (11 months ago)

    Photo by Greta High
    ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- Thirteen-year-old Mary wakes up early on a Monday morning. Entering the kitchen, she begins making lunches for her 10-year-old brother and her 5-year-old sister.

    Peanut butter again. Stale bread. She brushes her sister's hair, grabs book bags and heads out the door. Mom didn't come home again last night. It's the third night in a row. "Keep moving forward," she says to herself.

    Mary is doing the best she can. The opioid crisis is her reality. Read More

  • Ky. lawmakers pass adoption, foster care bill
    by Tom Latek/Kentucky Today, posted Tuesday, April 03, 2018 (one year ago)

    Photo by Peter Fitzgerald, via Wikimedia Commons
    FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP) -- The Kentucky Senate unanimously passed the top House priority, a comprehensive adoption and foster care reform bill that changes the way foster care and adoption are handled in the state to better benefit children.

    Later Monday night (April 2), the House concurred on a 90-1 vote to send the measure to the desk of Gov. Matt Bevin for his signature to make it law. Read More

  • Intercountry adoptions in U.S. continue decline
    by Tom Strode, posted Monday, April 02, 2018 (one year ago)

    iStock
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- The State Department's latest report on intercountry adoptions by Americans showed another significant decline, and adoption advocates say the trend will continue without change in the U.S. government.

    The March 23 report revealed Americans adopted 4,714 foreign-born children during the 2016-17 fiscal year, a 12 percent decrease from the previous year. The total reflected a 79 percent fall from the all-time high of 22,991 intercountry adoptions in 2004. The latest total is the lowest since 1973, according to the National Council for Adoption (NCFA). Read More

  • Okla. Senate votes for adoption protection
    by Tom Strode, posted Tuesday, March 13, 2018 (one year ago)

    Image: iStock/license purchase required.
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- Legislation to preserve the religious freedom of faith-based adoption agencies in Oklahoma took an important step toward becoming law Tuesday (March 13) with the support of national and state Baptist leaders.

    The Oklahoma Senate voted 35-9 for Senate Bill 1140, a proposal that would protect private organizations from being required to take part in the placement of a child for foster care or adoption when the action would violate their "written religious or moral convictions or policies." The bill would permit faith-based adoption ... Read More

  • The end of international adoption?
    by Kiley Crossland/WORLD, posted Monday, March 05, 2018 (one year ago)

    Image: iStock/license purchase required.
    ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP) -- New regulations and fees announced by the U.S. State Department in February could spell the end of intercountry adoptions in the United States, according to adoption advocates.

    The changes, which went into effect Feb. 15, include a new $500 monitoring and oversight fee for adoptive families, as well as an increase in the cost of accreditation for adoption agencies. Most agencies, or adoption service providers (ASPs), believe their costs to attain accreditation every four years will triple under the new schedule of fees. Read More

  • Years, months & seconds formed their family of 6
    by Emily Howsden/Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, posted Monday, February 12, 2018 (one year ago)

    Photo submitted
    DEL CITY, Okla. (BP) -- Within the past five years, Jared and Kelly Lee went from beginning to pray about adoption to having a full house of four children.

    The Lees always had a heart for adoption. Jared was adopted and Kelly came from a large family where her relationships with her siblings helped shape who she is today. So the Lees began not only praying about adoption, but adopting a sibling group.

    "We had not yet been able to start a family of our own, and we both felt God's ... Read More

  • Adoption, foster care common in churches, study says

    by Bob Smietana, posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 (one year ago)

    Image: iStock/license purchase required.
    NASHVILLE (BP) -- The Bible has a lot to say about caring for orphans. Protestant churches in the United States appear to be listening.

    About 4 in 10 Protestant churchgoers say their congregation has been involved with adoption or foster care in the past year, according to a study released today (Jan. 24) by LifeWay Research, which conducted the survey Aug. 22–30.

    The church's involvement on this issue may be because the Bible tells them to, said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. Read More

  • Ky. adoption czar Dan Dumas steps down

    by Tom Latek/Kentucky Today, posted Thursday, January 18, 2018 (one year ago)

    Photo by Tom Latek/Kentucky Today
    FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP) -- A spokesman for Gov. Matt Bevin said the decision to terminate the contract of the state's adoption czar was made because the administration "has decided to move in a different direction."

    Dan Dumas, an author and former professor of Christian ministry and leadership at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, had been appointed in May to be the Republican governor's point man on revamping the state's adoption and foster care system under a $240,000-a-year contract. See related report. Read More

  • House restores adoption tax credit

    by Tom Strode, posted Friday, November 10, 2017 (one year ago)

    Image: iStock/license purchase required.
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- A longstanding but endangered benefit for adopting families has gained new life in Congress.

    Republicans in the House of Representatives amended their tax reform proposal to include the adoption tax credit in a committee vote Thursday (Nov. 9), which was World Adoption Day. The action came after adoption and pro-life advocates led a week-long charge to persuade the GOP to restore to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1, a benefit available to many adoptive parents the last two decades. Read More