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So far ICA has created 9 blog entries.

Foster Care By the Numbers

International Christian Adoptions

The statistics are sobering, and they paint a picture of how urgent the need is to find stable, loving homes for children and youth in the foster care system.

None of these things have to happen. You can be part of the solution

  • There are currently more than 424,000 children in the foster care system in the United States.
  • The average age of a foster child is 8 years old.
  • More than 30,000 teens age out of foster care every year and most have nowhere to go. No family support. No home.
  • After foster youth reach the age of 18:
    • 20% instantly become homeless
    • 70% will rely on government assistance
    • Half will have no earnings and lack the skills and resources to find employment
    • Some will be trafficked
    • 7 out of 10 girls will be pregnant by the age of 21

Foster care exits by percentage:

  • 54% are reunified with their biological families
  • 26% are adopted
  • 11% are transitioned to a legal guardianship
  • 8% are emancipated
  • 1% run away, die or other result
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What To Expect When You’re Expecting (a Foster Child)

International Christian Adoptions

Once you’ve decided to take the step of welcoming a foster youth into your home, you’ll naturally have a lot of questions. Here are a few of the most common—and our best answers to help you prepare.

Expect to Care for a Traumatized Child

Children are removed from their homes for a variety of reasons, including neglect, substance abuse by their parents, physical abuse, and sexual abuse.

Because the children/youth have a background of trauma, expect to be challenged to parent outside of and beyond the traditional ways that you have grown accustomed to. In other words, foster families must parent through a “trauma lens”—and a large part of each family’s pre-approval training with ICA is about how to do this.

Expect To Become a Part of a Complicated System

Foster families are not just opening up their home to children in need, they are becoming part of a large system that involves working with social workers, the courts, attorneys, and birth parents (not to mention teachers, doctors, therapists, etc.).

Families must be mentally ready to function as an integral part of this system and take on the role of “professional parents.” Also, with being part of a system comes the frustration of not being in control of most aspects of the child’s care. Rather, foster families must follow many state regulations, county decisions, and ultimately the rulings of the juvenile court system.

Expect To Make a Significant Impact

Fostering is difficult work, but it can be the most rewarding work you ever do.

We know that the key to helping a child heal from trauma is consistent, loving, positive relationship. As we like to say, “Family homes are relational rehabilitation centers!” A secure, stable, nurturing family […]

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8 Reasons How Foster Care Could Change Your Life

International Christian Adoptions

Let us say upfront that foster care is not about you. It’s the furthest thing from a self-help program or an easy ride, and it’s not something to be entered into lightly.

But for those who are aware of the challenges and prepared for the work, foster care can be a profoundly rewarding experience—even in the midst of the demands and pressures that are common to parenting of any kind.

  1. You will be challenged to love in new and creative ways.

“Encouraging a child means that one or more of the following critical life messages are coming through, either by word or by action: I believe in you, I trust you, I know you can handle this, You are listened to, You are cared for, You are very important to me.” – Barbara Coloroso

A foster child brings new quirks, demands, preferences, and conflicts into the house. It’s like adding another dimension to your family.

  1. You will never wonder whether your work matters.

Caring for children in need is often difficult—especially when they have experienced trauma or neglect, as so many foster youth have—but you need never question the value of your time with a foster child.

Some 30,000 teens age out of the foster care system every year in the U.S. without any support or a place to stay while they grow into independence. Because of your willingness to get involved, the child in your home can have a different story.

  1. Your capacity to love will grow.

“There really are places in the heart you don’t even know exist until you love a child.” – Anne Lamott

As every parent knows, love is not a zero-sum kind of thing. In fact, […]

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9 Things You Didn’t Know About Foster Care

International Christian Adoptions

Foster care is a social service that often draws strong reactions and is also surrounded by myths and misconceptions. At ICA, we help foster youth connect with families, so we have a front-row seat to the magic of fostering—and we also have some insights to share.

Here are nine things about foster care that you might not know:

  • There are currently more than 424,000 children in the foster care system in the United States.
  • A family doesn’t need to be wealthy to begin fostering.

One of the biggest myths, especially among younger people, is that they can’t afford to become foster families. However, foster care is an essentially free program, with very minimal assessment costs.

Our families don’t pay ICA any fees, and once the child is in their home, there is a monthly stipend for the child’s care. Medical and dental care is covered at no cost to the family, and ICA provides counseling.

  • Among the 50 states, California continues to have the largest number of children entering foster care each year.

True, it is the most populous state in the U.S. There are more than 59,000 children in California’s foster care system, compared with 34,000 in the next most populous state of Texas.

ICA is based in Temecula, California, and we know firsthand that foster care systems here and across the country are in constant need of willing families.

  • The average age of a foster child is 8 years old.

Many people think of babies when they think of foster care, but the truth is that thousands of youth, through adolescence, enter the system every year in need of a family to take them in.

Read More

How to Get Started as a Foster Family

International Christian Adoptions

Deciding whether to open your home to foster children can be daunting, but if you are considering it—and we definitely think you should!—we can help you make the best decision for your family.

Keep in mind the basics of foster care: Children in need require the attention of a nurturing adult who is willing to invest in their life. Stable, loving relationships are how we improve the trajectory of young lives.

Part of the process includes wrapping around a birth family and advocating for reunification. It is essential for foster families to have compassion for the birth parents and be willing to work with them to do what is known as Shared Parenting.

Learn

The process begins by attending a no-cost, no-obligation informational meeting with ICA’s dedicated staff. During this virtual meeting, we will discuss our organization’s culture, programs and process—all of the facts you need to begin an honest evaluation of whether foster care is right for you.

Healing and helping youths to reach their full potential is at the heart of what we do—and it only happens when a committed adult gives of their time and energy, sacrifices made out of love for another.

Pray & Discuss

Even for those who are a good fit, there are many things to consider. We don’t advise potential foster families to rush into a decision; instead, take the time to pray, reflect and discuss with anyone who knows you well enough to provide helpful feedback.

There is no way around the hard truth that there is uncertainty and loss involved in being a foster parent. You can’t predict the outcomes of any given case, nor the challenges you might face with the children in your care.  

Engaging in dialogue with […]

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How American Families Can Help Solve the Refugee Crisis

International Christian Adoptions

Unless you’ve had your notifications turned off for the last five years, you’ve probably heard something about the crisis at our southern border. Hundreds of thousands of youth who are separated from their families have arrived seeking to live in the U.S., and the government is struggling to keep up.

The fact is that the nations are coming to us. This is a unique time, and a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the love of Christ.

If you are willing to investigate, explore and inquire about the role you may play, we can use your help. ICA needs safe, nurturing homes for the youth and children awaiting a place of their own after reaching our country.

< Learn more: 5 Words to Explain the Child Refugee Crisis >

As Christians, we know what God expects: “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong” (Leviticus 19:33). And we may desperately want to help, but many Americans assume there is simply no way to get involved.

You Can Help!

For the youth we serve, all attempts at reunification have been exhausted. Now they need families who are willing to provide them with both the love and structure they need to assimilate into American culture and ultimately to achieve independence.

Hundreds of families are urgently needed to provide foster homes for youth and children who have nowhere else to turn. Thousands are in detainment centers or refugee camps. By opening your home to these youth, you are fulfilling God’s call to love unconditionally.

You may be wondering what it would be like to bring a refugee youth into your home. Here are a few glimpses of the process:

  • Trust

[…]

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5 Words to Explain the Child Refugee Crisis

International Christian Adoptions

You’ve read the headlines, but have you ever imagined what it’s like to be a child or youth refugee caught up in the border crisis? Aside from the politics and the photo ops, there is the blunt reality of thousands of children showing up on our border—and thousands more in refugee camps awaiting their opportunity for a family and a safe home with education, food, and clean water.

These youth desire to be here. They have risked much and they are motivated to assimilate, set goals, start fresh—but they need a safe place to land, a family, in order for this to happen.

At ICA, the refugee youth we serve have already exhausted all other possibilities for a home here in the U.S. Foster care is their last resort.

Our perspective, as Christians, is that we have no control of the political or socio-economic conditions. We did not seek these young people out or submit them to the adversities of international migration—yet they are here, and that leaves Christians asking: Who is my neighbor? And what is my responsibility now that they are on our doorstep?

Trauma

The painful truth is that, for the majority of youth caught up in the surge of refugees, they’re trying to escape trafficking, servitude, abuse, mutilation, war, civil unrest, famine, gang violence, and abandonment—threats facing youth around the world. Not to mention the traumatic experiences the journey itself afforded.

Engaging with young people who have experienced trauma is not as scary as it seems, and we equip our families to become trauma-informed, healing caregivers. Healing most often begins in a relationship with a safe, caring adult who truly understands and shows compassion.

At ICA, we help families to meet the needs of foster […]

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In The Waiting

written by Sarah Cathryn

One of the most difficult aspects of adoption is waiting. As a culture we are so used to instant answers and clear pictures readily available to us. One click and you can get the answer to nearly any fact checking question you have. Now, if you want to know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop you can google it and find out! Adoption is the opposite of that. At least at times it feels that way.

I am a type A person. I thrive on schedules and order. Maybe this is why God gave me seven children. He really wanted to make sure I didn’t hold too tightly to my own way of having things. And even more importantly, He wanted me to depend on Him and Him alone. When we started our adoption process I was in my element. Fill out forms, check! Prepare my house, check! Buy a fire extinguisher, check! Attend a class, check! Get fingerprinted, check! Attend another class, check! Lock up my cleaning supplies and medications, check! Attend yet another class, no problem, check! You can see why this was great for me. I had a list of things to accomplish and my personality helped us to sail through that list with efficiency. We knew our children were on the other end of that list and we wanted to do everything in our power to get there in the shortest amount of time possible.

“We wanted”…it feels weird to even say that now. When we began our adoption journey we both felt some sense of control over the process. What we learned was that on the other side of that checklist was a year of waiting. A year of submitting our home […]

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Have a DIVINE-ly Delightful Valentines Day!

Jubilee Exchange advocates for LOVE this Valentines Day! ♥ Especially LOVE that supports fairness, the strengthening of families, protection of children against trafficking and unlawful labor practices, and the support of sustainable jobs, etc.

Did you know that $1.7 Billion is spent of 58 million pounds of chocolate to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

If that’s the case, how about celebrating love that gives back? Stop by Jubilee Exchange and check out our new arrival of Divine Chocolates and other gifts to give your special sweetheart this Valentine’s Day! Share the fair trade love that gives back to others while enjoying these delectable treats.

 

We’ve got something for everyone!

In stock: Bars for $4 (3.5 oz) and $2 (1.5 oz). 

Basic Bars: Milk Chocolate and 70% Dark Chocolate. (3.5 oz and 1.5 oz bars)

Specialty Bars: White Chocolate with Strawberries, Orange-Ginger, Pink Himalayan Salt, Mint, Mango & Coconut, Toffee and Sea Salt, Raspberries, Whole Almonds, Milk with Hazelnuts, etc. (3.5 oz bars)

For that special (aka “indecisive”) someone, we have a gift pack of 6 petite bars at $5 that give a smidgen of delightful flavors!


Why Divine Chocolates? Well, we like them because they are dedicated to “using business as a force for good.”

Divine Chocolates is a Certified Corporation B, meaning that they use their business as a force for good. They are among 2,000 businesses in 50 countries that are dedicated to redefining success in business. The Kuapa Kokoo farmers from Ghana who produce the delicious cocoa used to make Divine chocolates bring high quality care to their farming practices and collaboration with other industries. They desire their chocolate business to go further in making a lasting impact for good, not only on their communities but on a worldwide scale. Learn more about them […]

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