Teens Interceding for Orphans (TIO) discussion

Introduce yourself to the group. Who are you? What sparked your interest in orphan care and what makes you passionate about it? How have you and/or your family been involved in orphan care?

Hello everyone!!

My pen name/nick name/whatever is Tw Wright or just plain Tw. The first thing that sparked my interest in orphans was the book George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans by Janet and Geoff Benge. And their other book about Gladys Alward. I have only been involved since joining TIO.

Hi, I'm Amanda. I've been involved with orphans since ten years ago, at four years old when I accompanied my parents to China to adopt my younger sister. Unfortunately I don't remember very much from the trip. ;) I have another younger sister, also from China, and as they are my only sisters...I can say adoption has impacted my life in a rather large way! Recently I've become interested in domestic adoption as well, and the foster care system. :)

Anyway, that's me I suppose!

Amanda wrote: "Hi, I'm Amanda. I've been involved with orphans since ten years ago, at four years old when I accompanied my parents to China to adopt my younger sister. Unfortunately I don't remember very much fr..."

Whoa! that would be awesome!!! :D

Amanda wrote: "Unfortunately I don't remember very much from the trip."

Isn't that the most annoying thing about doing things as a little kid?

So neat that you have two adopted sisters! What got you interested in domestic adoption and foster care?

Leah wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Unfortunately I don't remember very much from the trip."

Isn't that the most annoying thing about doing things as a little kid?

So neat that you have two adopted sisters! What got ..."

Yes, very annoying! xD Well, a few families at our church are really involved in short-term foster care, so I've gotten to take care of their foster kids in Sunday School classes more than once...:) I've also read some stories in the newspaper and some fictional stories too about adoption and foster care, so I guess just the fact that I heard about it interested me? :)

Oh. That's cool. I wish we had families like that in our church. Is it challenging doing Sunday school with them or do they mostly behave like the other kids?

And which fictional stories have you read? I'm always looking for new ones!

Leah wrote: "Oh. That's cool. I wish we had families like that in our church. Is it challenging doing Sunday school with them or do they mostly behave like the other kids?

And which fictional stories have you ..."

They were all really little, so they pretty much just acted like all the other 1 and 2 year olds. :) I know they had one instance where they actually had to stay home from church one week because their 2-year-old knew some, ah, "interesting" words that they didn't want him to teach to the other toddlers...

I think they were mainly short stories and it's been a while since I read any, so unfortunately I don't remember what they were called. Sorry!

Haha. Yeah, that would be awkward.

Aw. That's too bad. I understand the problem, though. The story that really jump-started me back into adoption stuff was a short story in a reader and I can't for the life of me remember which reader it was or what the story title was.

Leah wrote: "Haha. Yeah, that would be awkward.

Aw. That's too bad. I understand the problem, though. The story that really jump-started me back into adoption stuff was a short story in a reader and I can't fo..."

Oh, sigh...don't you just love when you can't remember the titles of books and things? "I remember what it was about, but the title...uh...I think it had the word 'blue' in it?"

Amanda wrote: "Oh, sigh...don't you just love when you can't remember the titles of books and things? "I remember what it was about, but the title...uh...I think it had the word 'blue' in it?"

Oooh, yes. That's so frustrating! Thankfully advanced searches on Amazon can usually clear that up for books.

Hi, my name is Taylor. I want to be a missionary when I'm older. So I was reading about Amy Carmichael when I got interested with orphans. I've read some fiction books about orphans. I also went on a mission trip to Zimbabwe to give orphans shoes and socks. I'm really glad I found this group.:)

That's so neat that you've been on a missions trip, Taylor! Welcome to TIO.

My name is Bri, and I developed a heart for orphans when some good friends of mine became interested in orphan hosting. Their goal was to bring to siblings from Latvia to America for the holidays, and two years later they are working towards adoption! I've watched these two kids grow in Christ and and it's my goal to give more like them the same opportunity, and bring hope to those who haven't been as blessed. I have a very strong passion for kids all over the world but especially those in Latvia, and I'm very excited about this group and what may come of it.

That's such a neat story, Bri! I've heard that a large majority of orphans who get hosted in the states end up getting adopted.

What are some interesting things you know about orphans in Latvia? It's not a country I've heard much about.

I don't know a lot about latvia, just what these two's host mom has told me, but from what I can tell Latvia is very similar to Russia. Prostitution is huge which is where most of the orphans come from, and sadly where most of the girls end up when they age out of the orphanage. The kids are highly discouraged from pursuing adoption, and are given the wrong impression about leaving the orphanage. Elina and Gundars, the two I know, were terrified when they first came here and had been told they were going to die. Even now elina is hesitant about adoption because she knows that during the process her friends in the orphanage will disown/abuse her out of jealousy. They are taken care of in the orphanage, but are completely unprepared for life and when they age out at 16, most of them commit suicide, or go into prostitution/criminal activity. Many big changes are happening in Latvian orphanages, and I really feel like God is going to do something amazing over there soon!

The whole prostitution thing that most orphan girls get dragged into when they graduate is so heartbreaking. And that's sad that the kids in Latvia are afraid to get adopted. I don't think that's as much of an issue in Ukraine (the like-Russia country I'm familiar with).

Elina and Gundar are neat names!

Wow, I LOVE that you all want to help orphans.

My name is Michelle and I have an adopted daughter from Russia. She was in an orphanage when we adopted her at 25 months. She's 18 now. But a friend of mine went to Ukraine when she was 19 (ten years ago) to help the children in the orphanages. She's amazing and sends photos of the children there with their birth dates so we can send cards and pray for them.

I wrote a book about a RUssian teen orphan and published it last month. It's called SCATTERED LINKS. It's getting great reviews.

But if you are interested in orphans you need to learn about RAD, reactive attachment disorder. I'll be blogging about this tomorrow so I'll share the link. It's sad and many times orphans have this problem. They don't know how to give love because they've never learned how to love, so their behavior is awful.

My novel shows a little of how and why they act the way they do. But there's a horse in the story too, so that's fun! I think.

I've done some research about RAD already, Michelle, and plan to do some more soon. I'd be interested to see how you handle it in your book.

Does your friend in Ukraine have a website or blog? Her ministry sounds really neat.

Thanks for commenting, Michelle!

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I'm Medomfo