disturbing stats

Today I was shown some very disturbing facts about orphans and adoption. Over at the Livesay's blog from Haiti she had this site listed and I am finding it very eye opening and also disturbing at the same time.

Please go and explore this site for lots of more information.

Here are a few of the points on there:
* 143 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents.
* Armed conflicts orphaned or seperated 1 million children from their families in the 1990's.
* 87.6 million orphans life in Asia
* 43.4 million orphans life in Sub-Saharan Africa.
* 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.
* Almost 1.5 million children live in public care in Central and Eastern Europe.
* More than 800,000 children pass through America's foster care system each year.

Here are some stats on Adoption and Waiting children in the U.S.
* Between 118,000 and 127,000 children have been adopted every year since 1987.
* MORE THAN 1/3 OF AMERICANS HAVE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED ADOPTING, BUT NO MORE THAN 2% HAVE ACTUALLY ADOPTED.
* On average, children waiting for adoption have been in foster care for 43.8 months, almost FOUR YEARS.

These stats make my jaw drop to the ground. I pray and urge God to never let me get complacent with these figures. I know that something needs to be done.

Is it wrong of me to question why more people are not adopting orphans? Is it wrong to wonder why more Christians are not stepping up to the plate and bringing an orphan into their home to love and cherish for all of their life? Is it wrong of me to wonder how we Americans can stand it to sit in our nice houses and pretend to do nothing about these children that do not have parents?

I will tell you something. I can not sit here. I can not fathom not doing anything for them. I urge you to ask God and yourself what it is that you can do. Find an organization that supports people. Send them money. Find an organization that allows you to "adopt" a child and support them each month for about $40 a month. What is $40?

For me, I can not know that there are children that do not have parents and do nothing. One day we'll be adopting again.