Invisible Orphans

When we think of orphans we often think of babies. Sometimes we think of the 6, 7, 8, 9 year old. And then even more rarely we think of the teenager who is left with no one to take care of them, bouncing around foster homes, or maybe even living in a group home. But how often do you think about the 18 year old who aged out of the foster-care system and is now thrown into the world to be an "adult". These are the invisible orphans who often have no one stable in their life let alone a family. Here are few statistics to show you the impact this is having on our society.

The number of orphans:

On any given day more than 500,000 youth are in some form of foster care cross

the United States. Nearly 80,000 live in California.

Nationally, each year an estimated 20,000 of these youth emancipate or “age out” of

the foster care system, and are discharged from the system, whether or not they

are prepared to transition to adulthood. About 25% of these youth live in California

(In 2005, 4,249 youth emancipated from California’s foster care system).

What happens to the orphans:

Within 18 months of emancipation 40-50% of foster youth become homeless

Nationally, 27% of the homeless population spent time in foster care.

A history of foster care correlates with becoming homeless at an earlier age and

remaining homeless for a longer period of time.

65% of youth leaving foster care need immediate housing upon release.

70% of teens who emancipate from foster care report that they want to attend

college, but less than 50% complete their high school graduation and fewer than

10% of who graduate from high school enroll and college, and of those less than 1%

graduate from college.

50% of emancipated foster youth experience high rates of unemployment within 5

years of emancipation.

Forty-two percent (42%) of foster youth, including 60% of women, become parents

within 2.5-4 years after exiting care.

Parents with a history of foster care are almost twice as likely to see their own

children placed in foster care or become homeless than parents without this

history.

Females in foster care are six times more likely than the general population to give

birth before age 21.

25% of former foster youth will be incarcerated within the first 2 years of

emancipation.

I know that's a lot to take in but that is just the tip of the iceberg. So what do we do with this information? We decide to make a difference even if it is in a small way. The best part is when we are faithful to love God is faithful to do big things. Things that are bigger then we ever thought possible. ReGenisis rising in Orange County is a perfect example of this. For an example of what God can do with a few faithful people all you have to do is take a trip on over to their website.

http://www.regenesisrising.org/

Now wouldn't it be cool if we had a ReGenisis in every town?

Who I am

The song "Remind Me Who I am" by Jason Gray has really been speaking to my heart over the last month. If you haven't heard it yet maybe I can inspire you to take a listen.

When I loose my way

And I forget my name

Remind me who I am

In the mirror all I see

Is who I don't want to be

Remind me who I am

In the loneliest places

When I can't remember what grace is

Sometimes I think our biggest pitfall is that we let our sin shame us. The problem with shame is that it just leads to more sinning. Shame leaves us feeling unworthy of the love and freedom that has been given to us through Jesus. It doesn't matter how big or little we perceive our sin to be. Whether it is before we accept Christ or after. He died for all of it. We need to walk in forgiveness and freedom.

This is something I still struggle with. I have fallen down a lot while walking with the LORD and at times I have been crawling on the ground. I repented of these things and have reconciled with those I sinned against but I held on to shame. A couple weeks ago I had a light bulb moment Jesus didn't come to shame me in my sin, He came to free me from it! I hadn't realized how much shame I had been carrying with me. It was time to be free! These were sins that no one knew about, even from the girl who shares her story on a regular basis. I couldn't say those things though. What would they think? Well guess what.... it doesn't matter. Jesus covered all of it!!!

Get up and live in Freedom! That's what Jesus died for!