By Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home
MONROE – Since 1899, Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries has been providing love, care and a positive Christian witness to children and families in need. Over the years, God has enabled the Children’s Home to expand its Residential Child Care ministry in Monroe to include Sellers Maternity Ministries in Baton Rouge and Granberry Counseling Centers with eleven locations across the state.
Since 2003, Dr. Perry Hancock, President & CEO, has been focusing on the question, “Where are the children who need us and how can we meet their needs?” Answering that important question has created many new opportunities for the Children’s Home to move forward with its mission. More recently, the answers to that question have provided three new life-changing ministries.
Where are the children who need us?
[img_assist|nid=7144|title=Mobile Pregnancy Care Center|desc=In May 2011, the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries will launch its Mobile Pregnancy Care Center.|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=253]1 They are homeless with their mothers. Louisiana has one of the highest child homelessness rates in the nation. Single mothers with children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
How can we meet that need? HomePlace was established in January 2010 to provide homeless children and their moms with a safe, stable, transitional home for 6-12 months at no cost. In conjunction with HomePlace, the Christian Women’s Job Corps of Monroe was established to support these women and others in the community who need job and life skills training. The goal of HomePlace and CWJC is to help these families move from dependency and despair to a future of self-sufficiency and hope.
During 2010, HomePlace served 15 mothers, 26 children and made over 150 referrals to other community resources. Two of these mothers accepted Christ! CWJC completed three semesters of training with 22 women graduating. One of these women was saved and 15 rededicated their lives to Christ!
Where are the children who need us?
2 They are in the Louisiana state foster care system – over 5,000 on any given day – with only 2,200 foster homes available for placement. Many of these children are available for adoption.
How can we meet that need? Louisiana Baptist Foster & Adoption Network was established in January 2010 to connect children in need with Christians and churches who care.
During 2010, the Network provided nine regional conferences on foster care and adoption ministries in the local church, established two off-campus foster homes, completed home studies for 2 domestic and 3 international adoptions, provided one post-placement supervision for a domestic adoption, and made many referrals.
In 2011, the Louisiana Baptist Foster & Adoption Network will sponsor two workshops designed to help churches discover how God might want to use them on behalf of the orphan. Your Church and the Orphan™ workshops are scheduled for Saturday, April 9 at First Baptist Church New Orleans and Saturday, April 30 at Woodridge Baptist Church, Shreveport. Please call 1.800.358.6329 to register.
Where are the children who need us?
3 They are in their mother’s womb with the possibility of being aborted. In 2008, according to the Guttmacher Institute, 14,860 women obtained abortions in Louisiana, producing a rate of 16.1 abortions per 1,000 women age 15-44. The rate increased 38 percent since 2005, when it was 11.7 abortions per 1,000 women. Since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, almost 500,000 children in Louisiana have been lost to abortion, close to 53 million in the United States
How can we meet that need? In May 2011, LBCH&FM will launch its Mobile Pregnancy Care Center (MPCC). The MPCC will be an extension of Seller’s Maternity Ministries and its mission will be to save the lives of God’s unborn children who are threatened by abortion and to provide a positive Christian witness for women facing a crisis pregnancy. The MPCC will travel across the state offering free pregnancy testing and free ultrasounds, along with literature and counseling. Nearly 90 percent of women who receive and see an ultrasound of their unborn baby, along with counseling, choose life for their baby.
The MPCC will team up with local crisis pregnancy centers, churches, and associations for ministry opportunities and make appearances at local health fairs, festivals, and other public events. Many women across the state who are unable to get to a crisis pregnancy center will be exposed to the needed resources that can help save the lives of their unborn children. The MPCC schedule will be posted at www.pregnancyanswers.net.
Many, many thanks to all who pray for and support the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries in its many efforts to provide love, care and a positive Christian witness for children and families in need. Thank you Louisiana Baptists for helping us to move forward with the mission God has given to us!