Bethany Christian Services is shifting its focus to assisting in-country adoptions instead of bringing international children to the U.S.
“Bethany began serving children in South Korea because orphanages were overwhelmed with vast numbers of healthy infants,” the nonprofit said in a statement, according to Relevant Magazine. “Today, many children who can’t be cared for by their own families are being adopted into loving homes in their country of birth. This is a good thing, and we praise God for it. Our decision to phase out international adoption is not a criticism of the program, but a reflection of our desire to serve children in their own communities.”
In its 40 years, Bethany ushered nearly 15,000 children into loving Christian homes. But, in recent years, the overall number of international adoptions has dropped from 30,000 children in 2004 to a little over 4,000 in 2018. This is in part because of many country’s changing adoption laws, including Russia, Guatemala and Ethiopia, who have completely closed the doors to international adoption.
As Bethany shifted with the times, the nonprofit began to see a new way to help orphaned children.
“The future of adoption is working with local governments, churches, and social services professionals around the world to recruit and support local families for children and to develop and improve effective, safe in-country child…
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