Change the World Through Adoption – A Look at Lifeline Children’s Services

LIfeline Adoption

How is Lifeline’s Mission Accomplished?

We partner with the local church.

Lifeline is here to help the Church respond to the command in James 1:27; “to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” We acknowledge the church is the Bride of Christ, and while our Staff, as believers are discipling, equipping, and engaging people to care for the fatherless, it will ultimately be accomplished in and through the Bride of Christ- His Church. Lifeline seeks and prays for missional families who understand that this journey is so much greater than our own plans, timeframes, and desires, and who ultimately want God’s Glory in the end.


What do we do?

Domestic Adoption 

In 1981, Lifeline began to promote the sanctity of life through domestic adoption services. Lifeline ministers to the needs of young women in the midst of unplanned pregnancies by providing counseling, and spiritual, emotional and medical support to women who need help. In addition, we offer the option of maternity home care. Lifeline Village is a place where women can live during and in the months following their pregnancy. Here they are counseled, supported, and encouraged as well as provided the prenatal medical care they may need. We thank the Lord for the 1,000 children Lifeline has placed into forever families domestically.

International Adoption 

Lifeline began responding to the needs of orphans internationally in 1999 and currently has 17 country programs. Lifeline offers a full range of consulting and social services to prospective adoptive parents designed to minimize the stress, time and costs associated with the successful adoption of a child internationally.

Foster Care 

Lifeline has partnered with local churches and the family and child services agency in multiples states (currently, AL, GA, and TN, with other states in development) to recruit, train and license Christian foster families for children in the foster care system, starting in Alabama and expanding elsewhere. For many children and families who have never been exposed to the Gospel, our foster parents are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to these in need.

Crossings

Lifeline provides training for families adopting through Lifeline’s Crossings Curriculum. Crossings is an interactive training intended to help prepare and equip families for the joys and challenges that come with the journey of international adoption. The information is presented from a Biblical and Christian worldview with an emphasis placed on adoption of older children and children with special needs. Some topics addressed during Crossings include: understanding development, behavioral effects of trauma, neurochemistry changes, sensory processing disorder, parent attachment styles, behavioral change, healthy attachment, and other relevant issues. The education provided during Crossings has been derived from a number of reliable resources highlighting Trust-Based Relational Intervention® presented by the TCU Institute of Child Development. Crossings also provides the opportunity for adoptive families to ask questions, meet other individuals who are on the adoptive journey, and hear from those who have gone before them in this process. We are expanding Crossings to incorporate more in-depth domestic adoption, foster care, and birth parent training resources.

(un)adopted 

Throughout the world there are more than 153 million orphans. Once these children reach a certain age (around 16 years old), they are released from government care to make it on their own without any aid. The call to rescue the orphan in distress cannot be fulfilled through adoption alone. (un)adopted, a ministry of Lifeline, exists to provide a hope and a future for orphans around the world by facilitating a safe environment to disciple and equip children in need. Visit unadopted.org to learn more.

Change The WorldLifeline Children’s Services is very excited to be a Change the World Sponsor for the 2014 Teach Them Diligently Convention.  Lifeline’s heart is to provide a hope and a future to children in need through the Gospel.  We do this through discipling, engaging and equipping people towards adoption, foster care, education, and international orphan care ministry.  There are over 153 million orphan children around the world and over 400,000 children in the US foster care system…as believer’s we are called to care for the fatherless.  In 2014 we would love to partner with your family and your church to share the gospel and care for the fatherless around the world.  www.lifelinechild.org