birth parents

What do you think of when you hear the word “orphan”?  Do you picture a grown man or woman?  More likely you picture a skinny little girl with torn clothes, shoeless, a tear streaked face and left to fend for herself.  Or maybe a severely malnourished little boy peaking out from behind the bars of a crib – blank stare on his face. or·phan [awr-fuhn] noun
 a child who has lost both parents through death, or, less commonly, one parent. a person or thing that is without protective affiliation, sponsorship not authorized, supported, or funded; not part of a system; isolated; abandoned (adjective) The first dictionary definition of orphan is a child who has lost both parents through death.   But did you know that many orphans who are being cared for here in the US and across the globe have living relatives?  Among the children who we advocate for in Kenya more than half have living relatives, many even have a living mother or father.  But simply being alive does not automatically mean a mother or father is able to lovingly care for a child.  Illness, drug use, alcoholism, poverty, mental illness, neglect, abuse, age, lack of resources or […]