Samaritan’s Place is an effective children’s home in the Philippines with a successful adoption program. Marilen and Marc Morris oversee this fruitful ministry for orphaned children.
“When is it my turn?” “Will I be next?”
These are just some of the questions often asked by orphaned children when one of their friends in an orphanage finally gets to leave with an adoptive family. As heartbreaking as these questions are to hear asked, especially when grabbing your hand or sitting beside you with longing eyes, the more poignant moments come when a child distances him/herself from everyone as you break the news one of the other kids has been chosen by an adoptive family. The unspoken pain of wanting to belong in a family is in every child’s heart.
The term “Forever Family” is widely used in circles of adoption. It is a concept used to describe the sense of permanency, of having been chosen, of not being left behind. For adoptive parents, it gives assurance that the child they have adopted will not be taken away from them. For believers like us, it is a descriptive term that reminds us “family” is one of God’s institutions to demonstrate His eternal plan to adopt and make us His very own.
Like other licensed child-caring institutions, Samaritan’s Place exists to bridge the gap and help children who have known great loss; loss of parents, a sense of security, and of feeling protected. Our part, then, is to care for these orphaned children … for a time. With a goal to prepare them for adoption—legally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally—we try to do it with the utmost excellence. They are worth it—to Him and to us!
When an orphaned child is admitted at Samaritan’s Place, we first conduct due diligence in searching for family members that might want to take them. We make sure all possible chances of reunification have been exhausted. If that is not possible, and no forever family is found for them in the Philippines, their journey then begins toward a foreign forever family.
Christ’s words in James 1:27, to care for orphans, reverberates true in our hearts as we do our part in living out pure religion and undefiled. As long as orphaned children in the Philippines need a place, we will be here for them. Our prayer at Samaritan’s Place, though, is that we would all lose our jobs, because that will mean every child has a home and a forever family.
To learn more, please visit samaritansplace.com. To support the ministry of Samaritan’s Place through Church of God World Missions please refer to project number 062-0001-019.
(Source: Church of God World Missions)