Written by Lenora Kruk-Mullanaphy

Bethany Christian Services, an international nonprofit organization that supports vulnerable children and families through social services, was created to help families thrive. Since aiding one child more than 75 years ago, the organization now impacts thousands of lives in more than 30 states and around the globe.

Bethany Christian Services assisted nearly 235,000 people in 2019, a record for the organization, according to Senior Vice President of Global, Refugee and Immigrant Services Dona Abbott. Statistics show there are more than 79 million forcibly displaced people in the world—a majority are women and children. Bethany works with local churches and governments to connect children in need with adoptive and foster families in their countries of origin.

The nonprofit also helps families struggling to stay together by providing them with resources and the training to guide them to self-sufficiency.

There are plenty of ways to help a child, including:

• Foster Care Adoption: More than 25 percent of children in foster care in the U.S. are waiting to be adopted. The goal of foster care adoption is to unite children with a stable, nurturing family.

• Infant Adoption: When an expectant parent chooses adoption for a baby, Bethany offers support and helps find adoptive parents they desire for their child.

• U.S. International Adoption: Children living with emotional, physical or cognitive challenges deserve a loving home. When Bethany is unable to find a family to adopt a child in their own country, it prepares a willing and ready one in the U.S. to adopt him.
• Adoption Around the World: Whenever possible, Bethany works to connect children in need with adoptive families in the child’s country.

Bethany Christian Services (Adoption & Foster Care) is located at 1616 Stafford Avenue in Fredericksburg. To find out more about the organization, fostering and adopting, as well as volunteering and donating, visit https://bethany.org/locations/us/virginia/fredericksburg, or call 540-373-5165.