One Orphan

When we first met Children's HopeChest, we watched One Orphan:

Here, some young orphanage graduates share some of what their lives were like before the orphanage and some of the challenges of leaving the orphanage on their own. Their family experiences were painfully devastating, and their stories are familiar. In 1998, Human Rights Watch reported that 95% of children in orphanages have living parents, meaning these children bear the scars of knowing a parent is either unable, unfit, or unwilling to care for them. It's a lot for any heart to take.

We talk a lot about adoption. The best place for a child is in a safe and nurturing family, and adoptive parents have one of the most important and wonderful jobs on earth. But despite attempts to increase adoption within Russia, a very small percentage of the nearly 4 million orphaned or abandoned children are adopted.

I have heard some stories of what it means to be an orphan in Russia. I have heard that in Russia, a child's soul comes from his or her mother. If a child doesn't have a mother, the child doesn't have a soul. I have heard that in order to abandon your child, you must have 'bad blood.' If your mother had bad blood, you must also have bad blood. You hear Natasha sharing that she used to feel like the 'trash of society.'

This is why HopeChest focuses on relationships. No amount of financial aid alone can save a child from the dire future that awaits orphanage graduates in Russia. The statistics translate into real stories. HopeChest staff has lost children and young adults to violence, drugs, crime, prostitution, and suicide. But they have also seen children discover who they truly are, who they were created to be. They have nurtured children toward healing and healthy, restorative relationships. Our children begin to understand that they are valuable, important, loved and treasured.

The young adults speaking in the One Orphan video have changed their lives with the love and guidance of HopeChest staff and sponsors. They now work with Fund Nadezhda (HopeChest in Russia) to share their hope with other children in the orphanage systems, showing them that they have choice, that their future can change.

Beyond orphanage sponsorship, HopeChest works in Ministry Centers and Family Centers. The Ministry Centers are a gathering place for orphanage graduates, where they can maintain contact with friends and mentors as they are out on their own or in tech school. The Family Centers are independent living, where the graduates live with or near each other under the supervision of healthy adults. We believe that the support found in these programs is crucial to ensuring that the graduates are able to not only survive, but thrive out in the world. They are on their own but never alone.