The number of Colorado children in foster care who were eligible for permanent adoption was recently cut in half thanks to a vital partnership between churches and government.
The program is a perfect example of how faith-based organizations can partner with government to best utilize the strengths of both.
Colorado had nearly 800 children who were eligible for adoption after their parents had lost parental rights when Focus on the Family kicked off its Wait No More adoption initiative in November 2008, The Denver Post reported. By early 2010, there were 365 children eligible for adoption.
We have long believed there is a strong, pragmatic argument in support of such efforts. The U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from “establishing” a religion, but it doesn’t require the government to be hostile to faith-based efforts dealing with social problems.
Faith-based charities often have been at the forefront of aid efforts in recent years, whether it be Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Thailand or the more recent disaster in Haiti. Washington should continue to support this good work on a local level, as well.
One of the biggest misconceptions about faith-based initiatives, according to Joshua DuBois, the head of White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, is that government’s job is simply to dole out cash to organizations. DuBois stresses that his job is to connect government with the right kind of faith-based organizations to deal with specific community problems.
This past week, the 25-member advisory council for the White House began laying out its proposals for the future of faith-based initiatives. (Its final report will be released Tuesday.) The group says its recommendations will call “for greater clarity in the church-state guidance given to social service providers so that tax funds are used appropriately and providers are not confused or sued.”
We hope the proposals not only offer communities better understanding of how to avoid problems but also offer more avenues to get involved. In the end, we agree with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who cut to the chase in a recent column praising the work of Christian charity groups in Haiti: “If secular liberals can give up some of their snootiness, and if evangelicals can retire some of their sanctimony,” Kristof wrote, “then we all might succeed together in making greater progress against common enemies of humanity, like illiteracy, human trafficking and maternal mortality.”
Fortunately, Colorado is showing the country that it can work.
