Orphan care conference to be held Saturday at Cape church

There is nothing simple or easy about adopting an orphan or a child in foster care, and there are many things a family should consider before taking such a step, say sponsors of a Saturday conference on the subject.

Dr. Barbara Sorrels, executive director of the Institute for Childhood Education in Tulsa, Okla., will be the primary guest speaker during the Fearless Orphan Care Conference from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Lynwood Baptist Church, 2935 Lynwood Hills Drive in Cape Girardeau.

Having adopted two children each from Guatemala and Ethiopia, respectively, in recent years, co-sponsors Shari Stroup and Rebecca Underwood of Cape Girardeau have seen their adopted children through difficult transitions.

Those topics and others will be broached during the conference, which is the first of its type in the area, Underwood said.

A total of 14 organizations are involved, including the local Room for One More adoption assistance group. Admission is $10.

Noting that an increasing number of couples in Southeast Missouri are adopting children from the United States and foreign countries, Underwood said, "My husband, Nick, and I wanted to expand our family after we had four children, so we adopted our 8-year-old daughter in April 2012 and our 6-year-old son last Halloween.

"This first year has been an adjustment for everyone in the family, but we are very glad they are in our family and we are happy to have them here. We have kept our son in contact with his biological family in Ethiopia, and that has helped."

Underwood said her adopted children have sometimes found American culture as big of a change as the differences in their homes and families.

"They were overwhelmed going to Target because they weren't accustomed to seeing that much stuff," she said.

Underwood said they had never seen an escalator or elevator but reacted differently upon encountering those.

"My daughter was afraid and wouldn't get on, but my son liked them," she said. "He thought they were like carnival rides."

Sorrels said in an email to the Southeast Missourian that she has five goals: "to make people aware of the impact of trauma on the healthy growth and development of children; the impact of trauma on brain development; the importance of unconditional love and warm, responsive relationships to the healing process; how secure attachment relationships are established; and the realities of everyday life with a traumatized child."

Asked the numbers of orphaned children statewide and worldwide, she wrote, "The latest statistics I can find indicate there are approximately 10,000 children in Missouri foster care system and 4,000 available for adoption.

"Most are not 'orphans' in the typical sense. Many have parents who lost custody due to neglect and abuse. Not all children in the foster system are up for adoption as they are placed with a relative."

Sorrels said there are at least 153 million orphans worldwide.

"Children in foreign countries are more likely to be truly orphaned due to the deaths of both parents," she said, adding that China, Russia and Ethiopia are the sources of most foreign adoptions in the U.S.

Pertinent address:

2935 Lynwood Hills Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.