stories

It was early in the morning as Christian foster parents Sanna and Marko* began the 5-hour drive to join a training event in Finland. After their long journey they still had strength to join a full day of learning how to better serve and reach traumatized children in Finland. During the seminar for Christian foster and adoptive parents, they shared how their foster daughter Hanna* had reacted to their trip.

The evacuation of Dunkirk, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, began in May 1940, when large numbers of Allied soldiers had been cut off and surrounded by German troops during World War II. Today, we are facing a different kind of crisis: hundreds of thousands of children in Europe are orphaned or separated from their families. Poverty, war, lack of support and other desperate circumstances leave parents unable to provide adequate care, especially if their child is born with special needs. Precious young souls are surrounded not by armies, but by the four walls of an institution, growing up without the love and safety of a family.

This is the last of three articles summarising the World Without Orphans 2024 Global Gathering in Thailand.

Read the second part of an in-depth report about the 2024 World Without Orphans global forum held in Chiang Mai. The second plenary session of the 2024 World Without Orphans (WWO) global conference in Thailand, on 1 March, had the overall theme of “prevention” and featured 10 speakers.

An in-depth report of what was discussed and dreamt about at the 2024 World Without Orphans (WWO) forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “The church has the capacity to lead the effort in reducing vulnerability and ending orphanhood”.