Evangelical charity launched to rescue Britain’s vulnerable children

Exactly 75 years after the government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain activated Operation Pied Piper to whisk children out of harm's way as World War Two loomed, another rescue mission is being launched for vulnerable children.

Back then, children in London, Cleethorpes, Grimsby, Coventry, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and other cities were evacuated to safe locations out of the reach of German bombers.

Today, a different crisis looms as more children are being taken into care than ever before –one child every 20 minutes –with another 6,000 children awaiting adoption. The Evangelical Alliance is persuaded that if at least one family per evangelical church open their homes, this crisis would be resolved.

From tomorrow, 1 September, Home for Good – the Alliance's church-based campaign to promote adoption and fostering is launching out to become a full charity working to solve the problem affecting tens of thousands of vulnerable children.

General director of the Alliance, Steve Clifford, says that Home for Good goes with the prayers and blessings of the entire Alliance family:

"In the same way that Tearfund was incubated and birthed out of the Evangelical Alliance nearly 50 years ago, so it is a delight and privilege to now be releasing Home for Good as an independent charity.The impact of the Home for Good campaign over the last two years has been extraordinary.The combined efforts of Care for the Family, Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) and the Evangelical Alliance, led by Krish Kandiah, a foster carer and adoptive parent himself, has seen the issue of adoption and fostering explode into the consciousness of evangelical Christians all over the country. With an enormous challenge before us with 6,000 children still awaiting adoption and more than 9,000 in need of fostering, the Church in the UK is already responding.We have made contact with hundreds who are already serving God in responding to this need.So we release Home for Good with our blessing and prayers and will continue to cheer on this inspired initiative."

Dr Krish Kandiah, executive director of churches in mission at the Alliance, says that the birth of this new charity on the 75^th anniversary of Operation Pied Piper is an indication of not only the mammoth task that lies ahead but the will and determination to safeguard children in need:

"It has been a privilege to lead the Home for Good campaign as a director of the Evangelical Alliance. The support we have received both from the Alliance staff, Care for the Family and CCPAS has been overwhelming. With more children than ever coming into the care system in the UK we took the decision that Home for Good needs to become its own charity to make sure every child that needs a forever family finds one. We believe the Church is uniquely placed to help find thousands of children the homes they need;indeed it is a vital part of every Christian's calling to play their part in caring for the vulnerable."

A government survey has shown that religious people were reluctant to step forward in the belief that the authorities would not allow them to foster or adopt but that myth has now been dispelled. Since its launch a year and a half ago, Home for Good has reached more than 250,000 Christians with the message about fostering and adoption, 200 churches took part in the first ever national Adoption Sunday, in Southampton alone 70 church-goers applied to be foster carers, while across the country hundreds have attended seminars and events to find out more about fostering and adoption. On 2 November this year, Home for Good will host its second annual National Adoption Sunday in churches in the UK.