Idea Camp: Caring for orphans

02/02/2011 nwamamas

There’s a conference coming up Feb. 25-26 to Rogers that will break the usual stereotypes surrounding the idea of orphans and their care.

Idea Camp: Orphan Care will include information and sessions with orphan care experts from all over Northwest Arkansas, the nation and the world. The real work will come when participants and those leaders come together to discuss practical ideas and solutions to very real problems. A focus will be the entire church community’s role in orphan care.

“The main session speakers will be available for questions and answers,” said Mike Rusch, co-coordinator for Idea Camp: Orphan Care. “We want many dialogues to happen where people discuss where things are falling through the cracks and then collaborate on how to fill that space.

“By that collaboration, we can come up with answers.”

The format for the event will be to have a main session where all the main speakers will take turns sharing their respective stories. Then there will be workshops where various issues will be discussed. Much of the event will be telecast live and taped for future online viewing.

Rusch said the concepts being discussed will include:

  • the global state of the orphan;
  • what happens when orphans are not cared for;
  • adoption and the foster care system; and
  • what can be done in means of pre-emptive orphan care—in other words, what can be done to prevent children from being forced to leave their parents’ care.

“We will facilitate fresh, honest and transformative conversations with leading thinkers on topics including adoption, foster care, child sponsorship, community development, U.S. and international care, trafficking and orphan care, special needs, cross-cultural and religious boundaries, and many more,” according to the event synopsis.

The event will be at First Baptist Rogers on Pleasant Grove Road.

For more information about Idea Camp: Orphan Care or to register, visit www.theideacamp.com, or these social networking sites:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theideacamp

Twitter: @theideacamp, #ICOrphan

Ning: http://theideacamp.ning.com

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