COME JOIN IN THE FUN! Join us on Monday, April 19th for the annual  Agape Child & Family Services Kids Classic Golf  Tournament at the TPC Southwind. Golfers can enjoy lunch at the club before teeing off at noon for the best ball event. After finishing their round, golfers will enjoy a dinner and awards ceremony.

Sponsorships of various levels are available.

To register call or e-mail Jessica Moore (Jessica.Moore@agapemeanslove.org)  of Agape Child & Family Services at 901-323-3600 or to learn more about TPC Southwind, go online at www.tpcatsouthwind

earthquake

The calls have already started pouring in at Bethany Christian Services, a private agency that handles domestic and international adoptions.

“Just in the last couple of days we’ve received about 10 phone calls here locally in Memphis,” said Elizabeth Burton, the agency’s executive director. “Families are responding to what just happened in Haiti.”

Families want to open their homes permanently to orphans, but international adoptions are complicated even in the best of times.

“It’s important to know that right now, with the chaos and the grief and everything that’s going on, the priority right now is the children that are already free for adoption,” Burton said.

This week the Department of Homeland Security announced the United States will, for humanitarian reasons, grant visa waivers to Haitian children who were in the process of getting adopted.

“Just today visas were granted for almost 60 children at God’s Littlest Angels, who were already identified as orphans and free for adoption to travel to the U.S. on humanitarian parole,” Burton said, referring to one of two orphanages in Haiti that partner with her agency.

But for other families who want to adopt, “it will not happen fast,” said David Jordan, executive director of AGAPE Child & Family Services, Inc. “If you’re not already in the process, it will not happen fast.”

Even children who eventually find homes in the U.S. face a tough road, Jordan said.

“Maybe they weren’t an orphan at the time [of the earthquake], and you lost your parents and you became an orphan now so you have all these loss issues,” he said.

The uncertainty that clouds the future of the orphans also haunts their past.

“The government has to make sure that these children are true orphans and that they truly are available for adoption,” Burton said. Still, she said those who want to give these children homes shouldn’t be discouraged.

“It is important to go in with your eyes open to know that it’s going to take some time,” Burton said.

Jordan said “the need is still there.”

“I don’t want to discourage any family that wants to adopt,” he said. “The important part is to listen to your heart, make that call, then go through the discernment process to discern is this really right for me and my family.”

This golf scramble, sponsored by Valero Refinery, will benefit Agape Child & Family Services. Interested parties should contact Agape at 901.323.3600 for more information.

SHAWN R. LILLIE

Shawn R. Lillie, an attorney at Allen, Summers, Simpson, Lillie & Gresham, practices in labor relations and employment law. He represents many large national and international companies and management clients before the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor and various other federal and state agencies.   Just one of the many questions he was asked in the interview is printed below.

Q: How do you like to relax and spend your spare time?

A: I am actively involved with our church, that’s the Germantown Church of Christ, and … my relaxation is being able to do things with my church or with AGAPE Child & Family Services – I serve on the board there – and they do wonderful work, so I like working with them. And I provide pro bono legal services for them; they have a great mission, so I like doing things like that. The past couple of years, I’ve been able to go to Ukraine on mission trips to work with some of our missionaries and some of the different groups of the Ukrainian Bible Institute, so I like doing that. Ukraine’s a neat place to visit. … Anything you can do to help (the people) they are so thankful for, and it’s really neat. They’re really warm and loving people, and I enjoy doing things like that, when I can help others. That may be strange, but that’s fun for me. That’s what I like to do.