Feature
Feature
“Our philosophy includes looking at what it means to educate families, advocate for families, and support families—what does that look like practically?”
Kathy had recently committed her life to Jesus, and was inspired by a sermon from Bart Campolo (urban minister, speaker, and writer) in which he shared a story about a Sunday school teacher reaching out to girls who had been abused. “From that moment on, I knew that I wanted to work with kids who needed some extra love,” Kathy says. “Right out of high school I majored in social work at Malone, and was in class with Krista Bridges [’97]— daughter of [the late] Jim [’66] and Velma [(Schmucker) Bridges ’67] who founded Pathway Caring for Children. I volunteered with them and did an internship there, and also at Stark County Children’s Services. I have always wanted to work with vulnerable children, and have spent many years working out what that looked like in my life.”
COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS. Ash ’96 and Kathy (Batig) Bell ’97 are part of a dynamic Christian ministry—Reclaim Orphans—who advocate for local and global adoptions in an attempt to live out a biblical calling to care for orphans. (previous spread) Standing behind the Bells are other families in their community. The Bells are in the process of adopting children from their city, Raleigh, N.C.
{22} Malone Magazine | Spring 2012
What that looked like has turned into quite a journey. After graduating from Malone, Kathy worked for Summit County Children’s Services while her husband Ash ’96 served as a pastor at Salem First Friends Church. [Ash, who was reared in VanWert Friends Church, met Kathy at a Friends summer camp in Ripley, W.Va. The pair started dating at Malone and married after Ash graduated.] They welcomed children Hannah and Noah soon after college then served a church together in Florida for several years as Kathy was home with the children. Eventually they moved to Raleigh, N.C., where Kathy began to pursue a master’s degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the family began attending an urban church plant called Vintage 21.
The couple is now a vital part of a powerful ministry of the church called Reclaim Orphans, where Ash serves as director of business and development; Kathy is director of post-adoption support and education. The organization, launched in 2010, is a nonprofit whose goal is to educate, equip, and engage the Church to prevent, care for, and adopt orphans worldwide. In addition to their roles of leading families through the adoption process and building intentional communities of adoptive families, Ash and Kathy are themselves in the process of adopting older children. “We’ve always wanted to adopt, but wanted to wait until our biological children were old enough to be able to talk through situations,” Kathy says. Vintage 21 has a sister church called “Sojourn” in Uganda, where there are an estimated 2.7 million orphans due to the AIDS crisis. The Bells initially looked to adopt children with HIV and were given a referral for 8- and 14-year-old boys several months ago. Because child trafficking is so rampant there, the Bells enlisted the aid of an investigator and learned that the boys were not orphans and that neither boy was adoptable. In fact, the Bells were asked to file a formal complaint with many organizations because of the depth of fraud and child trafficking investigators uncovered through their case. However, Vintage 21 partners with Sojourn in its Family Development Ministry with the stateside program being called “Plant Uganda” which provides biblical counseling,
family development, and mentoring services to families in the village of Wabigalo—as well as school sponsorship for children. The Bells support a little boy through Plant:Uganda. “This holistic approach that provides care and discipleship for the family as well as education for the child is what we love about Plant:Uganda,” says Kathy, adding that the call for the Church to care for orphans is a global and local one: according to UNICEF, there are an estimated 163 million orphans in the world—including 500,000 children in foster care in the United States. The Bells also have begun the process to adopt locally. The call to care for children, Kathy believes, can be carried out in a number of different ways. “Our philosophy includes looking at what it means to educate families, advocate for families, and support families—what does that look like practically? We try to help families who are called to adopt—or called to support adoption financially,” Kathy says. “Also, when you’re adopting, you learn that kids with traumatic backgrounds can’t always be parented in the same way as biological kids, so we support parents and educate them to understand the needs of the children … to find the balance of structure and nurture and to help them find their voice. We especially want to be a resource for parents.” Ash’s responsibilities center on finding funding for families as they go through the adoption process. Reclaim Orphans has been able to help families adopt six children so far, both internationally and domestically. “There are a lot of people who would make great parents and feel called to adopt, but money is their biggest obstacle,” Ash says. “There are others who recognize the calling to care for orphans, but don’t feel that they can adopt children, so they are willing to help orphans find homes by providing funding.”
PREPARED FOR SERVICE. Kathy majored in social work at Malone, knowing that she wanted to work with children. She gained valuable experience while volunteering and interning at Pathway Caring for Children and Stark County Children’s services.
As Kathy and Ash continue working out what it means to care for vulnerable children, they look forward to welcoming a sibling group into their family soon.
Malone Magazine | Spring 2012 {23}