That's right - we moved!! The HCW international headquarters in now in Fairfax, Virginia (Greater D.C. area) and our global south office is in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.
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 The global church is finding its way back to the ancient foundations of family restoration. Today this shift is creating brighter futures for children and families around the world. This is the story of where we come from and why it is important. “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” The prophet Isaiah echoed this timeless truth in a far deeper way: “Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.” The Father Heart of God The God of the Bible has always been for the family. He loves His people so deeply that He was willing to sacrifice Himself to build a bridge between a fallen world and His holiness, so that we could be adopted into a family union with Him. Those who have encountered this radical, transformational love have carried it as a blueprint for extending God’s love to the rest of the world, so that many more could experience it too and find their way into the Father’s arms through Jesus Christ. One of the most tangible expressions of that love is caring for children who lack parental care. It’s worthwhile to pause and recognize how the Church has lived out this calling throughout history, and how it continues to embody it today.  The Early Church and Vulnerable Children In the earliest days of Jewish faith and Christianity, caring for orphans and widows wasn’t a program, it was a way to worship God and a way of living, taught by the Holy Scriptures. The early church embraced the vulnerable as part of their God-given family. There’s no evidence that the orphanages existed in the first century, but the children in need were surrounded by caring communities like extended relatives, neighbours and fellow believers, living out their faith by taking in the children who had lost their parents. When Orphan Care Changed Over time, however, this biblical, deeply relational model began to shift. As plagues, wars, and poverty left growing numbers of children without parental care, the church sought new methods and solutions to respond to the growing crisis. Institutions were created to house and educate the children in need. During the Industrial Revolution, orphanages became more common and spread across in the larger cities of Europe and North America, often built to remove children from poverty and danger, train them in moral discipline, and in many cases prepare children for labor or service. The followers of Christ never stopped responding to the call to care for the most vulnerable. Yet, while following these new methods, the heart of that mission - the individual child - was sometimes overshadowed. The new model for caring for orphans often had cracks in its foundation, but many churches kept building on it, believing it was the best way to help. In the colonial era, Western Christian missionaries brought this institutional orphanage model to many regions in the Global South, where it had not existed in the same form. Over time, institutional care became the default, even in places where extended family structures remained strong, disrupting the traditional care systems like kinship care and community support.  Returning to God’s Design But today, something remarkable is happening. A growing number of churches and faith-based communities across the globe are reclaiming their roots. From Sierra Leone to South America, from Kenya to Cambodia, Christians are leading the way in deinstitutionalizing care and restoring children back to families. They’re investing in family strengthening, kinship care, foster care, and community support systems, choosing models that reflect the heart of the early church: personal, loving, and rooted in relationships. “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”  The global voice of the Church has begun to rise. It carries a new tone that echoes the sound of the Father. This voice is shaking the unjust foundations, increasingly taking responsibility for the past mistakes and pointing back to the ancient way of wisdom and the power of selfless love. It’s a radical faith in action. Orphan care is changing as the global Church reclaims its roots; recalling ways that strengthen families, empower communities and are placing children back to the family environment where they are surrounded by love, care and belonging. The future of orphan care is not in buildings, but in belonging, so that every child can grow up in the safe embrace of a family.
Dig Deeper: Scripture and Resources
The Church’s call to love, restore, and welcome children into families is deeply rooted in Scripture and history — here are some key passages and resources to help you go deeper and live it out. God’s Heart for Family & Adoption
If you follow our communications, you may have noticed that HCW uses two different words to describe the relationships that govern our work. We use two specific terms on purpose: partnerships with the organizations that join with us in supporting others, (ie., U.S. churches, volunteers, and donors) and allyships (with local and community-driven organizations that we support). That distinction isn’t semantic. It’s a guardrail. Because if we talk about these relationships as if they’re the same, we quietly import expectations that don’t belong, and we can unintentionally recreate power dynamics we’re trying to undo. Someday we may again be comfortable in using the same term to speak of both, but that will come after people have fully embraced global development models that don’t tend to infect the relationship with dependency and counterproductive power dynamics.  Two relationships. Two kinds of responsibility. HCW’s work sits in the middle of a triangle:
All three matter. But the relationships are not interchangeable, and each has a specific role and responsibility. Partnerships: shared mission, shared stewardship When we say “partnership” in describing a relationship, we’re naming something with defined expectations:
Partnership is a mutual commitment where resources and accountability are central, because stewardship matters. When people give sacrificially, they deserve clarity about what their gift is doing, and what it’s not doing. Allyship: local leadership leads, outsiders support When we say “allyship” with local organizations, we’re naming a different posture:
Allyship is often a relationship where one party could yield disproportionate power and exert control (usually resources, access, global voice), but instead intentionally chooses to use that power carefully to avoid destruction of sustained progress. Allyship means we show up with humility and seriousness:
Allyship isn’t charity with a nicer label. It’s solidarity, skill, and accountability.  What this looks like in practice Here’s what we try to do, consistently: With churches and donors (partnership):
With local organizations (allyship):
And in the middle, HCW’s role is to hold the center with integrity:
A word to our supporters: this is your lane too If you’re a donor or church partner, this distinction is good news. It means HCW won’t use your generosity to create dependency or to override local leadership. It means you’re not funding an image, you’re funding an empowerment shift:
That shift is slower. It’s messier. It requires more radical honesty. In the context of care reform, we’ve seen it’s the only way real change happens. The bottom line We call churches and donors partners because stewardship and shared mission matter. We call local organizations allies because local leadership, power-awareness, and long-term capacity matter. Different words. Different responsibilities. Same goal.
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Rising Tides
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- About HCW
- 2026 Register Charity Golf
- News
- Allies and Programs
- Give Now
-
Get Involved
-
Resources
-
Rising Tides
>
- About Rising Tides
- Rising Tides 2026: Rooted in Reality Youth Summit
- Rising Tides 2024 & 25 Catalyzing Global Change for Care Reform
- Rising Tides Conference 2023 - Global Health
- Rising Tides 2021 - The Case for Child Reintegration In the Global South Conference
- Rising Tides 2020 Conference - Orphan Care
- Rising Tides: The Future of Global Missions
- Family Reintegration Resources
- Global Health Resources
- Child's View Picturebooks
- Child's View digital downloads
-
Curriculum, workbooks, books & videos
>
-
Rising Tides
>
- Child's View Storybooks
- Optimistic Voices Podcast
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©2017 - 2021 Helping Children Worldwide
All donations in the United States are tax-deductible in full or part. | Donor and Privacy Policy
©2017 - 2021 Helping Children Worldwide
All donations in the United States are tax-deductible in full or part. | Donor and Privacy Policy
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