God’s plan is family, and the results prove it.
Imagine you can’t care for your children. Do you want them to live with a Christian family, or in an institution?
The risk of both abuse and sex trafficking skyrocket for children in orphanages. Many churches want to get involved, but don’t know how to respond beyond prayer and advocacy. Placing children in Chihuahua with local families attacks the root of human trafficking in the U.S.
God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. Psalm 68:6. God’s will is for the orphan to be in a family. God created family in the beginning of creation as a pattern for all time. Through the greatest act of love ever displayed we as orphans are adopted into the family of Christ.
Families in the Body of Christ in Chihuahua don’t receive financial support from the government or from LightShine. They bring a child into their home simply because they desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and they desire to be obedient to the many commands in the Bible regarding the orphan and the defenseless. They are making the choice to deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Jesus daily.
Residential Care
Familia LightShine
Get Involved
Donate
Your one time or recurring donation is tax deductible and will be used in the areas of greatest need. Your generosity allows the families to receive the critical training and ongoing counseling from trained professionals needed to effectively minister to children with traumatic backgrounds. Please also consider making your workplace aware of this opportunity. Read more
Church Partnership
Your church can partner with Familia LightShine! You can enable the Body of Christ in Chihuahua to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the most vulnerable. Church partnership means long-term relationship, financial commitment, and the opportunity to come and serve directly with the Familia LightShine children, families, and staff!
Communicate
The Body of Christ in Chihuahua is striving to be a father to the fatherless around them. But we can’t fulfill that Biblical mandate without the unity of the Church in the U.S. We desire the help of many more individuals and churches to be financially sustainable. Please consider spreading the word about this incredible opportunity! Read More
“Defend the orphan”
— God, Isaiah 1:17
Our vision is to mobilize and equip the Body of Christ in Chihuahua, Mexico to provide family-based orphan-care for local children in crisis.
YOU
Without prayer and financial partnership, Familia LightShine would end. Sign up for our monthly email to celebrate victories with us, and to learn how to be pray for the children, families, and Familia LightShine staff. Secondly, your one time or monthly donation enables a professional staff to educate and mobilize churches, screen and train the families, and provide them and the child ongoing counseling. We work closely with both the foster families and the government – a bridge that enables both to be successful.
CHURCH
We educate and mobilize LOCAL CHURCHES in Chihuahua to raise up LOCAL FAMILIES. We screen and train them to bring a LOCAL CHILD in crisis into their home and to love the child with the love of Christ until a permanent biological or adoptive family solution is developed. We’re with the family during every step, providing invaluable ongoing counseling. The families receive no monetary compensation, but the eternal rewards are enormous as the Body of Christ learns to be Jesus to the orphans in Chihuahua.
STATE
We are legally partnered with the Chihuahua State child protective services (DIF), and work in partnership with UNICEF, FECHAC, and other organizations. DIF identifies children in crisis in their home, abandoned, or institutionalized. After all other options are exhausted, DIF removes the child. We facilitate the child’s placement with a trained family, are responsible for the child and family’s success, and then facilitate the exit of the child when a permanent family solution is developed.
Four hours south of the border.
Chihuahua City has more than 1500 institutionalized children. Some have no family, others have been removed from their family, and others have been abandoned. Until 2016 the only legal recourse was institutionalization.
A compilation of 9 international studies conducted between 2011 and 2015 found that 50% – 90% of institutionalized children experience physical or sexual abuse. Adolescents exposed to institutional care were significantly more at risk of physical abuse than those in foster care or the general population.
A recent study conducted in Moldova found that kids who grew up in an institution are 10x more likely to become victims of human trafficking. A 2002 assessment in Zambia found that of all children engaged in prostitution, almost half were double orphans and another quarter were single orphans.
