Hope for the Fatherless

Hope for the Fatherless (HFTF) serves orphaned & vulnerable children in Ethiopia & places them into loving families through reunification, kinship placement, domestic adoption & small group homes. Founded in 2016 by Belay T. Gebru ("Uncle Ben"), HFTF believes children belong in families, not institutions. Over the past 3 years HFTF has trained and equipped 209 families to adopt within Ethiopia and placed 181 children with their forever families. Additionally, HFTF operates its Life Training Center to provide life skills and vocational training for teens launching into adulthood, as well as family-based care for single moms and their children who need support in the form of education expenses, tutoring, counseling, spiritual programs, and more to ensure their families can remain intact. Finally, HFTF operates two children's homes (Hope House and Faith House) to provide orphaned children a safe, loving, peaceful environment where they can heal and develop their emotional, spiritual, physical & educational well-being. More than 5.6 million children in Ethiopia are missing one or both parents. In 2018, inter-country adoption was banned, but there is not yet a strong culture of domestic foster care or adoption. HFTF is working to create a culture within Ethiopia that cares for orphaned and vulnerable children and promotes domestic adoption. As part of this, Uncle Ben helped to found the DEBO Alliance—a group of like-minded Christian ministries within Ethiopia working with orphaned and vulnerable children. DEBO’s annual Orphan Summit brings together Ethiopian families, NGOs, businesses, churches, government officials, child-welfare practitioners, and others to educate and discuss ways to increase the growth and impact of family-based services, including domestic adoption, to the orphaned and vulnerable children of Ethiopia. Over the past six years, culture is changing as Ethiopian families hear & faithfully respond to God’s call to care for the orphan & adopt!