Read key facts about the small, yet growing, black immigrant population in America.

By Bob Smietana

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Bible has a lot to say about caring for orphans.

Protestant churches in the United States appear to be listening.

About 4 in 10 Protestant churchgoers say their congregation has been involved with adoption or foster care in the past year, according to Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

That may be because the Bible tells them to, said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research.

“Foster care appears to come naturally for churchgoers,” he said. “It’s not surprising, since the Bible commands them to care for widows and orphans.”

Foster care, adoption are commonplace

Since the early 2000s, many Protestant churches have commemorated “Orphan Sunday” every November to draw attention to the plight of orphans around the world.

In the past, they’ve often focused on international adoption and orphanages. But in recent years, foster care—both in the United States and abroad—has become a focus as well.

LifeWay Research’s survey of 1,010 churchgoers—those who attend a Protestant or nondenominational church at least once a month—found 25 percent say someone from their church has been involved in foster care over the past year.

Seventeen percent say someone from their church has adopted a child from the U.S. in the past year. Fifteen percent say someone from their church has adopted a child from another country.

Those at larger churches, with 250 or more in attendance, are most likely to know someone in their church who has provided foster care (37 percent). Those who attend smaller churches, with fewer than 250 in attendance, are less likely (20 percent).

Those who attend nondenominational churches (39 percent) are the most likely to know someone who has fostered children.

Churchgoers from nondenominational churches are also most likely to know someone at church who had adopted a child from the United States (25 percent). Baptists (15 percent), Lutherans (12 percent) and Pentecostals (10 percent) are less likely.

Churchgoers from larger congregations are more likely to know someone who had adopted from abroad (30 percent) than those from smaller churches (7 percent). So are those from nondenominational churches (34 percent).

White (20 percent) and Hispanic (15 percent) churchgoers are more likely than African-American churchgoers (4 percent) to say someone from their church has adopted a child from another country.

Church leaders don’t speak up

 Still, church leaders in general don’t talk much about adoption, according to LifeWay Research’s survey.

• Fourteen percent of churchgoers say church leaders have encouraged families to consider adoption.
• Twelve percent say church leaders encouraged them to become involved in foster care.
• Eight percent say church leaders raised funds for families that are adopting.
• Six percent say church leaders provided training for foster parents.

Overall, about half (45 percent) of churchgoers say their church has had no involvement with or conversation about foster care and adoption. Leaders at smaller congregations are less likely to encourage families to consider adoption (8 percent) or foster care (8 percent), to raise funds for adoptive families (5 percent) or to provide training for foster parents (2 percent).

Leaders at larger congregations are more likely to encourage families to consider adoption (23 percent) or foster care (20 percent) and to raise funds for adoptive families (15 percent) or provide training for foster parents (13 percent) than smaller congregations.

White (15 percent) and Hispanic (22 percent) churchgoers are more like to say their church’s leaders encouraged families to consider adoption. African-American churchgoers are less likely (6 percent).

Adoption and foster care are most commonly mentioned among nondenominational churchgoers. Twenty-nine percent say their church’s leaders encourage families to adopt. Twenty-six percent say their church’s leaders encouraged families to provide foster care. Fourteen percent say church leaders raised money for adoptive families. Twelve percent provided training for foster parents.

The number of adoptions in the U.S. has declined slightly in recent years, according to National Council on Adoption, from 133,737 in 2007 to 110,373 in 2014. That coincided with a decline in international adoptions, which dropped from a high of 22,989 in 2004 to 5,370 in 2016, according to the State Department.

According to a 2015 report from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 427,910 children were in foster care, with 111,820 waiting for adoption.

“There may be no greater expression of the Christian faith than extending hope and love to children whose birth families are not able to able to care for them, ” said McConnell.

Bob Smietana is senior writer for Facts & Trends.

Methodology:
LifeWay Research conducted the study Aug. 22 – 30, 2017, using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Initially, participants are chosen scientifically by a random selection of telephone numbers and residential addresses. People in selected households are then invited by telephone or by mail to participate in the web-enabled KnowledgePanel®. For those who agree to participate but do not already have internet access, GfK provides at no cost a laptop and ISP connection.

For this survey, a nationally representative sample of U.S. Protestant and nondenominational adults (18 and older) who attend religious services once a month or more often was selected from the KnowledgePanel®.

Sample stratification and base weights were used for gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, metro/non-metro, home ownership, education, and income to reflect the most recent U.S. Census data. Study-specific weights included for gender by age, race/ethnicity, region, and education to reflect GSS 2016 data. The completed sample is 1,010 surveys. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.1 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

LifeWay Research is a Nashville-based, evangelical research firm that specializes in surveys about faith in culture and matters that affect churches.

Download the research

 

Worldwide, an estimated $574 billion (USD) was sent by migrants to relatives in their home countries in 2016, a 1% decline from 2015, when the amount was $581 billion, according to economists at the World Bank.

Remittance flows decreased worldwide for a second consecutive year in 2016, the first back-to-back decline in over three decades. Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean, however, rose to a record high.

Among the trends reshaping the U.S. workplace, more Americans see outsourcing of jobs, more immigrant workers and imports as negative rather than positive forces when it comes to their livelihoods.

The vast majority of women still take their husbands surname after marriage.

So, where does the tradition of taking the husband’s surname come from and how has it evolved over the years?

This tradition goes back many hundreds of years, to patriarchal times when it was almost unquestioned that a woman would take on the husband’s name. However, since then we’ve certainly seen a lot of change.

Across Western Europe, even if a bride might socially take on their spouse’s name, people keep their maiden names for life. In China the tradition of changing a name after marriage is not commonplace, and in Russia it is very uncommon to take on a new surname after the wedding.

In the Spanish-speaking world, it is very common to adopt both the mother’s and father’s name, and give their children a double-barrelled name.

What about in Australia?

Australia is quite conservative, with more than 80% of brides taking on the groom’s surname. About 10% of women keep their own name and this number is growing, particularly as women study later, engage in more education, and get established in their career longer before getting married.

Watch the full interview including real-life case studies below.

Many Many Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and members of some evangelical churches say abortion should be illegal. But among other religious groups, many support legal abortion.

When the two policies are taken together, 54% of Americans both favor legal status for immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children and oppose expanding the border wall.

The most ideological members of Congress shared news stories on their Facebook pages more than twice as often as moderate legislators between Jan. 2, 2015, and July 20, 2017, according to a new Pew Research Center study that examined all official Facebook posts created by members of Congress in this period. The analysis included links […]

A majority of Americans say 2018 will be a better year than 2017, a shift from a year ago when public expectations were far less positive.

Most of the United States’ 20 largest immigrant groups experienced increases in naturalization rates between 2005 and 2015, with India and Ecuador posting the biggest increases among origin countries.

The share of U.S. women at the end of their childbearing years who have ever given birth was higher in 2016 than it had been 10 years earlier.

There are three main ways to measure fertility. None of them is “right” or “wrong,” but each tells a different story about when births bottomed out.

When Americans are asked why more students don’t pursue a degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM), they are most likely to point to the difficulty of these subjects, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. About half of adults (52%) say the main reason young people don’t pursue STEM degrees is they think these subjects are too hard.

While there are many reasons that Americans get science news, the most common driver of attention to science news is curiosity, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center study. But people are also motivated to seek out science news for different reasons depending on the issues they care about most, with the environment being a prime example.

Across 37 countries surveyed in the spring of 2017, a median of 48% say they closely follow news about the U.S., compared with 50% who do not. Interest in news about the U.S. is highest in Canada, where 78% say they track it closely. Next highest is the Netherlands (75%), followed by some of America’s closest allies: Japan, Germany and Australia. Across 10 European nations, a median of 51% say they follow news about America closely.

In the four decades that the current system for budgeting and spending tax dollars has been in effect, Congress has managed to pass all required appropriations bills on time only four times.

It was January 1948 that the Commonwealth Arbitration Court gave official ascent to the 40 hour, five day working week in Australia.

The public push for this work-life balance often included the symbol of ‘888’ with the accompanying statement of the daily ideal: 8 hours’ work, 8 hours’ recreation and 8 hours of sleep. However, 70 years on, it seems that this balance has alluded most Australians.

When it comes to discretionary time that is not allocated to either paid or unpaid work (such as housework and caring responsibilities), working Australians are enjoying around 3.5 hours per day.

Across every age group, Australian men have more leisure time, on average per day, than women. The average adult male in Australia has 34 minutes more leisure time than the average female which equates to 4 hours per week.

The 2016 Census data shows that we are still working long hours in paid employment too. Of those with a job, 2 in 5 are working beyond the 8-hour day, and way beyond it when commute time is included.

The resulting time pressure and stress, particularly amongst women

Women feel more stressed and pressed for time than men in Australia, with 35% of Australian men and 42% of Australian women in this ABS study released in September 2017 stating that they were always or often rushed or pressed for time.

Women are almost five times more likely than men to feel this way due to demands of family.

Men are as likely to feel no time pressure as constant time pressure. Women are much more likely to often/always feel rushed and pressed for time than to never/rarely feel this.

Eight hours of sleep? Closer to seven

Data: sleepcycle.com

Reporting: smh.com.au

Women outworking men in total time spent in work

Over the last decade, women have increased their paid work hours while men have plateaued here. While men have marginally increased their unpaid weekly work hours, it has done little to close the gap with women.

Total time spent working (paid and unpaid) by women in Australia significantly exceeds that of men in couple households, regardless of whether the woman earns more, less or the same as the man.

Watch Mark McCrindle's full interview on Ten News Here

Blacks have long outnumbered whites in U.S. prisons. But a significant decline in the number of black prisoners in recent years has steadily narrowed that gap to the point where it is half as wide as it was in 2009, when America’s prison population peaked, according to new data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In 2017, Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade, but unified GOP control of the legislative and executive branches didn't lead to a burst of lawmaking.