For our American friends out there, we hope you enjoyed a wonderful time with family and/or friends, giving thanks to the Lord for all that He has done and continues to do. Here in Cambodia, as well as for many of you in other parts of the world, Thursday, 28th November was just an ordinary day. But, whether you just celebrated an official holiday or not, it’s a great opportunity and reminder for us at CIF to express our thanks to all of you and to praise God for sustaining us throughout this past year. That was, after all, what the first Thanksgiving was about.
So, THANK YOU! Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your giving. Thank you for helping us to ensure that children are being cared for in strong, healthy, loving families.
Our Mission
If you look at our website, you will see that our mission is:
“Supporting children to be raised in families through the provision of family-based care and community-based services and advocating for the importance of families for children’s development and wellbeing.”
Despite being a relatively small local NGO, CIF continues to lead the way here in Cambodia to support national and international policies promoting family-based care as the healthiest way for children to grow up. Despite all of the advocacy that CIF and others have done about the huge difference between family-based care and residential (orphanage) care, we continually encounter people who contact us about wanting to support an orphanage. It provides another great opportunity to educate people, but it also points out that many people are still unclear about how important this issue is. If you would like resources to help increase awareness about this, the Faith to Action Initiative is a great place to start.
This video is nine years old, but the message is the same (click photo to see the video on YouTube):
“Chetra” (name changed to protect his privacy) is one of the many children CIF has helped to be legally adopted by his foster parents.
Out of the Mouths of Babes
I was talking recently with Chanthida, our Family-Based Care manager, about some of the children in CIF’s foster care who had been demonstrating some challenging behaviors. What turned out to be the root was their desire to be adopted. They loved their foster parents and they had gotten old enough to recognize that adoption was what would secure them permanently in the family. Chanthida told me that as CIF has helped to secure more and more adoptions, the children themselves are asking their foster families to adopt them. If children who have been in loving, committed foster families for years still long for this kind of security, imagine what it feels like for children growing up in an orphanage. So, once more, THANKS for your commitment to walking alongside us!
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17
Lisa and the CIF team
December 2-3, 2025
36 hours, starting at midnight EST on December 2nd
Having stable funds to operate really impacts our ability to support stable families for children. Please prayerfully consider a one-time gift or, even better, a monthly commitment to keep the work of CIF going strong! Giving Tuesday is the perfect time to do it because GlobalGiving’s $500,000 in available matching funds means that every gift has the potential to go that much further!
