Children in Need. Children Ignored. | John DeGarmo, Ed.D.
Published: July 03, 2019
Dr. John DeGarmo is a leading international foster care expert and consultant. He is the director of The Foster Care Institute, and acts as a consultant to foster care agencies and legal agencies across the USA. His talk is about the foster care crisis in America, and how more children are being placed into foster care, yet there are not enough homes. Dr. John DeGarmo is a leading international foster care expert and consultant. Dr. DeGarmo has a B.A. in History, a Masters in Media Technology, a Masters in Educational Leadership, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Walden University. He is the author of several foster care books, including the new book The Foster Care Survival Guide, the best selling book Faith and Foster Care, as well as the foster care children's book A Different Home: A New Foster Child's Story. He is the director of The Foster Care Institute, and acts as a consultant to foster care agencies and legal agencies across the USA.
Dr. DeGarmo is married to Dr. Kelly DeGarmo, who hails from Australia, and the two of them have six children, both biological and adoptive. Dr. DeGarmo and his wife are also currently foster parents to three siblings, bringing their household to nine children. Dr. DeGarmo has been a foster parent for dozens of children for over a decade now. He has a passion for foster children, and is driven to bring education and insight into general society about all things foster care. Dr. DeGarmo and his wife are the recipients of the Good Morning America Ultimate Hero Award, and the Up With People Every Day Hero Award. The two also were honored with their city's Citizens of the Year Award.
Adoption as a solution for children without parents
Both Ends Burning promotes adoption as a solution for children without parents. We exist to create a culture of adoption and to help facilitate changes in the current system. Adoption can serve as a champion for human potential, and as a responsible society we should be encouraging and promoting the practice of adoption.
Cross-cultural studies of children have found that the length of time spent in conditions of social deprivation, like orphanages, correlates with a wide array of psychological and developmental challenges. Children living in institutional settings are at significantly higher risk for developing learning problems, behavioral issues and language disorders. There are ample amounts of studies that validate a child’s development is dependent on a healthy and stimulating environment however, the current international adoption trends show an almost 60% decline in the number of children adopted since 2004. The average international adoption takes 3-5 years to complete leaving innocent children to spend their most formative years languishing in institutional settings. We believe that this is in direct violation of human rights and one of the greatest social injustices of the decade.
Growing up in a family is a child’s most basic human right. Today that basic human right is denied, in many cases, simply due to a dysfunctional adoption system. Both Ends Burning works to protect and advocate for the rights of orphaned children in an effort to minimize the devastating effects of institutionalization, while stressing the importance of protecting birth parents and ensuring that proper safeguards are in place for the children.
The Both Ends Burning Campaign is uniquely positioned to be the central umbrella organization to promote a culture of adoption and to implement policy change. One division of the campaign is The Culture of Adoption Movement, which exists to create awareness, promote adoption as an option, and make every child’s right to a family an important, relevant, social issue. The other division of the Both Ends Burning Campaign is the Adopt advisory/policy services, which is the advocacy division designed to work with stakeholders to produce policy and process reform.
We are also producing a feature length documentary film that will serve as a catalyst in educating the world about the importance of international adoption, and the current crisis it is in. The film will reveal the full scope and complexity of international adoption today, showcasing the successes as well as the struggles in the modern-day efforts to find permanent families for parent-less children. Filming has taken place on four continents and features child development experts, policymakers, families, and the biggest stakeholders of all: children. The purpose of the film is to help the average person understand the issues and ultimately put pressure on leaders to produce change.
Both Ends Burning has assembled a very distinguished Board of Directors and partnerships with many child welfare experts and organizations. This collective leadership has positioned Both Ends Burning as a responsible force to produce positive social and systematic changes so that more children in the years ahead will have the opportunity to grow up in a family.
