Waiting for a Father: Hearing the Heart-Cry of the Orphans of the World

The heart-cry of every child without parents-a cry to be loved and to belong-told through the story of one boy named Jacob. For over two decades, Gary Stephens, his wife Helen, and their four biological children lived in Hong Kong. There they worked with Vietnamese refugees, then founded several homes for orphans and assisted with local and international adoptions. Later, their work spilled into mainland China, when they learned of baby girls being abandoned in alarming numbers, innocent victims of the one-child policy. Gary and Helen acted, helping to found an orphanage in a city in southern China. But the heart of this story is their son Jacob, who was born without eyes and subsequently abandoned. Underweight and sickly, two-year-old Jacob had lived in four different institutions before they found him and brought him to their home for children with special needs. They adopted him in 1998 and have spent the last sixteen years reclaiming what was lost in those first two. Waiting for a Father is a story of hope and reconciliation, of people who did not look away, who instead opened their hearts to a child who needed them. This inspiring message is a call to action: to help empty the orphanages of the world… one child at a time.

The father of five, Gary lives with his wife Helen and his son Jacob in Montrose, Colorado, and works for the international medical charity Mercy Ships.Carmen Radley met Gary while working as a writer for Mercy Ships in West Africa. She earned an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin.The father of five, Gary lives with his wife Helen and his son Jacob in Montrose, Colorado, and works for the international medical charity Mercy Ships.Carmen Radley met Gary while working as a writer for Mercy Ships in West Africa. She earned an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin.