New homes help children entering foster care
Isaiah 117 House opens first temporary home in Middle Tennessee this week.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Children entering foster care in Tennessee no longer must wait in DCS offices until they are placed with a family thanks to several community organizations that have stepped up to help.
Isaiah 117 House opened its first temporary home in Middle Tennessee this week. The group of volunteers try to ease the toughest day of a child’s life and help with the transition into their foster home.
Brand new bedrooms and piles of toys are waiting for children in the Murfreesboro house that is filled with anything a child might need. They can live there under DCS supervision for up to three days until they find a permanent home.
“We really are changing the way foster care begins here in Rutherford County and everywhere an Isaiah House is open,” program coordinator Jess Long said. “We have resources for foster parents when a child leaves this house. They will leave with everything they need. If a foster parent needs bunk beds, we will get them bunk beds.”
Long got emotional talking about the children that have already been helped in the new home, and said they are hopeful to help hundreds of children going forward.
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The Murfreesboro location is the 14th Isaiah 117 House after the organization was founded in the Knoxville-area by Ronda Paulson. She said these homes in Middle Tennessee will help further reduce the state’s foster care instability that has been ranked as the worst in the entire country for years.
“The state has done a great job working tirelessly to get kids out of offices,” Paulson said. “But we still have children that are without placement. Those children do a lot of moving around. They’re in better conditions than an office, but they still need a place to go.”
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Trying to help as many children as possible, Isaiah 117 House is also expanding to East Nashville. An old home is set to be renovated to start hosting foster children in about six months.
“There is a huge need in Nashville,” program coordinator Jessica Biggs said. “As we have spread awareness, now we are ready to do something about it and we are ready to make this a home and to love on these kids that are in need.”
They’re also working on houses in Sumner and Robertson counties that will open this summer.
“The faith-based community has truly stepped up to answer the call,” a DCS spokesperson said in a statement. “As of last month, children in DCS custody no longer stay in offices awaiting placement. Thanks to community partnerships, these children stay in one of 28 safe and comfortable homes located across Tennessee and the Isaiah 117 house in Davidson County will make 29. These homes are not licensed group homes, as a caseworker stays with the children until they are moved to a third-party residential placement or foster home.”
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