Almost 1,000 foster children in Metro Nashville area

Churches called on for help with foster care
WKRN-TV, May 29, 2007.

Nashville Mayor Bill Purl is calling on churches for help, asking the faith community to get more involved in the lives of 1,000 foster children living in the Metro Nashville area .

The mayor's program, called Faith in Foster Care, and along with recognizing how much the faith community helps already, is asking or pleading for more help as foster children grow older and grow out of foster care.

Reverend Neely Williams knows first hand about life in foster care.

She's a grandparent of a foster child, one of nearly 10,000 living in Tennessee.

Reverend Williams said, “They're coming into the system with multiple problems. The things that rendered them to the system in the first place are the things that still need to be addressed.”

An estimated 9,590 foster children live in Tennessee, 1,000 in Metro Nashville.

Of those, 17% live in either group care or in instructional settings. Nearly 1,800 are waiting, hoping to be adopted; a process that on average takes nearly four years of their childhood.

Reverend Williams believes people of faith can make a big difference in those numbers.

She said, “What better way could we demonstrate that love than providing whatever support we can for thosethat are caught in situations that render them to the state of life that says 'these are the least of these."

People in the pews already make a big dent in the number of children waiting to be adopted.

Faith is the motivation behind many, if not most foster parents.

This month, churches in the Nashville area received information and a request for pastors to mention from the pulpit, how much the foster care program depends on the faith community and how others are needed to step forward.

“Let's just say if we did more, how big a difference could that make and I think it's more than we can even imagine,” said ReverendWilliams.

One of the most pressing needs right now is not foster families to take children into their homes permanently.

About half of the foster children in Tennessee will soon grow too old for foster care.
Williams said those teenagers need mentors to call with questions and for advice.

For more information on helping with foster care programs, visit www.faithandethics.com