Saint Augustine's College, Wake County Human Services Join Forces to Recruit Foster Families

8/25/2005

Wake County Human Services is joining forces with Saint Augustine's College to develop foster homes in neighborhoods where there are a high percentage of children in need of foster care. An open house for community residents to launch the project, called Hope for a Home, will be held November 6, 4-6 p.m., at St. Augustine's Family Resource Center, 311 N. Tarboro St. A foster parent, foster child and Hope for a Home representatives will present personal accounts of the need for such a campaign.

Human Services has awarded the college a $50,000 grant to establish its Hope for a Home program designed to recruit 40 new foster families in Southeast Raleigh to help foster children remain in their schools and communities and avoid group homes and out-of-county placements.

Saint Augustine's College Family Resource Center will manage the Hope for a Home project. The program will help equip foster families with the support services they need to be mentors for birth families and to accept older, harder-to-place youths. The grant is part of Wake County's Family to Family foster care and adoption initiative funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

"We need more foster families to nurture Wake County children in their neighborhoods, and Saint Augustine's can mobilize the network in the neighborhoods to make that happen," said Maria Spaulding, executive director of Wake County Human Services. "Hope for a Home is the ideal partner to achieve the Family to Family goals."

"Saint Augustine's College is an integral part of this neighborhood and as such, we are committed to making our community continuously responsive to the needs of our citizens – our neighbors," said College President Dianne Boardley Suber. "This grant provides us the venue to partner with other community agencies in a team effort to address a critical issue facing communities across the country. "

She said the Family Resource Center, coupled with Wake County Human Services, "has an opportunity to not only make a significant impact on the lives of literally hundreds of community youngsters but to create a model that may benefit the children of other communities across the state. It's a definitive step towards ensuring the quality of life for kids – all kids – regardless of the factors that created such challenging circumstances for these future adults."

Hope for a Home has enlisted a network of community organizations to provide wraparound services for foster and birth families including daycare and after-school child care, mentoring, employment and computer training, housing counseling, health care training, respite care, and other resources and referrals. Members of the network include the Methodist Home for Children, Omega Champs, Hargett Street YWCA, Centerlink, the American Red Cross, Wanda's Little Hands Education Center, Strengthening the Black Family, Inter-Community Council, Garner Road Family YMCA, Ligon Middle School, Poe Montessori Magnet School, Blacknificent Books & More, East Citizens Advisory Council, North Central Citizens Advisory Council, Tuttle Community Center Daycare, Tupper Memorial, St. Paul Church, First Baptist Church, Davie Street Presbyterian, Maple Temple United Church of Christ, Martin Street Holiness Church and Lincoln Park Holiness Church.

Kim Mouzone Best, the Family Resource Center director, said the grant enables the Family Resource Center to work even more closely with the community.

"Through our collaboration, we will expand the resources for families that ultimately will enhance their ability to successfully meet the challenging needs of children in our neighborhoods," Best said.

Saint Augustine's North Central Family Resource Center is funded by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Social Services and assists families in making key decisions about services required to meet their needs, including employment, affordable housing, academic opportunity and successful family relationship skills.

# # #

For more information, contact:

Sharon Brown, Human Services' Communications Director, 919-212-9371
Crystal Sadler, Director of Saint Augustine's College Relations, 919-516-4190

back to current news items