Over the past year, a Tennessee organization has begun to change the process of placing children into foster care in an effort to make the transition smoother and more comfortable for the children.
Sponsored solely by individual donations of time and money, homes are springing up in Tennessee communities where children can go instead of sitting in a Department of Children’s Services office to wait until they are placed with foster families.
Isaiah 117 House is a nonprofit with a mission to provide a temporary house that is a comfortable place for children, and now the group is raising funds to purchase and start a home in Rutherford County.
“It’s just a home, with a backyard, a playground, snacks, comfy blankets, a bathtub to get cleaned up . . . so the kids get what they need and feel comfortable while they wait for a foster family,” said AlLee Dauenhauer, program coordinator of Isaiah 117 House Rutherford County.
“We are changing what it looks like when a child enters foster care,” Dauenhauer said. “When children are removed from their home, they are removed from their family, pets and everything. It could be a few hours or overnight while they wait for a foster family. That’s really hard for the kids, and it is also hard for DCS case workers because they have a lot of paperwork to do while also caring for a kid who is under a really hard time. The DCS worker has to feed them, and they might have to go purchase lunches or diapers for a baby.
AlLee Dauenhauer
“With our help, it’s a better situation. A volunteer hangs out with the child while the case worker is able to focus on the paperwork to place the child with a foster family sooner.”
Isaiah 117 House opened its first house in Elizabethon, Tennessee, in 2018, and is working on eight more houses in Tennessee, including the one in Murfreesboro and one to serve children in Coffee, Franklin and Grundy counties, as well as another house in Indiana.
The local DCS staff seems very supportive of this effort.
“I can’t say enough on how much Isaiah 117 House in Rutherford County would mean to the Department of Children’s Services,” said Taminko Amuzu, Rutherford County Team Coordinator at DCS. “Helen Keller wrote: ‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.’ The hard work, dedication and effort to bring a much needed resource to the community of Rutherford County is unbelievable,” Amuzu said. “Isaiah 117 House will serve as a place for foster children to go while waiting on a placement instead of an office setting. Not only will Isaiah House 117 provide that safe, nurturing and welcoming environment to our youth, it will also provide a work place for our staff to be productive in their work and still be present for that child in our care.”
Isaiah 117 House founder Ronda Paulson started her organization to create a place where these children know they are loved.
“This is my dream for the Isaiah 117 House,” Paulson said about her mission. “Isaiah 1:17 says, ‘defend the cause of the fatherless.’ I believe that is what God is calling me to do. I see a home with a girl’s bathroom, a boy’s bedroom, fully stocked bathroom, playroom, nursery . . . I see a team of volunteers, two at a time, on call to greet ‘the least of these’ when they need love the most.”
Children can get baths, nice clothes and warm blankets, Dauenhauer said. Some children are removed from unsanitary and unhealthy living conditions, and these children are assisted with whatever they need at Isaiah House.
They are finding that foster families also feel this support. She said sometimes a foster family gets a call such as, “we have three kids, they all have lice and we want to bring them to your house.”
If the children go to the Isaiah 117 House first, they can get a lice treatment, take a bath and have dinner.
“Then the call to the foster family sounds like, ‘We have three kids. They are at Isaiah House. They have already had a lice treatment, they are in pajamas, fed and ready for bed. The foster family is quicker to say yes.”
To make this happen, Isaiah 117 House needs help from community members, whether that means going to one their monthly meetings to offer ideas, providing contracted services on the construction of the house or donating financially.
They have raised $10,000 with lemonade stands and T-shirt sales. Their goal is to raise $150,000 toward a house purchase, said fundraising chair Bryanna Bell. This will not be enough to purchase a house at market price, but may be enough to get a house. A house in another county was donated in part, at a lower price, and in another case a land donation was made, where a house was built.
Isaiah 117 House will have a big fundraising luncheon on Friday, Dec. 6 from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Patterson Park Community Center.
It is free to attend and volunteers are needed to host tables. Table hosts are asked to invite 8 to 10 of their friends, said luncheon chair, Melissa Anesi. At the end of the lunch, guests will be asked to donate.
“No matter how much you can afford to donate, we want you to come and learn more about the house,” she said.
“Isaiah 117 House exists to reduce trauma for children on the day of removal, to come alongside caseworkers and be an extra set of hands, and to ease the transition for future foster parents,” Paulson said. “We are striving to change the way foster care begins. We are currently working to make the community aware of this need, and we ask for their help in making the dream of a Rutherford County Isaiah 117 House a reality.”
For information on Isaiah 117 House and its ongoing community expansion meetings, visit isaiah117house.com or the Isaiah 117 House Facebook page or contact AlLee Dauenhauer at allee@isaiah117house.com.
