News-Leader staff
Howard County will be the 44th in the state to start The Call this Saturday. There will be an informational meeting of the organization which promotes foster homes at 10 a.m. in the Scrapper Dome.
Two advocates of The Call program and foster homes spoke to the Nashville Rotary Club last Wednesday, March 1.
Jodi King and Charles Blue both emphasized the shortage of available homes to take in abused or neglected children.
King said that right now there are more than 5,200 children in foster care in Arkansas, and there are only about 1,600 homes.
“Children are meant to be raised in a home,” she said, and there are not enough homes.
Blue said that until he and his wife, Ginger, became a foster care home, “I didn’t realize how bad the crisis was.” The Blues were recently recognized with the Community Heroes Award by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. He said that The Call had shortened the length of training time for couples.
“We need more local foster homes,” he said, because without them, the children must be uprooted from friends and school at a time when they need stability the most.
The Call is a faith-based program which recruits and trains foster parents.
Presiding at Wednesday’s meeting was the club’s treasurer, Donny Woods.
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The Call to launch Saturday in meeting at Scrapper Dome
The Call of Howard County will launch Saturday morning, March 11, from 10-11:30 at the Scrapper Dome.
The public is invited to attend and support foster families and kids and learn how to help.
There will be games, prizes, a bounce house and slide, and other activities for children, according to organizers.
