A North Carolina non-profit is working to give children in foster care a safe place to call home.
The organization, known as Fostering Hopes, was started by decade-long foster care worker, Alex Williams, in an effort to help keep siblings in foster care from being separated — the state of North Carolina limits how many children can be in a home.
“It’s very, very difficult to find a family that’s got the capacity to take two, certainly three, children,” Williams spoke of the housing issue among foster children.
If a house within their county cannot be found, sibling groups are often split up across the state. Williams added that this practice only “compounds the trauma they go through”.
An estimated 50% of the nearly 20,000 children in foster care are placed outside of their home county, according to Williams. In Buncombe County alone, nearly a third of foster children are relocated to other counties, due to a lack of available housing.
In order to meet the housing needs of the foster care system, Fostering Hopes has partnered with H3 Collective to build houses designed for foster families.
“We have a home that is a pure family setting where we’re going to have a licensed foster parent couple, this is their job, this is what they do, this is their focus,” Williams said.
The first new home is being constructed in North Buncombe County. The 3,600 square-foot home will have 5 bedrooms and 2 bonus rooms. It is designed to house 5 children, the maximum usually allowed under one roof by state regulations.
The goal is to match the home with a pair of licensed foster parents who will operate as “professional foster parents”. The house will be provided to the foster family free of charge.
“We have a home that is a pure family setting where we’re going to have a licensed foster parent couple, this is their job, this is what they do, this is their focus,” Williams said.
“The intention is to provide hope to children who typically find themselves without it,” Williams said.
“We hope to keep siblings together, to keep children in their home communities and provide dedicated families or parents for children who need them the most.”
These homes, he said, “provide a base and focus to provide that hope within communities.”
