Foster Care

The state of foster care in Tennessee is in crisis. More children than ever need temporary, safe homes compared to the amount of open foster homes. Nationwide, a child is placed into foster care every two minutes, so the need is great. In Tennessee, more than 8,000 kids are in the foster care system with only around 4,000 certified foster homes available.

The transition from childhood to adulthood can be a lot to handle alone, but it’s very much a reality for people in the foster care system. Around 20,000 age out of the system every year,

Lawmakers recently passed legislation making extended foster care available to more youth in Tennessee. This means that more young adults who ‘age out’ of the foster care system, usually at the age of 18, are now eligible for an extension of foster care services until they turn 21.

Plans can change in a variety of ways. That was the case for Amy Abbott. Amy was looking for an opportunity to give back to the community, and she found that in fostering.

Several years ago, Mia Flowers felt moved to research fostering kids, but it wasn’t until she was reading the Bible with her husband, Ben, that the idea solidified for them both.

Youth Villages celebrates an adoption story on National Foster Care Day. Even the best laid plans don’t go as planned, and that also goes for foster care and adoption. However, for Chinishe Ray, her plans to adopt have gone as expected not only once but twice.

Dominique and Kevin Gill continue to change the lives of children in foster care—children like Andrew who was adopted by the Gills in 2020.

Remember, Jonathan and Jaywanna Neal adopting Christopher in 2019, well the family celebrated another adoption this past year adopting Maliki in May of 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. The family wasted no time adopting Maliki as soon as he became available for adoption.

Becoming a foster parent is a special opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child, both as a short-term commitment to their health, safety and well-being, but also with a lifelong impact

Richard and Alvin Lewis had been married for five years before Richard began looking into fostering and adopting.

The Mullins family was drawn to the idea of fostering and adopting in late 2019 after being married for 10 years.

Everyone looks for a second chance. Maybe even a third or fourth.

After years of praying and contemplating how to have children, Kellie and Jared Anderson decided in early 2020 to consider foster care and adoption.

As Mikki approached their 18th birthday, they were about to age out of foster care…

Stacy Howell has been a foster parent for almost three years. During this time, she has fostered countless children, many of whom have successfully returned home. Most recently, Stacy fostered a sibling group of three for about two years. During this time, Stacy faced...

From Foster Care to a Super Hero Kaleb and his brother, Kobe, had been through a lot early on in their lives. Their father passed away from an apparent overdose, and their mother couldn’t be found. They were placed in foster care with Chinishe Ray, followed by some...

With the staggering number of children in foster care in our communities, there is always a need for more foster families. After years of trying to conceive, Carly and Crissy decided that fostering was the next step in their journey to become parents. “We received...