The Georgia-based program is “designed to help children from newborns to the age of 21 years find a loving home.”
A Georgia nonprofit called Christian City Children’s Village has plans to begin its own foster care system due to the alarming number of children being left parentless at the hands of the opioid crisis.
According to a media release on the organization’s website, foster care needs in the state have increased 100% in the past five years, bringing the total number of children to more than 15,000.
In February, Christian City introduced the Crossroads Foster Care & Adoption Program, which provides “private and public foster care, foster-to-adoption and public adoption” for children within a 50-mile radius of Union City, Georgia.
“We wanted to respond to this issue by increasing the number of loving homes available to children in foster care and that is when we decided to launch the Crossroads program,” Len Romano, President & CEO of Christian City, said in the release.
The program serves newborns to age 21 and provides training, home studies, support and access to the Christian City thrift store for families that are interested in adoption or foster care.
According to the website, the program is “designed to find and equip wonderful families for children in need of a loving home… Permanency is the ultimate goal for each child through either reunification with the child’s birth family or adoption.”
“We offer a crisis program for the foster child and adoptive parents. If a caregiver reports to us the child is under distress when acclimating to their new environment, we bring the child back onto the Christian City Children’s Village campus for 48 hours. Here, we give the child the attention and any skills they may need to help them reintegrate into their new home,” Michaela Guthrie, Program Executive for the Crossroads Foster Care and Adoption Program, said in the media release.
Beginning July 1, Christian City started a contract with the state of Georgia to assist the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) in placing children in appropriate foster or adoptive homes.
In other words, CBS46 states, children from the DFCS can be referred to the Crossroads Foster Care & Adoption Program.
“A lot of children who come into the foster care system have faced various types of trauma, whether it be abuse or neglect,” Guthrie told CBS46. “So, we really want to make sure that the families that will be taking care of them from this point in time and maybe a forever home.”
