There is a nasty storm that is growing nationally, and we’ve been swallowed by that storm locally for quite some time right here in Rome, Georgia.
Here is an article that speaks to that storm, and it speaks to exactly why we are doing what we are doing at Restoration Rome. Read this article, please: Fighting the Opioid and Foster Crisis by Supporting Families
With the number of foster children on the rise nationally, the solution is not merely adoption, but the rescue of the family unit. What greater cause for the church, right? This is our fight, and it is clearly written in Scripture that we are to act. You really don’t have to pray about this one dear Christian.
Currently, we have 287 children in care and 28 available homes in Rome/Floyd County. There is much work to be done to “flip” those numbers so that we have more homes than children needing care and available services to the biological families.
We have been working on this challenge for 11 years, while many have been serving in this field for more years than we can count.
Many of us have fostered and adopted. Many of us have provided respite. Many of us have provided meals. Many of us have provided transportation. Many have sorted clothes. Many of us serve in board/governance roles. Many of us have provided volunteer labor in a hundred ways. It’s impossible to name all the ways it takes to care for our children in Rome. But we are making progress.
At Restoration Rome, we are working to provide comprehensive care for children, biological parents and foster / adoptive families. The end is to make reunification with the biological family happen through supporting and seeing the restoration of that family unit. If restoration can’t happen, we seek to see adoption happen. All of this work needs to take place within the appropriate time to minimize trauma on the child and speed up the ability to move forward in life with health and wholeness. An over-loaded system creates extended time in limbo. We can’t be fine with that. We have to work to make things right.
In our partnership with the city of Rome, we are repurposing the old South East Elementary School to provide the services necessary to address the crisis and bring healing in the name of Jesus Christ.
Check out www.restorationrome.org
This work is happening in four phases.
Although much of the work has been done on phase 1, we still need your help to complete the visitation center to effectively serve our families. Make no mistake, we are serving families and the work is advancing. We, however, want to get the center functioning at envisioned and necessary capacity. We would like to raise $200,000 to finish the task of phase 1. I would love to talk to you in person or over the phone about how you can help us reach our goal.
Would you perhaps email or call me? I’d be glad to take you to lunch and share the vision. If you are out of town, please call and we can speak in person.
We have made progress since the last post, but we need to get over the top and complete this phase.
Will you help us?
Contact me at mitch@threeriversc.org or 706-766-0942.
I look forward to working with you to make this happen.
Theology in the Dirt 