Keeping Families Together

by Matt Higgins, Executive Director, Hope Children’s Home

I can remember when my son headed off to summer camp for the first time. He was only about 10 years old and was heading to Georgia for junior camp.

As he boarded the bus and I watched them drive off, I remember that feeling in the pit of my stomach I had as I held back tears, wondering if he would be okay. If you are raising a child, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Remembering back (a little further) to when I was 14, my parents dropped me off at the Bill Rice Ranch in Tennessee to work as a kitchen helper for the summer camps that year.

I instantly found myself in a place I had never been, staying with people I had never met, and doing something I had never done before.

Although I put on a tough face, I was terrified inside!

More than one time that summer, I found myself in tears missing my home, my family, and my friends.

I am sure if you thought about it, you could remember a similar experience in your childhood.

Serving at Hope for over 20 years, I have seen so many children sad and afraid because they were in an unknown situation.

Unlike my “scary” situation where I was in a safe camp surrounded by people who cared for me and had my best interests in mind, many children are truly in scary situations.

Take, for instance, the foster care system.

Imagine as a child having law enforcement officers enter your home and take you from your parents and put you in a home with complete strangers.

Now imagine being separated from your siblings as each of you end up in a different stranger’s house not knowing when or if you would ever see them again.

Tragically, this exact scenario happens every day in state foster care systems when, in the midst of experiencing one of the most tragic events a child can experience, they then lose the only familiar family they have left—their brother or sister.

I know there is a better way to protect these children that find themselves in a desperate situation.

At Hope Children’s Home, we are committed to keep siblings together and will do whatever it takes to make that happen!

Thanks to great friends like you, this is a reality!

In fact, 70% of our children have a sibling with them in our care. In our Honduras home, every child but two has a sibling living with them!

Some of the family units at Hope’s 3 locations.

There is no doubt in my mind that every child that comes into our care, no matter how young or old, is scared when they first arrive. Everything is new and unfamiliar to them.

I find great comfort knowing that, in the middle of all this newness, our children at Hope can still have the familiarity of their brother or sister by their side.

Let’s keep even more families together!

Would you consider helping keep brothers and sisters together by giving your best gift?

Together, we can give them a safe, loving, and Christ-centered home.

Thank you for your faithful love and loyal support for children in need.

I’ll help keep more siblings together