Page 94 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2018

GIVING BACK lending loving homes
A Foster Care
Revolution
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster photos courtesy of Rescue 100
Rescue 100 originated in Gulfport
in 2016 as a faith-based initiative led by Pastor Tony Karnes of Michael Memorial Baptist Church in response to the need for 100 new foster families in his community.
The success of the first Rescue 100 event
then inspired leaders to expand the program statewide, becoming a collaborative effort between the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (CPS), the courts and churches representing all denominations across the state of Mississippi.
“Rescue 100 was born out of a journey of discovery,” said Rev. Karnes. “I discovered how many children there are in CPS custody in Harrison county. I discovered that our shelter was full of children with no homes to take them in. I realized how difficult the job is that our social workers do every day.”
Mississippi currently has almost 6,000 children
in foster care, and Rescue 100 realizes there is a critical need for hundreds more foster families
to care for them and provide them with a safe, stable and loving home environment. In response, local churches, judges, administrators and the Department of Human Services worked together
so the process of becoming a licensed foster parent was reduced from one year to three months. Their first Rescue 100 training weekend was in April 2016 at the church.
Michael Memorial Baptist Church
15053 John Clark Road, Gulfport 228.832.1709 www.michaelmemorial.org
Rescue 100
www.rescue100.org www.mdcps.ms.gov/rescue100
SCHWARTZ, ORGLER, JORDAN
& WILLIAMS PLLC
Dedicated to serving the gulf coast community since 1996.
12206 HWY 49 • GULFPORT • 228-832-8550 | 2355 PASS RD • BILOXI • 228-388-7441 | WWW.SOJLAW.NET
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