Columbus churches consider disbanding coalition formed to address foster care crisis

In 2016, a group of Columbus churches formed a coalition in response to the shortage of foster care beds in the community.

They created Covenant Foster Care Coalition, Inc. in order to increase the number of foster care families in the greater Columbus area.

Now, more than a year later, the coalition is still in the same spot that it was 12 months ago, trying to identify its purpose and decide how thousands of dollars raised for the initiative should be spent.

Tim Smith, chair of the Covenant board, said the coalition was formed after Faithbridge, an Atlanta-based Christian child placement organization, backed out of plans to recruit Columbus foster families at area churches and train congregations how to support them. Churches represented on the Covenant board include Calvary Baptist Church, Christ Community Church, Westminister Presbyterian Church, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, Wynnbook Baptist Church and CrossPointe Church.

“There were a lot of questions at first about what it was supposed to look like and what really could be done because we were not interested in becoming a placement agency like Faithbridge,” Smith said. “It was more to provide support to (the Department of Family and Children Services), and also just raise awareness in churches and get churches to be a part of the work being done.”

However, since that time, there have been at least two other organizations that have stepped up to address the issue, Smith said. They are Clement Arts, a nonprofit based in Fortson, Ga., and Bethany Christian Services, a global nonprofit agency based in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“... At this point and time, the board strongly feels that the work that we originally set out to do is being done,” Smith said. “And we have not made a decision yet as far as what our next step is.

“We’re discussing that right now of, ‘Do we disband and pledge those funds to other groups already in place, or what?,’” he continued. “... What we don’t want to happen is for the work that the coalition does to conflict or to hinder the work of the other groups that are in place at this time.”

The Rev. Jeff Struecker, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, is one of the founders of the coalition, which is still in the process of getting its 501c3 status approved by the Internal Revenue Service. He said Columbus congregations and individual donors contributed about $90,000 to the Faithbridge initiative about two years ago, about $40,000 of it raised by Calvary.

When Faithbridge left the area, the organization offered to return the money to those who requested it. Struecker said some donors opted to have the money returned, while others asked for their money to go to a nonprofit created to address the problem. So about $50,000 was sent to Calvary Baptist, which put it in a separate account.

Struecker said that’s where most of the money remains. The only dollars spent so far have been for postage and legal paperwork for Covenant to become a 501c3, he said. Calvary is just waiting for the IRS to approve the nonprofit status and for Covenant to decide if it’s going to continue.

“... And when Covenant has made that decision then Covenant can spend that money,” Struecker said. “But I’ve let the folks at Covenant know that we’re trying to make sure that we don’t do anything unethical here.

“The folks that gave that money two years ago received a tax contribution from the IRS,” he explained. “It has to go from nonprofit to nonprofit. If not, in theory, people would have to amend their tax returns from two years ago, and I know that nobody wants to do that. So we’re just sitting on it in our nonprofit bank account waiting for Covenant to be recognized by the IRS.”

Local judges enlisted the help of FaithBridge two years ago to address the foster care problem. At the time, there were 524 children in foster care and only 67 homes available. About 275 of the children were placed in nearby counties and 250 were scattered throughout other parts of the state.

Chief Judge Gil McBride, along with Juvenile Court Judge Warner Kennon and other judges, called it a crisis.

“... These kids who are seeing their world disintegrate around them are suddenly shipped off to Chickamauga, they’re sent to Brunswick, they’re sent to Savannah, they’re sent to Glynn County, they’re sent to Augusta,” McBride said at the time. “They’re being shipped all over the state.

“And there is no way that you will convince me that this is not just bad for the kids,” he added. “It may be better for them than letting them stay in the house with the drug-addicted mother or father, but the real crying need here is for more foster beds in Muscogee County.”

Since that time, the numbers have improved, but the significant gap between the number of foster children and foster homes remains.

In November, there were 414 foster children in Muscogee County, 110 foster homes and 265 foster beds, according to information from DFCS. Thirty-nine percent of the children were placed outside of the county because no beds were available, and 24 percent were placed outside of the region. The agency placed 33 percent of the children with relatives.

Kennon, a previous member of the Covenant board, said Judge Andrew Dodgen is currently a member, representing local judges. Kennon said he believes much has been accomplished through Faithbridge and Covenant to bring awareness and get churches more engaged. His church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian, has already had a couple of adoptions as a result.

“I think the faith-based community has coalesced as a result of this effort in a way that it never has before,” he said, “realizing that with 450 churches in town, and about 450 kids in foster care, we can make this problem go away if we can just bring the faith-based community closer and closer together.”

Despite other agencies coming to town, Kennon still sees a need for a local, faith-based organization to keep the momentum going.

“Our goal has been to bring the churches together and give them the information on services,” he said. “And we just want to make sure it continues to come together.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2017 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Columbus churches consider disbanding coalition formed to address foster care crisis."