A giant wall adorned with more than 100 photos of children currently eligible for adoption or foster care was front and center at Monday night's Arkansas Heart Gallery reception.
Known as the traveling wall, it has proven to be an effective tool used by The CALL, a faith-based non-profit on a mission to ensure that children be placed in loving homes, said event keynote speaker Karen Langston, the CALL’s coordinator for Union County.
The ultimate goal is for these children to find forever families.
And so far, the results speak for themselves.
“The support The CALL offers us is wonderful. They keep us connected like a big family,” said Mayela Tan, a Union County foster parent who attended the event at Immanuel Baptist Church.
The goal of the CALL is to help develop a pool of foster and adoptive parents by recruiting, training and supporting families who are interested in opening their homes.
The organization, which began in 2007 in Pulaski County, has spread to 39 counties throughout Arkansas.
The Union County branch began with three open homes in 2015 and now boasts 17.
“We’ve had over 100 foster kids and just adopted two girls in March of last year,” said Brooke Hargis, a longtime foster parent. “The CALL has been a huge support system for us.”
Currently, there are 58 Union County children in foster care, Langston said.
“A large part of what we do is provide support to these families in the form of monthly support groups, mens group meetings and CPR training,” she said.
Since 2007, The CALL has recruited more than 1,000 Christian families to serve children in foster care.
“We believe that churches should be responsible for finding these children families, not the state,” said Langston. “Our relationship with Union County’s Department of Family Services is amazing.
"They place the children in homes and we come in alongside them to offer the training and support needed.”
The organization helps foster parents with planning “Parent’s Night Out,” finding babysitters when needed, and funding their training sessions.
Langston encourages anyone who might be interested in or have questions about the process to visit TheCALLinArkansas.org for more information or visit adoptarkansas.org to find lists of available children and their biographies.