LAWRENCE CO. – The Agape House has been around since 2021, and before then, they operated as a foster closet for foster children in need of clothing and belongings when they were between homes.
Now, Agape House has turned a home into a safe haven for Lawrence County’s foster children to stay between placements, or to help outfit those who are going into a new placement with only the clothes on their back.
The House’s main operations include:
- Foster Closet
- Supervised Visit Location
- Scholarship for former foster children attending IU
- Foster Parent Support Group
- Emergency Transition Home
Foster Closet
The foster closet is FREE to use at any time for foster families in need, not just at the time of placement. Agape Kids House helps with anything they can. Each kid that comes through leaves with a backpack of clothes. The little ones even get to take a toy with them.
“A lot of them come with nothing,” Mistie Taylor is in charge of the Foster Closet and is on the Agape Kids House Board. She explained, “Usually only the clothes on their back.”
The sizes in the foster closet range from infant to adult to facilitate kids from a young age to young adults who aren’t quite 18.
“Everything you need we have,” said Rebekah Hawkins. If Agape doesn’t have something, they find a way to help find it. Rebekah explained that they “Make sure if a family calls us in need, we can get them what they need.”
Sometimes that need is clothing, sometimes the need is a car seat.
Foster families are required to have an appropriately sized car seat for their foster children upon placement, and car seats can be expensive, so Agape House tries to supply car seats to foster families who need them
If a child grows attached to a certain toy or book during their stay, they are often allowed to keep the item as their own. It’s a way to keep from disrupting their lives any more than they have to, and give the kids a sense of possession.
Supervised visit location
The Agape House provides a neutral-ground location for supervised visits. This means that children seeing their family for visits can do so on equal ground, instead of in homes or locations that could prove problematic for a variety of reasons.
Scholarship
Agape Kids House provides a $1,000 scholarship to a former foster child at Indiana University.
Emergency Transition Home
“Kids don’t come to stay,” Mistie Taylor said of the foster kids, “Sometimes they’re here ten minutes, sometimes they’re here overnight and we never know.”
Agape House is a temporary place for foster kids to stay between placements, not a long-term stay. It provides a home-like environment for children to wait for their foster care placement after removal.
An Agape House Volunteer and caseworker stay at the home with the child until a placement is located.
Without Agape to keep an eye on them, many foster children in Lawrence County would be stuck waiting in the Department of Child Services office or lobby while their case worker tries to get their placement in order.
