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CHURCH HILL — In spite of the rainy weather Sunday, it was a sunny day for foster care in Hancock and Hawkins counties.

Ground was broken Sunday for the new Isaiah 117 House to serve Hancock and Hawkins counties.

Isaiah 117 house exists to reduce trauma for children on their hardest days, to ease the workload of the case workers and to also relieve for foster families to be able to say “yes” to taking in a child.

“What a great day.” Hawkins County Mayor Mark DeWitte said. “We’re just grateful for the opportunity to begin the journey of building an Isaiah 117 house for Hawkins and Hancock counties. This place is going to be a blessing to so many. I’m also thankful for the county commissioners who saw fit to invest in this project as well.”

Former County Commissioner Keith Gibson, who still serves on the Church Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen, sponsored a resolution donating $300,000 of the county’s “Baby Doe” opioid settlement to the project last May. DeWitte also expressed thanks for the Isaiah 117 staff for helping to make the house a reality.

“(Gibson) got us our great donation from the ‘Baby Doe’ fund really got us on our way and we are so grateful to the County Commission for that donation and just all of the support that the community has shown us since May,” Alison Osborne, program coordinator said.

“(The house) is going to serve many young people for years to come,” DeWitte said. “I can certainly see many children being blessed by God through this house.”

DeWitte read from Mark 10:13-16 about the people bringing children to Jesus.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it. He took the children in his arms, placed his arms on them and blessed them,” the scripture read.

Osborne explained how she got to be part of the efforts.

“I heard about Isaiah 117 house for years,” Osborne said. “For years, I’ve been praying of where God was calling me in my life. I knew there was a calling, I thought I knew what it was, it was not what it was, so I kept praying. In the summer of 2021, I got a text from my friend Misty saying that she knew why God called (me) to Hawkins County, to open the Isaiah 117 house.

“No, I don’t think so,” Osborne told Misty. “I’ll pray about it. I prayed about it and God kept reminding me of all of the kids who have come into my life since high school that just needed somebody to be there for them.

“How could I say no to that?” she asked. “This was another opportunity to be there for the kids that need somebody in their lives to love them. Here we are a year and a half later getting ready to break ground for the house. It’s just such a blessing to be here.”

Osborne had talked to foster families and foster children over the last few years about their ordeals of removal day and having to wait in a Department of Children’s Services, sometimes for days at a time, until the children could be placed with foster parents.

“They were sitting there, nothing to do, just waiting for placement,” Osborne said. “It breaks my heart to know they went through that. This is a place for them to come and feel the love that we so desperately want them to feel. My kids are growing up with children who are being raised by grandparents or foster families. We can make a difference right here in our community.

“I’m just glad we can bring this change to the county,” Osborne said.

April Osborne Greene, regional director of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services Northeast Region, that Isaiah 117 houses has been such a blessing to DCS.

Greene said that there are around 865 foster children in care. In any given year, there are between 70 to 100 foster children in Hancock and Hawkins counties. She said that the counties have a “really high need here.”

“We welcome this new blessing that The Lord has given us,” Greene said. “Seeing the community turn out knowing that this is (two) of our smaller and more rural counties is just God speaking to our hearts and letting us know that we need to be here and respond to our kids. They have been such a blessing to our department and staff, as well as the children coming into foster care.

“Not only do our kids get the love and care they need on the first day they come into foster care, which is always the toughest, and the start of what they are going to be seeing for the next period of time, it’s also a very hard day for our staff. They’re having to deal with upset children, as well as parents who are either upset or maybe not able to respond at this time to what is happening with their children.

“Just to be able to come to a safe place and get the basic needs for the children, plus a few extras and some extra love, even a snack, goes a long way for the kids,” Greene said. “I can’t tell you how much Isaiah 117 has supported us as we’ve moved out into other community resources to make the needs met, I know that they will do that here.”

Regan Pierce, Tennessee state director for Isaiah 117 house, commented about the location.

“We are so excited to be on this beautiful piece of land, the cows (next door) are my favorite,” Pierce said. “We are super thankful for Allyson and all of her team and to the really big ways the community has stepped up to get us where we are right now.”

“We currently have 21 locations in Tennessee,” Pierce said. “Because of you all, Hawkins and Hancock counties is one of those locations.”

Pierce shared a story of a 17-year-old boy who came to an Isaiah 117 house in shackles around his feet.

“The first time you see a child in shackles, it’s like a gut punch,” Pierce said. “It really takes your breath away.”

The boy had made a bad decision, faced repercussions from a hard life, but yet was so sweet and polite and grateful the Isaiah 117 volunteers were doing to help him.

He was nervous, had a lot of questions about where he was going, what was going to happen to him, what he could take with him, and so on.

“At the end of the conversation, he looked around and he said, ‘This feels like a real home.’ I just knew in that moment that no matter what happened to his boy while he was with us in our home, he felt safe, he felt worthy and he felt loved,” Pierce said.

“That’s what our homes are all about,” Pierce said.

Other Isaiah 117 houses have opened in Cocke, Greene and Jefferson counties.

The Hamblen County Isaiah 117 house is set to open this summer.

The Hancock/Hawkins Isaiah 117 house is hoped to be finished by 2024.