Christian Homes and Family Services of Abilene, where some faculty and staff members have worked, are in need of more families to adopt and foster children.
Christian Homes is a Abilene nonprofit organization that is dedicated to building Christian families throughӬ maternity, foster care and adoption services.
Slade Sullivan, ACU vice president and general council, and his wife, Dava Lynn, have worked with Christian Homes Ministry for several years.
“We started working with Christian Homes in 2011,” said Sullivan. “We were at the point where we weren’t sure if we were going to have any more biological children, but my wife still felt the pull to give out that sense of passion and enthusiasm she had to take care of kids.”
Sullivan said they initially began working with Christian Homes only to provide care for transitional infants. After going through the training process with Christian homes, Sullivan and his wife realized that there was a need for families to help care for children who had been abused, neglected and removed from their homes by Child Protective Services.
“In April of 2012 we got a call from a case worker about a four-month-old baby that was about to be released from the hospital,” said Sullivan. “We brought him home and we had him for six months. It was a great experience and he really stole our hearts.”
Dr. David Kneip, assistant professor of church history and worship, participates with Christian Homes along with his wife.
Kneip and his wife initially went to Christian Homes ministry with the intention to adopt.
“We knew that we wanted to hopefully adopt one day, and so when we moved to Abilene four years ago, we initiated a working relationship with them almost immediately,” Kneip said.
Christian Homes Ministry placed Kneip and his wife with two girls, whom they are in the process of adopting. These are the only two girls that they have fostered.
“Our two daughters are actually our first placement,” said Kneip.”We had received four other phone calls in the months preceding their placement, but none of the placements had worked out.”
Christian Homes Ministries work directly with Child Protective Services and the state of Texas. The nonprofit recently has needed more families to foster and adopt children, said Sherri Statler, president and CEO of Christian Homes.
“The children are actually in the managing conservatorship of the state of Texas,” Statler said in an email. “Some of them have not even been removed from their homes yet. We prepare families to foster so that the family and their home is ready to go when a child needs a safe and loving home.”
Statler said the nonprofit is looking for families that have an incredible capacity to love and care for a child that is not their own, to take on the role of fostering.
A interest meeting for potential foster families will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at Christian Homes and Family Services. Contact Christian Homes, (325)677-2205, for further information.
