3 minute read
Nonprofit Spotlight: The Call
Nonprofit Spotlight
words Catherine Frederick with Emily Treadaway, County Coordinator, The CALL in Crawford & Sebastian Counties
The CALL is a nonprofit organization that mobilizes local churches to serve local children and youth placed in foster care. They provide a way for Christians to invite the mission field into their homes, to serve those most vulnerable in their communities. The CALL partners with the Division of Children and Family Services to recruit, train and support foster and adoptive families for children and teens in foster care. Do South® reached out to Emily Treadaway, County Coordinator, to learn more.
Next month, we’ll showcase another worthy non-profit in our area free of charge. We will begin accepting requests for this free page beginning in October,2021. Send requests to catherine@dosouthmagazine.com DS: How did The CALL come to be? The CALL launched in Pulaski County in 2007 as a nonprofit ministry. As we began working with DCFS to move newly recruited foster and adoptive homes through the certification process, more volunteers stepped forward and The CALL spread across the state. Affiliates in Crawford & Sebastian Counties were established in 2009 and currently serve over 50 foster and adoptive homes. The CALL is now in 53 counties with more than 3,300 families completing training, caring for over 18,000 children and youth in foster care. Currently, families recruited by The CALL represent 67% of the open traditional (non-relative) foster families in Arkansas. We are not a licensed agency or a paid contractor for DCFS and do not receive government funding. There is no cost to families for assistance with the certification process or support offered.
DS: Who does The CALL serve, and in what ways? Our local affiliate serves over 640 children and youth in foster care in Crawford & Sebastian Counties. When children are separated from their families, they need a loving and safe home to go to. The CALL raises awareness in our community and through local churches about the need for more homes. Once a family is interested, we offer training and help navigate paperwork and processes. Finally, once children are placed with a family, we offer tangible, emotional and spiritual support, often through local churches and businesses. We feel the best way to help children and youth in foster care is to ensure they have a safe and stable home to care for them until they can return to their original family.
DS: Tell us how The CALL impacts our community. We know poverty, abuse, and neglect are generational issues that can eventually lead to foster care, homelessness, and incarceration. By stepping into this cycle, we hope to end it and provide a new path for families. This not only affects the family involved with DCFS but our community. We see families start to heal. We partner with over 30 local churches to recruit, train and support foster and adoptive families. This provides an opportunity for local mission work where the congregation can support us financially, volunteer or even become a foster or adoptive home. Working with local businesses is also important. Whether it is a family support event, a fundraiser or volunteer appreciation, we seek to work with locally owned, small businesses.
DS: How can our community get involved and support The CALL? One of the easiest ways is to donate, whether monetarily or items such as diapers or paper towels. Please reach out for a complete list of needs. Our work is primarily through churches, so if your church is not currently partnered with us, we’d love to meet with you. We have several volunteer opportunities available! Our biggest need is truly more foster homes. Our counties consistently have the highest number of children in care and not enough families to care for them. If you’ve ever considered opening your home, we’d love to have you at our next monthly meeting which you can find on our Facebook page or website.
