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January 16, 2007
Abused Kids Need An Emergency Shelter
Topics: GeneralToo often, children removed from their parents' custody because of abuse or neglect are bounced from home to home, waiting for the right foster family to step up. But thanks to Dottie Berger MacKinnon and Hillsborough Circuit Judge Martha Cook, these children may one day have an emergency shelter where they can claim a bed and stay with their siblings too.
Today Berger, a founder of Joshua House and a longtime child advocate, will announce a charitable drive to build an emergency shelter for kids who've been removed from their homes. Berger started the effort at the urging of Cook, whose sad docket of abuse and neglect cases is a constant reminder of the challenges in our community.
The 48-bed shelter will give social workers a place to bring children - including sibling groups - and let them settle in as the wheels of the system start to churn. No longer would there be a mad scramble in the middle of the night to find a foster family to take them in, nor a scary separation from their brothers and sisters. The emergency shelter would offer a clean, safe place to stay until an appropriate foster home is found.
Already Berger has secured land in Brandon and lined up donated services to ready the five-acre site for construction. It will take $3 million to $4 million to complete the project, which is why Kids Charity of Tampa Bay is launching its fundraising drive today.
Among those who have already stepped forward is Lazydays Partners Foundation, which has pledged $400,000. But more support is needed.
This shelter will go a long way toward comforting children at a frightening time of their lives. Its construction will be a testament to the tireless efforts of activists such as Berger and Judge Cook, as well as a statement of the compassion that exists in our community.
IF YOU WANT TO HELP
To learn more about this important charity, visit www.kidscharitytb.comor call (813) 263 -3469 or (813) 629-5205.
Posted by admin at January 16, 2007 7:51 AM
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