BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Sherrie Steadman of the Isaiah 117 House said children removed from homes awaiting placement by the state may sometimes languish in a police station, a conference room floor, or in a patrol car for hours.
That’s where her Baker County-based nonprofit, the Isaiah 117 House, comes in.
“A lot of people don’t realize when children are removed from their home for whatever reason, they sit in the DCF office to wait for their placement, whether that is a relative that they find that will say yes to those children, or whether that is an actual foster home that says yes to those children,” she said during a recent community meeting in Lake Butler. “Sometimes we work with (FHP) if they’ve pulled over a parent on the interstate, and they have to take those children to the trooper’s office until DCF comes and gets them. We don’t want any children ever waiting in an office.”
Isaiah 117 provides children a place to stay while the state finds them more permanent lodging.
Steadman said her organization services 13 counties, adding that a Union County child had recently stayed at the facility for eight days.
