All about Isaiah 117 House for Farragut Kiwanis Club
Carolyne Roberts, a foster parent and volunteer with Knox County’s under-construction Isaiah 117 House, discussed the organization during a Wednesday, Aug. 16, program for Farragut Kiwanis Club in West Knox Shrine Club.
Roberts shared that Isaiah 117 House founder and executive director Ronda Paulson discovered during foster parent training in Johnson City that oftentimes, when children were removed from their homes, “they must come to Department of Children’s Services’ offices to wait for placement,” which sometimes meant the children actually slept on the floor of a cubicle.
“I couldn’t imagine a scared child sitting in such a sterile, cold environment, waiting to learn their fate,” Paulson explained on the Isaiah 117 House website. “That is when I believe God put on my heart the Isaiah 117 House.”
The Bible verse the organization is based on, Isaiah 1:17, states, “defend the cause of the fatherless,” and Paulson said she believed that was what she was called to do.
That was in 2014, and since that time, the vision Paulson had has spread to 11 states, including ones in Maryville, Anderson County, Sevierville and a soon-to-open location near Zoo Knoxville.
“Isaiah House is staffed by volunteers who come in and watch the children with three main goals: to reduce trauma, lighten the load of the social workers and ease the transition for foster families,” Roberts said.
She said the Knoxville location is readying to open “hopefully in October,” and also shared the need for foster families in the area.
“Knoxville is really in crisis where the foster care system is concerned,” Roberts added.
For more information about the program, visit Isaiah117house.com.
