Ranches Meeting Need in Arkansas Foster Care Crisis
11/02/2015

YOU can help keep more brothers and sisters together at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches.

Did you know that 7,698 children entered the Arkansas foster care system last year?

That means 21 children were separated from their families. Every. Day.

Can you imagine what that would feel like?

Everything you’ve ever known. Changed in a moment.

Removed from your family with nothing but the clothes on your back and maybe a few belongings in a black garbage bag.

_MG_6229That is why today I am humbly asking for your help. YOU can restore hope to these children.

As of August 2015, there were 4,387 children in foster care system in Arkansas. At the same time there were only 2,940 foster home beds.

You’re probably asking yourself, “What are they doing with the rest of these children?” Some are placed in crowded shelters. Some are placed in mental health facilities because they have open beds. Others wind up sleeping on a cot in their caseworker’s office. Or worse, some are left in a potentially abusive environment until a bed opens up or a new foster parent becomes available.

Governor Asa Hutchinson says that foster care is one of the biggest crises facing Arkansans today.

It is difficult for the state to find foster homes for brothers and sisters to stay together. So through no fault of their own, these children are often separated from the only family they have left.

But YOU can help! Your gift to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches will help keep more of these brothers and sisters together. More than 75% of the children we now care for at the Ranches are here with their brother or sister. Click here to give today.

Thanks to the Sheriffs of Arkansas and the generosity of our donors, the Ranches provide a safe place for these boys and girls to call home for however long they need. Many of these children have arrived at the Ranches with nothing but a garbage bag full of old clothes and a broken heart. But YOU can make a difference today by making a gift to the Ranches.

SiblingsYOUR gift will help brothers and sisters like these stay together. YOU can give children more than a warm bed and three meals a day. YOU can give them a home. And a houseful of people who care – not only for them – but about them. YOU can give them a second chance and hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Please consider how YOU can help keep more children together this year with a gift to the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches.

Our houseparents hear many heartbreaking stories from our boys and girls. But hearing the words “thank you” from a child melts their hearts and gives them hope to continue on!

YOU can make that possible by becoming a Hope Builder with a monthly gift to the Ranches. Just select the monthly option with your gift, and it will be automatically processed each month. It’s a simple and secure way that YOU can show your commitment to caring for Arkansas’s foster children.

With YOUR help, the Ranches can be a place to call home for many more Arkansas children. Please consider a gift today.