Kids across the state have found creative ways to help kids in foster care.

Joey and Jamie have been married for 19 years and have three daughters. They enjoy doing life together and giving back to others. One of those ways of giving back is through providing monthly support to our children and families as Hero Partners.

In the last two and a half years, the Rushing family has welcomed ten children into their home through foster care. They have been amazed at God’s work in their lives and in the lives of kids in their care.

Once a child in care, Jessica now serves as a social worker.

“There’s so much hard stuff these girls have been through and things we have to deal with. This Bucket List has given us something fun and helped us make connections with the kids that are important.”

Staff devotional by Victoria Castro. She serves as a Social Worker on our Decatur Campus.

On our Decatur campus, we are blessed with awesome house parents who have served for many years. With that gift has also come the blessing of their biological children who, for the most part, have only ever known life on a Children’s Homes campus. We thought it would be fun to hear from some of them as they share some of their perspectives on day-to-day life and how life at ABCH has helped them see life outside of themselves.

"One time, we were celebrating the birthday of a sixth-grade boy who was in our home. I realize that may sound somewhat ordinary, but for him, we learned it was the first time he had blown out a candle on a birthday cake.”

This is the vision Chief Operations Officer for North Alabama, Dr. Michael Smith, has for the Ensor Shelter Care home being built in Decatur: that children who need a secure place to stay in a transitional time would be given a safe place to call home.

Over the course of 35+ years, Jimmie and Martha Harris estimate they’ve been able to serve and care for around 300 children through Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes (ABCH), in Gardendale for a season and then largely on our Decatur campus as they care for school-aged girls.

After 45 years of wear and tear from hundreds of children literally coming through our doors, our Decatur homes are receiving some much-needed TLC in the form of new cabinets, countertops, and paint in our kitchen/dining areas!