The Corbin Rotary Club meeting held on Oct. 2 at David’s Steakhouse featured guest speakers Kevin Taylor and Charlissa Harris from Bluegrass Foster Services, a division of the Appalachian Children’s Home in Barbourville.
The Appalachian Children’s Home provides a safe and loving home for children in need.
Bluegrass Foster Services is Kentucky’s premier therapeutic foster care agency, recruiting, training, and certifying parents who are ready to open their homes to children in need, according to their website.
Taylor serves as a foster parent trainer. He has been with Appalachian Children’s Home since 2004.
“I’ve got a lot of experience when it comes to kids in state custody, and trying to find them a home,” said Taylor.
Taylor’s work as a foster parent trainer involves guiding families through the preparations for the challenges they may face. He provides essential support to ensure they are well-equipped for the journey ahead.
“We actually have 90 kids in our agency with 24 staff,” said Taylor.
Taylor discussed the increasing demand for foster parents in the Kentucky area.
“I think right now there are around 8,000-10,000 kids in the state who need a placement,” said Taylor. “That’s a big number of kids needing somewhere to go. The main objective for us is just trying to recruit good families.”
He encouraged anyone interested in fostering to reach out to him or his brother Mike Addison, who is listed as the president of Appalachian Children’s Home on their website.
Harris serves as the treatment director at Bluegrass Foster Services.
“My role is to oversee the therapeutic services that the children in our agency receive,” said Harris.
Their program focuses on children with higher-level needs, many of whom have experienced significant trauma. It could be kids anywhere from birth to age 21.
“Our kids come to us with a lot of trauma. They’ve been abused, neglected, and grew up in homes with substance issues, domestic violence,” said Harris. “They come to us with greater needs.”
Harris mentioned their referral specialist gets multiple referrals a day.
“A lot of those, we have to turn down just because we don’t have the openings for them,” said Harris. “We don’t have enough homes available.”
Harris explained the sources of their funding.
“The children’s homes sometimes get donations from different sponsors. Also, all of our kids are state-placed kids, which means they’re in the state’s custody,” said Harris. “We get a rate paid to us from the state for each child in care. Half of that rate that we get paid pays our foster parents for providing the care to the youth.”
Their program has started equine therapy.
Equine therapy involves activities with horses to help with mental health.
Currently, the residential kids are participating in this program. Still, they plan to allow foster youth to participate soon and hope to extend the program to the community eventually.
They will be one of the few places in the state that offer equine therapy.
“Equine therapy has been found to be very beneficial and a lot of progress has been shown,” said Harris.
In closing, Harris talked about what the foster services mean to her.
“I love working for the agency that I work with because our mission is kids first,” said Harris. “We’re very passionate about our mission.”
In other business, the Southeast Kentucky Empty Stocking Fund is taking applications on Nov. 14 and 24 for this year’s gift giveaway at Old Corbin City Hall, the District Courtroom, next to Corbin Fire Department, 805 S. Main St., from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day.
The program provides Christmas gifts and essentials to children from Whitley, Knox, and Laurel counties. Parents will need to bring their valid IDs, proof of income, and any necessary assistance, including their food stamp award letter and the children’s Social Security cards.
The 38th annual Empty Stocking Fund party will take place on Dec. 20 at Immanuel Baptist Church. With questions, call 606-524-6475, according to the Corbin Rotary Club’s Facebook post.
The meeting also included an announcement that the annual Thanksgiving dinner for senior citizens has been rescheduled for Nov. 20.
Next week’s upcoming speaker on Oct. 9 will be Garry Conley from the London Rotary Club with Minutemen Press.
