Where my Prayer Warriors at?

Okay, you were supposed to hear the title in Kirk Franklin’s voice followed by shouts of praise and much rejoicing. If the grammar of the title bothers you, pretend it says otherwise :-)

This week I began a month-long training to become a Guardian ad Litem (GAL), court-appointed child advocate. In South Carolina, this is a volunteer opportunity through the office of the governor. Though we’ve only had two lessons, I can’t wait to be assigned cases. I feel bizarre saying that I look forward discussing child abuse and neglect for 3 hours, but I think it just demonstrates my passion to help the victims of it.

It has been easy to focus on my job in Charleston and not be reminded of the many abused children I worked with last year, but this training keeps bringing them to mind. (For more about them, click here.)

I called one of the employees still at the boys’ home this week to serve as a reference for my GAL application and he filled me in with their current situation.

Last Friday, they celebrated the high school graduations of 3 of the boys. One had been there since he was little and another would be homeless if not for the home. As you can imagine it was an emotional affair. Little did they know that early that day the Executive Director had announced to staff that everyone was to be laid off and the boys sent to other facilities.

These are trying financial times and I will save you from my rant about the State’s stance on “Family Reunification.” Short version: Children in the system are not being placed at group homes anymore. The decline of referrals was drastically noticeable while I still worked there, hence why they diversified into accepting clients from the Dept. of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). The hope is for the boys’ home to deal exclusively with DJJ clients in the future. Until then, they are seeking financial outlets to bring back laid off employees, including liquidating assets.

So here is the call for prayer:

Please pray for the 30+ staff members who will be without a job tomorrow. Several of them have been with the organization for 20 years. These people have a heart for the boys and I have had the pleasure of working with most of them. And pray for the administration and board as they make some tough decisions.

Please pray for the boys who will once again have to pack up their few belongings to move elsewhere. They will be scattered—away from each other and the place some of them have called home for years.

Please pray for the fate of this institution that has housed young men for over 40 years. Pray that when it emerges from this trial, it will rise better equipped to serve children so dear to God’s heart and that He would be glorified.

Thank you for letting me share something that’s been heavy on my heart this week.

I am almost at the 10 month mark and will post that update soon!