TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

A Place For Kids To Be Safe, Together

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2008

Put yourself in the shoes of a child who has been abused or neglected, and then whisked into emergency foster care. The only thing that could make the whole experience more frightening would to be taken away from your siblings and sent to live with complete strangers.

Yet that is the harsh reality many children in our community face.

But fewer kids should suffer that trauma once work is completed on A Kid's Place in Brandon, an emergency center for kids entering the foster care system. Thanks to the vision and tireless work of Dottie Berger MacKinnon and DeDe Grundel of Kids Charity of Tampa Bay, construction recently began on the project.

A Kid's Place will give children a safe refuge during those crucial first days after they are removed from their homes - which sometimes happens in the middle of the night, requiring case workers to scramble to find foster families to take children. Most often, sibling groups are split up because foster families' homes are already overwhelmed.

After it opens in about nine months, children taken to A Kid's Place will get medical attention and be assigned case workers who will try to find an appropriate placement with a relative or foster family. Most importantly, the center will give siblings a chance to stay together.

A Kid's Place wouldn't be possible without millions of dollars in donations and in-kind contributions from the community. And certainly it could not happen without Berger MacKinnon's unwavering commitment to abused and neglected children.

As the mother of Joshua House and a tireless campaigner to get foster children what they need - be it social services or a school backpack brimming with supplies - she has been a true champion for children. The Department of Children and Families has been asking for a center like this for 15 years, but only Berger MacKinnon could deliver.

A Kid's Place still needs support from the community to fulfill its promise to children. Visit www.kidscharitytb.com/ to help it become a lifeline for foster children.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT