New home to help children transition to foster care breaks new ground in County Boone

The home will provide the children with new clothes, food and comfort while social workers work to find a foster home for them to be placed in.
WHITESTOWN, Indiana – A new home for the children as they move into the foster home was opened in Boone County on Tuesday. Its aim is to help reduce trauma for children when they enter the care system.
The Isaiah 117 House non-profit group is moving to Whitestown. The halfway house will serve all of Boone County as well as foster children in Hendricks, Montgomery, Marion and Hamilton counties.
Tom Hundley is president of the association. He explained that when children are removed from their homes, they are usually brought to a Department of Children’s Services office to await placement in foster care and that wait can take from hours to days.
“These kids often have nothing with them and are scared, lonely, hungry, dirty and in desperate need of love and support,” Hundley said. “The case manager may not have a choice of letting a child sleep in the conference room or booth, trying to entertain them with Netflix on their phone, or even bathe a baby in a sink in the office. . “
He said this is where Isiah 117 House comes in to provide a heartwarming home where children can instead be made to wait.
“… Isaiah117 steps in to let the children know that they are loved, and they haven’t done anything wrong on this traumatic day,” Hundley said.
The house will have volunteers there to provide the children with clean clothes, toys, food and “some comfort on their worst day,” Hundley said.
While the children are at home and receiving the comfort and care they badly need, child protection staff can do the paperwork and identify foster care.
Hundley said the association is trying to lighten the burden on child protection services and make the transition easier for new foster families.
The grand opening took place on Tuesday and the goal is to have the house ready to open by mid to late winter. Earlier this summer, the association also began renovating a home in Indianapolis to turn it into another transitional center.