WIsesman House will aid children aging out of foster care.
On June 26, a group of 50 came out to celebrate the groundbreaking of a facility to house children who are transitioning out of the foster care system. Among those who turned over dirt were the community director for the Florida Department of Children and Families, Suncoast Region, and the Director of Community Relations for the Children’s Network of Hillsborough County. The home at 304 Waller Street will be named the Wiseman House. It is planned to be 2,500 square feet, and house eight kids plus residential parents. The current estimate to build it is $300,000.
The house will “….help these children find a home and teach them skills so they aren’t homeless and roaming the street,” Dr. Arie Sailor, One Church One Child Executive Director, and the event emcee, commented. “This project represents a significant step forward for One Church One Child, and the region, to provide additional housing and guidance for older youth who are in extended foster care or aging out of the system, to support them working toward self-sufficiency for a brighter future and hope.”
The vision of One Church One Child of Florida is to find one family in each church to adopt, foster, or mentor at least one child. It is a nonprofit, faith-based, child welfare organization governed by a volunteer board of directors appointed by the governor. The nonprofit works in partnership with churches, community-based care agencies, and the Florida Department of Children and Families to help increase permanency for children in foster care, and provide support for families in communities.
Dr. Emmett Wiseman, state board president and pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, began partnering with One Church One Child in Florida in 1999. He and his wife, LaWaun, purchased the lot for the house. “I have watched over the years, when children age out of the system,” he said. “They have no trade. Most of them are not even graduating from high school, and they become wards of the community—which means that you and I, who are trying to make an honest living—they will knock us in the head if they think we’ve got money. They create gangs. I am trying to eliminate that, so that they will have somewhere to go. We will have people come in to do some vocational training to teach them a trade.”
One Church One Child is currently seeking to recruit churches throughout the state to partner in finding resource families, supporting children, and strengthening families. Resource parents and families go through training, preparation, approval, and/or licensing to adopt, foster, or mentor children in foster care. The organization also raises awareness of the need for additional foster homes across the state to keep children in their communities and schools.
“I am not doing this for me,” Wiseman said. “I don’t want anything out of it. I don’t look to get rewarded. After I am dead and gone, the agency will do this in various cities. I am, indeed, dedicated to the project.Mrs. Wiseman and I have future plans to personally donate another home, as we believe it is God’s will, through Jesus Christ, to cause this reality to grow long after our lives here on earth have ended.”
One Church One Child is a 501c(3) nonprofit entity, so all donations are tax deductible. Donations can be specified to be applied to the Wiseman House in Plant City.
To donate, call (888) 283-0886; or go to https://www.ococfl.org/donations.html.
