Local agencies work to raise awareness on the foster program
(Seguin) – The fight for kids begins tonight in what will be a filled theater at Hometown Cinemas. Four non-profits designed to support abused and neglected children are teaming up tonight to host a free showing of the recently released Angel Studios movie production of Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.
Now, although there are no more seats for tonight’s free showing, these non-profits are still encouraging folks to make time to watch the movie which features a movement of compassion in a town here in Texas.
Initiating the joint venture for the special screening of the film was CASA of Central Texas. Jade Dimitri, the community engagement manager for CASA Central Texas, says the movie brings to light the real fight that CASA and these other agencies deal with on a daily basis.
“It is a true story about a small town in East Texas that ended up coming together as a community and essentially becoming placement and ultimately adopting I think 77 of what are described the hardest to place kids in the foster system. So, kids that have been highly traumatized have a lot of behavioral things that they are working through. These are the kids that are hard to find long term foster placements for and even harder to find permanent adoptive homes for because of all the things that they are working through. So, the story is about I think it is a pastor and his wife that really gets this going. So, there is somewhat of a faith angle to the movie but that is not the ultimate takeaway. The ultimate takeaway is these two initial people start this kind of wave of community members that come together and step up and become licensed foster homes for these kids and they are kind of there to support each other as more and more families go through this,” said Dimitri.
The other partnering agencies include the Guadalupe County Children’s Advocacy Center, Belong and the Guadalupe County Child Welfare Board.
Christy Williams, the executive director of the advocacy center, says her agency did not hesitate to jump on board with this awareness effort. Although she has not seen the movie, she has already heard how it’s making an impact.
“Our agency works with children and families when there are allegations of child abuse and neglect and sometimes those interactions then result in children being removed from their families and when that happens, often times, they are assigned court appointed special advocates of CASA so that is kind of how we partnered with CASA. We have shared kiddos that have been placed in state’s custody, need someone to act in their best interest and be their voice of their best interest and are in a foster home or are in a children’s shelter or some other facility for them and they just really need a loving home that is safe and secure and that can provide them with the best possible launching pad to have successful lives in the future,” said Williams.
Williams says she hopes the film not only raises awareness but inspires all communities to be a part of the healing process.
“The excitement behind how this one community made such a huge impact in fostering those youth that were hard to place and be adopted. I think 77 of the children that were in the system in just one church community — the huge impact that they made is just really something to be celebrated. I think it’s something that hopefully people will realize is attainable. It’s not just something that wealthy people can do, or only other people should be doing — like this is something that we can all step up and help in some way to make even just one kiddo’s life better,” said Williams.
Williams says the way a community comes together to embrace these children is somewhat similar to a new initiative that is being utilized in the operation of the state’s foster program. She says the quest to be there even more for these children has resulted in the introduction of the agency Belong.
“Belong has taken over basically the state’s contract for when children are removed. There is no longer a department at the Department of Family and Protective Services that is the legal division. So, Belong is effectively the legal division for the state of Texas for our region and so they are the ones charged with taking care of these children when they have been removed. They have to find placement for them. They have to do all their case management. They are the ones looking for foster homes, looking for other placement options for kids and they provide so many other resources and wrap around services that was not previously part of the system when it was under the state’s employees. So, they really fit into this story of the movie so much because they are the ones that are housing these kids right now,” said Williams.
Local efforts like those by the child welfare board will also not go unnoticed. Williams says tonight’s screening is proud to welcome the welfare board which is charged with providing kids and their families with both financial support and emergency items.
“If there is items that can be purchased like sleep spaces or cleaning supplies or things like that, they are able to support families to keep the children in their home and they can also support families like kinship homes when kids are removed from their parents but they are placed with grandma and grandpa and grandma and grandpa, in order to meet the standards that Texas has put for them, (they help them with) maybe a fire extinguisher for the house,” said Williams.
In the end, sharing the film, according to Williams, is to help give rise to a family – a family that everyone deserves.
“So, there are lots of kids that grow up basically in the system without that forever home and our hope, I think, is for every one of those kids that if they ever have to be removed, that they are put in a far exceedingly better situation for their future. No one ever wants to take away a kid from their family and I’m always thankful that that is not our decision to make at our agency but if they do have to be taken away, my hope is that they are always placed in a better situation and if they can have a home that is their forever home where they are loved and cared for and have a forever family so that when they age out of that system, they have a family to go back to because for everybody that has ever lived through those 18 to 29 years of their life, they know how hard it can be to just navigate becoming an adult — figuring out what you are going to do in your life,” said Williams.
The Sound of Hope follows last year’s release of the movie The Sound of Freedom which featured a federal agent’s rescue of a boy from ruthless child traffickers.
Each of tonight’s hosting group extends a special thank you to Hometown Cinemas for its donation of an entire theater for tonight’s showing. The film, released on July 4, is still available in all theaters.