DHS Asking Green Country Churches For Help

Ashli Sims, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Thousands of Oklahoma children need a home, but there aren't enough beds to house them. So, The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is turning to the faith community to fill the gap.

Dozens of church leaders met in Broken Arrow to start a new mission: provide foster homes for children in need.

"I think the church has kind of shirked their responsibility. It's really difficult to read the bible and not see what God's heart is for these children," said Jason Brown, Foster Parent.

Jason Brown isn't just helping broadcast this event. This issue is close to his heart.

"We wanted our home to be where they could come and be safe and be nurtured," Brown said.

The Brown's have acted as an emergency foster home for two years, caring for more than a dozen children. DHS wants more families like the Browns to get involved.

The agency is partnering with the office of faith-based initiatives or Faithlinks to recruit church families to act as foster families with the 111 Project.

Chadwick Sapenter knows the system first-hand and now advocates for foster children.

"We get so caught up in our own needs and our own problems and we assume somebody else is taking care of it. and the system can't do it alone," Sapenter said.

But together, Jason Brown says churches can make a difference for children in crisis.

"Think we're starting to reawaken and come around to: we've got a responsibility and we're going to do something about it." Brown said.

"It's not going to take much. You don't have to be rich, you don't need a lot of money, you just have to be willing to care," Sapenter said