Category: Foster to Adopt

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Donor Generosity Foster Care Foster to Adopt

A ‘least of these’ culture at Mercy Hill

When Nate Young felt a calling to start a church 12 years ago in Bullitt County, he never could have imagined the journey ahead for Mercy Hill Church — from battling floods to birthing new ministries. And with a county population of around 82,000, only about 24,500 attend church — a striking reminder that over 57,500 people in Bullitt County remain unreached by the gospel.

“From day one, we said we’re not just here to preach about Christ, we want to live in light of what we are preaching,” Young said. “We want to have the heart of Christ. We want to be a church who, like Christ, loves the least of these.”

Mark 12 Ministries emerged from that vision, a ministry helping those dealing with homelessness and extreme poverty. But Young’s heart for orphans and vulnerable children became central to what Mercy Hill has come to represent.

The Young family modeled this personally — adopting three children themselves, one who was fostered and adopted through Sunrise Children’s Services. Pastor Nate had previously served on the board of Sunrise Children’s Services as well.

Growing a Family of Families

Mercy Hill currently has seven families caring for kids who are not their biological children. One of these families is the Broughtons. Mike and Penny Broughton have fostered over 200 children and currently have five in care.

“We also adopted eight — that’s just our family,” shared Penny. “I always wanted the children to have a wonderful Christmas and a loving home. I felt God sent me a message when I read the ‘needing foster parents’ article in the Pioneer News.”

In total, Mercy Hill has over 25 kids fostered or adopted currently within the church community.

“It’s amazing to see these children come to know the Father. This isn’t an add-on — it’s life,” Young said. “Caring for orphans is not simply something we do, it’s part of our culture.”

Designed for understanding

Recognizing unique needs, Mercy Hill built a sensory room and supports children with special needs.

As pastor of family ministries Perry Cooke — himself adopted — explains: “My story shaped me. I recently preached through James, focusing on ‘pure religion’ — caring for orphans, this is the heart of the gospel. Mercy Hill’s culture breathes the values of Matthew 25, making ‘least of these’ a lived identity. We have a special focus on our special needs children. We have a heart for them.”

A culture rooted in mercy, not perfection

“We call ourselves a beautiful mess,” Young laughs. “When a meltdown happens, there’s no shame — just grace. We have all been there.” Foster and adoptive parents added: “We lean on each other — this is more than support; it’s family. At Mercy Hill, you’re never alone.”

“I don’t know how to word it, but for me, it’s always been the saddest thing to see a child going through life, never being loved, never being wanted, and that’s what makes me wanna do it,” explained Mike Broughton. “I want every child that comes around me, no matter the good or the bad that they have been through, know they’re loved and they are wanted.

When it comes to loving the orphan, mercy isn’t just in the church name — it’s who they are.

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Foster to Adopt

From foster care to forever family: the Beasley family journey

In February 2022, Taylor and Austin Beasley — then 23 and 24 years old — took a leap of faith that would forever change their lives. Unable to have biological children, the young couple decided to open their hearts and home through fostering. “I had a dream, and I was like, you need to foster,” Taylor recalled. “I felt like that was God telling me.”

That calling led them to Sunrise Children’s Services, where a reassuring conversation with staff member Terry Frazier set the course for their journey.

After several placements that ultimately fell through, the Beasley’s received a life-changing referral: two little boys, Leo — almost 2 years old — and Oliver, just 9 1/2 months old. “They looked so much like us that people couldn’t believe they weren’t our biological children,” Taylor remembered, a sentiment that captured the instant connection the family felt upon their arrival.

The road to adoption was anything but easy. Over the course of 895 days in the foster system—with 859 of those days spent in the Beasleys’ care — the couple navigated unpredictable weekly visits and the constant uncertainty of whether the boys would ever be theirs. Amid the heartache and anxiety, Taylor’s belief in God’s calling and the support of Sunrise Children’s Services kept them going. “If not us, then who would care for these boys?” she reflected.

Thinking back on their difficult yet rewarding experience, Taylor offers advice to anyone considering fostering: “These children deserve love. I mean, literally, Christ died for us because of that love. If we can go through all the struggles we did, imagine what these kids have endured.”

With the support of Sunrise Children’s Services, who helped secure the adoption, the Beasleys finally brought Leo and Oliver home for good.

“These are our boys,” Taylor said. “Their story is far from over, but opening our home and hearts to Leo and Oliver truly saved them and completed our family.”

Written by Jake Pelfrey, vice president for marketing and advancement at Sunrise Children’s Services.

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Foster Care Foster to Adopt Our Agency

Our True Home

Our True Home

There is no greater feeling than the feeling of home. Oh, how I long for home after a long day’s work. To walk through those doors and be greeted by my children as I wrap them in my arms—there truly is no greater feeling. Yet, at Sunrise, we understand that this feeling of home is a foreign concept for many Kentucky kids, which is why we work tirelessly to ensure every child in Kentucky can experience the feeling of home. They deserve it. Why? The Prophet Isaiah states that the concept of home is important to God: “My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.”

In FY 2023, Sunrise helped many children find their way home, whether through reunification, foster care, or adoption. However, these acts did not occur in isolation. They were made possible by our generous donors, like you. When you give to Sunrise, you invest in a child’s future. Your gifts help bring them to a place of peace—a place they can call home. Whether it’s through in-kind gifts to reduce costs, memorial giving to honor a loved one, mentoring a youth, or becoming a monthly Children’s Champion, your contributions fuel our beautiful mission of providing care and healing to children and families through Christ-centered ministries. Your generosity works in tandem with our loving and experienced staff, many of whom have been with Sunrise for decades. Your giving, volunteering, and praying all contribute to bringing healing and hope to children. We are so grateful for your support!

Home is important to Sunrise because it is important to our Heavenly Father. He desires everyone to find Home, and we know that in Him, we find our true home. And in this secure dwelling, we are empowered to be His hands and feet, extending our care to these precious children so that they might know the feeling of home.

To learn more about the impact made by Sunrise Children’s Services in Fiscal Year 2023, click here to download our Annual Report.

Written by Jake Pelfrey Vice President for Marketing and Advancement

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Donor Generosity Foster Care Foster to Adopt Independent Living Our Agency Residential Treatment

Remember Sunrise Kids on Mother’s and Father’s Day

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Foster Care Foster to Adopt

Single Mother Trusts in God, Reunites with Children

At Sunrise we often celebrate success stories in our foster families, including adoptions. But we realize that many children have a goal of reunification with their birth families. And so do many parents.

For Arnisha Shegog, parent of four children, that goal was realized. On November 4, 2021, Shegog was reunited with all four of her children. This was actually after the second time her children were placed in the foster care system.

The first time her kids entered foster care occurred when one of her children was abused by a family member. At that time, Shegog was a single mother, just coming home from the hospital with her fourth child. “I needed to seek mental help because I was unable to help my kids and be a proactive mother,” said Shegog. “I didn’t have family to turn to . . . so I leaned a shoulder on foster care . . . . Foster care took my kids in and did the best that they could. So that was the first round.”

The second time occurred when she was married. Less than two weeks after her marriage ceremony, one of Shegog’s daughters shared with an adult at school that she felt unsafe at home. “I was the victim of domestic violence,” stated Shegog. “My kids had to go back to foster care.”

During this incredibly difficult time, Shegog turned to her faith. “I needed to really speak to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as my higher power,” she said. “And I was like, ‘God, help me get out of this situation. I’m stuck. I have my kids in foster care. I’m married. What do I need to do?’”

Shegog quickly realized that she too had to remove herself from an unsafe environment. “I had to seek divorce, and I had to seek ways of helping my kids get out of a situation of foster care,” she stated. She also sought help for herself: getting domestic violence counseling, dealing with past trauma, and taking care of her mental health.

In the middle of all this, she heard God’s voice clearer than ever. “God was like, ‘Dig deeper. I need you to come closer to me,’” she recalled. And when she did, she knew exactly what to do: start a non-profit organization to break the silence of women caught in domestic violence. “So, I started a non-profit, the Arnisha Shegog Mentorship Program, which cares for basically anyone that wants to have a voice (or who is needing help),” said Shegog. The program officially began on July 26, 2021.

While her children were in foster care the second time, Shegog focused on getting herself back to a better place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. “I basically gave my kids back to Christ because I knew what I’ve done to put them in that unpredictable circumstance; now I needed to work on myself,” she said. “So, I gave my kids back to God. And I said, ‘God, I’ve done all the assessments that the court wanted me to do, I’m visiting them on time, I’m making sure I’m being a good correspondent to whatever they need.’ As much as I can do, I did; then it was time for me to work on myself. So, that’s what I’ve done. And November 4, that’s when I got my kids back.”

Shegog was joyful and appreciative to receive her children back in her home. She is also very appreciative of the care that her children received in the foster care system. Her oldest girl was fostered by a family at the girl’s elementary school, and her two boys were fostered by the owner of the daycare center they attended.

Her youngest daughter, who was living in multiple foster homes, was eventually placed in a Sunrise foster family. “Sunrise has my absolute approval!” exclaimed Shegog. “You can sleep at night with so much ease. Beautiful organization and beautiful people.”

Stacy and John Tyler White were the Sunrise foster parents who fostered Shegog’s youngest girl. Both are on staff at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Hopkinsville. John Tyler is the worship and missions pastor, and Stacy is the outreach and assimilation director. “John Tyler is exceptional. Stacy is beautiful inside and out. Their whole family is beautiful,” said Shegog. “They understand the inside and out of raising kids within foster care. Sunrise is a Christian-faith-based organization, so I felt good knowing that my daughter was loved under God.”

It has been quite a journey for Shegog, and she now finds herself and her family at a good place. “It may be chaotic when I go to Walmart with two buggies, because one’s for groceries and one’s for household items, but that’s my peace. At the end of the day, my kids are happy,” she stated. “I had to realize that I’d rather have those two Walmart buggies, being at peace and at joy with my kids at the end of the day, than being in a chaotic marriage.”

Through it all, Shegog is thankful for God’s presence every step of the way. “God brought me out of my deepest, darkest place. I really see what God is doing in my life. My purpose is to speak life and to bring awareness,” she said. “If my kids weren’t (placed into foster care), I wouldn’t have found my joy of being a mentor for other people.”

As a mentor, she has lots to say to people who are going through experiences that she has already walked through. “You think that child services, or CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), or the Department of Children and Family Services are against you; but they’re just holding up a red banner saying, ‘You need help.’ Use that red banner to go and seek help,” she stated passionately. “And don’t be ashamed if you have mental illness. You’re still a good person just like anybody else.”

And she has a special message for single mothers: “For the single mothers out there with one kid up to multiple kids like me, if I can do it with four kids, you can do it with one or two. God bless!”

And may God bless you, Arnisha, as you continue to pour your life and love into your family and into the lives of others. You are truly a blessing to many.

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Foster Care Foster to Adopt

Former Sunrise Foster Kid Gives Back to Sunrise

Autumn Todd knows all about Sunrise Children’s Services back when it was Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children. She experienced the program firsthand as a foster child living in about six or seven different Sunrise foster homes, in our former Dixon Center (on two separate occasions), and in our former Genesis Home (in Mayfield). “I spent probably over half my childhood in (Sunrise) placement,” Autumn said.

Autumn appreciates the help she received from Sunrise. “I would say that getting placement in Sunrise Children’s Services really helped me learn coping skills to control a lot of anger issues and to understand how my childhood abuse and trauma had affected me,” she said. “It gave me those coping skills to emerge from (the trauma) and move forward as an adult.”

But it wasn’t always easy. “Honestly, one of the hardest times for me was going through group homes, not having a family, and then constantly seeing people go in and out, in and out, in and out,” she stated. “It was really rough.”

Fortunately, Autumn always felt the love and support from the Sunrise staff. “I really feel like, growing up in Sunrise placement, whenever I came to a new home, or I came to a group home, they did not judge me. They just wanted to care for me. They wanted to give me a safe place and somewhere to start new, somewhere to learn new things,” she said. “And I feel like they gave me the ‘love your neighbor’ essence . . . through all those actions and through the lack of (judging), just making me feel that I belong and giving me those coping skills, and giving me the treatment and the care that I needed.”

Today, Autumn is married to her husband, Travis, and has two daughters: Beatrice, who is 10 years old, and Luna, who is five. Autumn and Travis also own a cell phone repair business together called IBuyCell&Fix, in Princeton. Now as an adult, it seemed like the right time for Autumn to give back to Sunrise. “We were finally in a position to do something for the children that were in the situation I grew up in,” she stated. And that’s exactly what they did.

At the end of 2021, they began a collection drive at their business to bring in personal hygiene items for the girls and boys currently living in Sunrise’s residential centers. They ended up collecting enough items for the kids as well as for victims of the tornado that hit the community, and for adults living in a local adult group home called Highland Homes. “(Our business) is in a very small shop, and the whole lobby was filled,” shared Autumn. “It was really crazy the community support we got from this.”

With the hygiene items, it was important for Autumn that the Sunrise kids each received a two-month supply. “The reason we chose hygiene items is because growing up in the group homes and the foster homes, I was only allotted $10 a month,” she explained. “The children in state custody today are still only allotted $10 a month! I just remember all the times when things went missing or somebody would steal my stuff because they couldn’t afford stuff of their own. It was just the worst feeling . . . . So, that’s why we chose (to do this).”

This year, she plans to go even bigger, collecting more of the same items they did last year, and adding clothing. Autumn is hoping to get a list of each child’s sizes prior to the drive. She’s also planning to collect even more items for Highland Homes. “We’re going to start it much earlier,” she said. “We’re probably going to start it a month-and-a-half before Christmas, and we’re going to pay for some advertising for it.”

Eventually, in the years to come, she wants to provide for the Sunrise residential kids what was provided for her when she was in residential care: a pancake breakfast. “We want to rent the town hall or go to the group itself and do a pancake breakfast and bring Santa and all the kids’ presents,” Autumn said. “It was just one of the coolest things that happened to me whenever it was the holiday time.”

Most of all, she wants to give to the girls and boys of Sunrise a sense of belonging. “I want to have a meal with them and give them a sense of family,” she shared. “I was one of the few kids in the group home who didn’t have family. A lot of the girls had someone that would come pick them up for home visits. I didn’t at all. And I would sit there on Christmas, with a staff member, by myself; and the best thing I got to do was pick the movie. It was so sad, honestly. And I just hate that.”

This has led Autumn to consider a more permanent way to help replace sadness with happiness in the life of current foster kids. “We are looking into fostering,” she shared. She has recently been talking with her former Sunrise therapist, Angie, about fostering in the near future. Autumn and Travis are purchasing their first home and are already making plans to renovate and add more bedrooms. “Whenever we get (the renovation) done, we (want to) start fostering,” said Autumn.

As a former foster kid herself, Autumn has a unique understanding of what current foster children are experiencing. She wants them to know that even though they have a different way of thinking because of their upbringing, everything will be okay. Her personal word to current foster children is this: “You have to focus on your mental health; focus on breaking generational curses and identifying your triggers. And learn that even though you grew up in this situation – in state custody or in foster homes or in group homes – it doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful, because you definitely can. You just have to want it. And you have to want to break those generational curses.”

It appears that Autumn is well on her way to breaking the generational curses in her own life, and is now doing what she can to instill that drive in others, particularly in those who have been on a similar journey. Thank you, Autumn, for showing us what a former foster kid can become, and what a remarkable future foster parent might look like!

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Foster Care Foster to Adopt Our Agency Residential Treatment Solid Rock Childrens Ranch

Sunrise Adoption Partnership T-Shirt

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Foster Care Foster to Adopt

Dear Devan . . .

The following letter is from Ashley Wyatt, a Sunrise foster parent. She gave the letter to her son on the day of his adoption.

Dear Devan,

You have been my family since the moment I met you in the River Valley waiting area. You were our first call; I was hesitant at first, I won’t lie, but my gut told me you needed me and I needed you. You coming to live with us has been one of the greatest adventures of my life. We had some rough times in the beginning, that’s no doubt. There has been happiness, stress, tears, a lot of firsts. But it didn’t take me long to know that you were meant to be my son and I was meant to be your mom. Sometimes I feel like God made you for us from the very beginning. Heck, you even look like us. I don’t know why our journey to get to each other was filled with such heartache. I’ll never understand why you had to go through so much pain; if I could take it from you I would. But even if I don’t understand, I’m thankful to have what we have now. As one of my favorite songs says, “It’s not where you come from, it’s where you belong.” There is no doubt in my mind that you belong here. We have loved you for 997 days now; I’ve waited for this moment to make you officially my son for what feels like a lifetime and I’m so incredibly happy to be able to do so today! You’re such a sweet boy. You love us, you love people and care about others, you’re funny and smart, your laugh lights up my world, I love the goofy things you say and do. You are the best big brother; you are protective of your family. You are one of the strongest people I know. People tell me we changed your life, but really you changed ours! You made me a mom. My first baby, my son.

So today on your adoption day, I will promise you a few things. I promise to always love you, no matter what you do. I promise to never give up on you. I promise to always keep you safe. I promise to support your dreams, even if they aren’t what I think you should do. I promise to love you even when you make bad decisions or do something crazy, because I feel like we are going to have some of those moments. I just want you to know that no matter what the future holds, Momma is going to be right beside you.

I will forever be thankful that you were given to us. I love you infinity baby.

Love, Momma 💙

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Foster Care Foster to Adopt

SUNRISE CELEBRATES ANOTHER ADOPTION!

Sunrise Parents Welcome Two More to their Family

Jeff and Kathleen Grams are the proud parents of Harriet and Tobias Grams. Their adoption occurred on October 5th, 2021 in Hart County. Jeff and Kathleen are Sunrise foster parents with the Bowling Green foster care office.

In the picture above, Jeff and Kathleen are on the far left, with Tobias and Harriet on the far right.

 

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Foster Care Foster to Adopt Residential Treatment

Madison Finds her Forever Family Through Sunrise

At the age of five, Madison* and her three sisters were living with a mother who deeply loved them, but was not able, because of her own drug and mental health issues, to take care of the children.

So social services stepped in and removed all four children, placing them in foster care. After Madison had turned six years old, she was placed back with her mother, along with her sisters. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the movement from home to home.

When Madison was 10 years old, she was placed in a loving Sunrise foster home for a time due to the poor living conditions in her mother’s home, coupled with Madison’s continued deterioration of performance and behavior in school. Back and forth she moved from foster care, to mom, to foster care – but now it was with the same Sunrise home each time.

Even when Madison went home, her foster parents befriended her mother, helping to buy clothes and shoes and food. But by the time Madison was 12, she came to live with her foster parents and would never go home to live with her mother again.

Four years later, Madison is approaching her 16th birthday. Her foster parents have recently become her adopted parents, and Madison is doing better than ever. Her grades have improved at school. Her behavior is also improving at home and school with each passing month, and Madison is in the process of expanding her skill set by getting a job in her local community.

While Madison misses her mother and sisters, she is very grateful that her new parents have loved her unconditionally for the last six years, and will be her forever family for the rest of her life. Madison is truly blessed, and so are her parents! Another Sunrise adoption. Another life changed!

*Name has been changed to protect the identity of individual.