Tennessee Children No Longer Sleeping In DCS Offices Thanks To Faith-Based Community

Image: DCS Commissioner Margie Quin Image Credit: TN Dept of Children’s Services / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –

Thanks to the religious community in Tennessee, children in state custody will no longer be housed in Department of Children’s Services (DCS) office buildings.

Often when children are taken into state custody, there is an indefinite waiting period before they can be placed in a foster home. For at least a year, children were sleeping and living in DCS office buildings due to a lack of transitional housing for that period of time.

Many of these children were either resuming DCS custody after being in a previous foster home, taken from their homes after neglect or abuse allegations towards their parents or guardians, or they were coming under DCS custody after running into trouble with the law.

While some of these DCS offices were properly set up with beds and private rest areas, some children were subject to sleeping on chairs or the floor. Either way, this was a major problem for DCS and the children in their custody. 

Back in March, DCS Commissioner Margie Quin joyfully told the state legislature that thanks to religious based non-profits across the state, they had finally been able to end this practice in Tennessee with the exception of Shelby County. 

Now just two months later, Shelby County children will also have access to proper transitional housing thanks to a partnership between DCS and the Church of God in Christ (COGIC).

According to Quin, there are no longer any children residing in DCS offices anywhere within the state as of March 30^th.

On Wednesday, Gov. Lee and DCS Commissioner Margie Quin joined several others on a trip to Memphis in order to celebrate the opening of this new transitional housing.

“That transition time has been one of the hardest spots for DCS but this partnership, with the faith-based community here in Shelby County, has been a game changer for these children,” Gov. Lee said at the unveiling ceremony. 

This newly opened COGIC transitional housing unit in Shelby County is actually one of thirty homes across the state where children can now be properly accommodated. 

COGIC Presiding Bishop J. Drew Sheard claimed it was an honor for them to be able to provide the housing unit which will still be ran by DCS personnel. 

“These children are already enduring stressful situations,” Sheard said. “We not only want to provide them with a safe and comfortable place during one of the most uncertain times of their lives, but we also want them to know that God loves and cares about them and so does the Church of God in Christ.”

Commissioner Quin has continued to express her thanks to the faith-based community for helping solve this problem for one of Tennessee’s more vulnerable populations, our children.

“We made a call,” she said, “and the faith-based community answered that call. And that is the reason that children are no longer sleeping in offices in the state of Tennessee.”

About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.