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Isaiah 117 House prepares to help children on their worst day
In 2017 in Northeast Tennessee, a Bible verse moved a woman to act.
Taking to heart the words of Isaiah 1:17 to “defend the fatherless,” Ronda Paulson founded Isaiah 117 House.
Then in 2021 in West Central Indiana, another Bible verse moved another woman to act.
Hung up on a similar call in James 1:27 “to look after orphans and widows in their distress,” Rissa Shepherd felt challenged by God to step out of her comfort zone.
Hours of prayer, education and awareness raising later, Shepherd is well into the process of bringing Isaiah 117 House and its mission to Putnam County.
The idea of Isaiah 117 House is to be an inviting place where children taken out of homes by the Department of Child Services can go before they are placed with a foster family or other family members.
The nonprofit describes its threefold mission as to: Reduce trauma for children entering the foster system, lighten the load for child welfare services and ease the transition for foster families.
“It’s a literal house that will serve our children on their worst day, as well as those of nearby surrounding counties that might need our help,” Shepherd, who is the expansion coordinator for Putnam County, said.
The model for an Isaiah 117 House, one Shepherd and fellow organizers plan to duplicate in Putnam County, is to have a place with a girls’ bedroom, a boys’ bedroom, places to play, fully stocked kitchen and bathroom and an office for the DCS worker.
Shepherd said the children, who usually come with nothing, are provided with a bath and any other needed hygienic care, as well as clothing, toys, blankets, pillows and toiletries, with the goal being “to comfort them for their short stay before moving on to foster or kinship placement.”
The office space for DCS is also important, as it will give the worker, in whose care the child must stay, a fully-functioning place to work while also giving the child a more welcoming environment than a government office.
“We can take care of the children while they’re trying to find placement,” Shepherd said, “Comforting them in the meantime because they come to us feeling like they’ve done something bad to make this happen.”
The house will also provide some buffer time in which a potential foster family can prepare. While there is already a need for foster families in the community, that need is only exacerbated by its suddenness at times. A child is taken from a home and a potential foster family gets a call — perhaps in the middle of the night — that not only does the child need placement, but needs supplies the family may not have on hand.
“For foster families, we can provide car seats, pack-n-plays, diapers, formula, etc. – anything they would need to be compliant with state regulations for having foster children in their homes,” Shepherd said. “They get this call and they may be bringing in infants, and they may not have that in their homes because they haven’t had an infant in a while.
“We’re trying to make it easier for them to say yes,” she added.
While Putnam County’s Isaiah 117 House does not physically exist yet, it is also much more than a dream at this point.
Shepherd, a relatively recent transplant from Hendricks County, was not only feeling challenged by the verse she encountered in a Bible study of the book of James, she was also feeling the need to connect in her new community.
“I was sitting in my house in the middle of a cornfield, feeling guilty about not really redeeming the time during COVID,” Shepherd said. “I had lived here about four years, and hadn’t made connections.”
Then she got an email about Isaiah 117, went to a meeting and felt it was just what she’d been looking for.
After Shepherd attended an informational meeting, her husband asked her where she planned to volunteer, with the closest proposed locations being at least two counties away.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to work with another county,” Shepherd replied. “I think I’m supposed to do this here.”
And so she finds herself well into the “raising awareness” stage, something that formally started in August with a kickoff meeting featuring founder Ronda Paulson herself.
The growth has continued with a pastors brunch, speaking engagements, booths at various events and a monthly expansion meeting, which takes place at the Inn at DePauw at 7 p.m. the first Monday of each month.
“We’re always looking for people to partner with us, and the best way to get information is to come to our expansion meetings,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd has been pleased with the response, which has included a builder volunteering his services as well as several other key elements.
“Part of the beauty of bringing this to Putnam County is how it’s making my life bigger in terms of meeting these people where I live,” Shepherd said. “It’s such a huge blessing.”
The group is still waiting for land donation, but Shepherd noted, “God’s timing is best, and we’re waiting for him to fill in the blanks.”
As those blanks continue to be filled in, the local effort will move into its fundraising phase on Feb. 23 as the effort to expand the circle continues.
“We will need 40 volunteers trained in trauma-informed care when the house opens,” Shepherd said. “No one will live in the house, but we will have at least two volunteers on call 24-7 for when we have those calls that children are being brought to the house. There will be lots of opportunities for service volunteers when the house is open as well – lawn care, donation organization and things like that.”
It’s part of a rapid expansion for the organization, which spread from its original home in Carter County, Tenn., to elsewhere in that state and now to seven states across the South and Midwest. Putnam is the seventh county in Indiana to have a house in some stage of development.
Locally, it’s also happening rather fast for Shepherd, who admits to knowing next to nothing about DCS before she started this journey.
“It never occurred to me that removal day could be so traumatic. It was all an awakening to me,” Shepherd said. “I don’t have the answers to all the questions, but I’m just trying to answer the call.”
“Every day, I just ask God to give me what I need today,” she added.
As Isaiah 117 House continues its development locally, Shepherd is available to speak to large or small groups and can be reached at 423-518-3760, ext. 128 or rissa.shepherd@isaiah117house.com.
To learn more about the larger Isaiah 117 effort, visit www.isaiah117house.com, and to follow the local progress, visit www.facebook.com/isaiah117houseputnamcoin.