A new facility in Benton aims to be one solution to a complex and challenging issue in foster care.
On Wednesday morning, staff and supporters with Second Chance Youth Ranch cut the ribbon on a new six-bedroom, four-bath home that is designed to keep brothers and sisters together as they seek adoptive families.
The home is specially designed to accommodate large sibling groups to avoid separating them during the foster care process. It has a large central living area and kitchen.
Operations Director Rachel Hubbard says oftentimes in foster care, siblings are separated.
"And all of us at [Division of Children and Family Services] and our organization feel that is a complete disservice to those children. They've already lost their parents, their home, their community, their way of life, everything. But many of those sibling groups are four, five, six seven, eight, up to 12 kids.”
She says the home was created specifically for large sibling groups.
Couple Zach and Chelsea Clay will live in the home to care for the kids. Hubbard says they are no stranger to the system.
"Zach, himself, grew up in foster care and is now a foster daddy. They have two children that they've adopted from foster care, they have six foster children currently in their home that are going to be moving here with them, and they have been with us for six years."
Hubbard says the couple will be provided with lodging, transportation and light work that will allow them to focus most of their time on foster care. She says Second Chance provides wraparound services for the whole family.
"It is a radically different way of doing foster care. We have 11 of these campus homes, we have 36 open foster homes. As of today, we have 98 children.”
A December 2024 report from the state Division of Children and Family Services says Arkansas had 3,553 children in the foster care system at the end of the fiscal year. That is a 12% decrease from the previous fiscal year.
Furnishings for the home were provided by Ashley Furniture.
Second Chance Youth Ranch is a private agency that operates several individually licensed foster homes. It is a partner organization with the state Department of Human Services aiming to recruit, train, and support foster parents.
