River Hills Refuge-a Miracle on Sharpton Drive-Shelby, NC! Three brand new Foster Homes Open for Business in CC!!

The April 25^th issue of the Shelby Shopper, front-page headline article, titled River Hills Refuge to dedicate three new Foster Homes at an April 27 Ceremony; provided detailed information regarding the beginnings, planning and construction of the River Hills Refuge project. Along with an invitation for members of the general public to attend the Saturday, April 29, 2024 dedication ceremony set to begin at 11:00 AM. Robert A, previously aware of these plans, had already decided to attend. Rain or Shine. It was a beautiful Spring morning, a bit cloudy and cool, but overall a perfect day for this mostly outside event. And the starts of one of the most unique and needed facilities in Cleveland County. A safe and caring place for children in much need of a safe and caring place to call home.

Also folks, go to www.riverhillsrefuge.org for the many details of the Westmoreland Family, their major donations of the land and funding for the three homes and other such details and pictures of the River Hills Refuge Project. The remainder of this article is in regard to Robert A’s unique inspection methods and how it relates to Foster Care, problems with the mostly government run Foster Care System in North Carolina and how Cleveland County has previously failed most foster children. And how the River Hills Refuge Project appears to be a superior all around way to become a major asset to just about anything else yet devised to better provide a safe and caring refuge for the most helpless component of our society. Homeless Children in need of protection and care during their formative years.

First, some definitions and explanations:

Foster Careis different from an orphanage or an adoption process for children. According to North Carolina Law and legal processes, maintaining a family unit consisting of biological parents and their children is the number one priority. When parents, often because of substance abuse and other such issues, abuse or severely neglect their children, the County DSS brings the situation before a Judge. The Judge reviews the situation and may remove the child from their parents care and control until the home situation is rectified. The Child is removed from the home and placed in Foster Care. Which is fully intended to only be a temporary arrangement until the parents clean up their act sufficiently for their children to be put back into the original care and control of their parents. If the parents re-offend, the children can be removed again if that is the case. And most often NOT back to the same foster home. As one would expect from such an unwieldy arrangement, Social Workers and the Court System get stuck in a DO-Loop and the children are like ping-pong balls; bouncing back and forth between the parents and various Foster Homes, often on a regular basis. This system, given only a cursory review, is problematic at best and often totally damaging to the foster child’s emotional development.
Foster Homesare most often Private homes belonging to Foster Parents who receive compensation from the State for their services.
Foster Parents receive training from the State before they become Foster Parents. Foster Parents may have children of their own that live in the Foster Home with the Foster Children. Older children of the Foster Parents have been known to sexually abuse/molest younger Foster Children. Something that CCDSS has been known to cover up.

In the case of River Hills Refuge, RHR and the Baptist Children’s Home (BCH) owning the facilities lock, stock and barrel as well as them recruiting, hiring and training the foster parents. This appears to be a unique situation that will allow RHR and BCH to resist any “bullying” from the “State” to do things that RHR and BCH believes will be detrimental to the best interest of the Foster Children. As well as the ability to infuse and maintain a Christian influence on the Foster Children and the RHR’s MO. Most informed citizens in Cleveland County would agree that Christian influences and Biblical Teachings infused into family circumstances and the raising of children is a good thing that is missing in public schools and often banned in governmental affairs.

To back up this thought, Robert A made a thorough inspection of one of the houses on the RHR grounds. The workmanship in the building construction was excellent, the layout was appropriate for the intended use. Appropriate thought for energy efficiency was applied to the structure, windows, and appliances, etc. Robert A concluded that the attention to detail in the design and construction of the homes was an excellent indicator of the thoughts and good decisions RHR and the BCH had made across the board in regard to making RHR a total success in every aspect of their operations. From Building Construction, operating an effective Foster Home that will benefit disadvantaged children. Heck, Robert A even inspected the landscaping and approved of the tree selection (Chestnut Oak) and other plantings.

Robert A recommends the RHR business plan be copied by others who are concerned with the plight of disadvantaged children in Cleveland County. Robert A also recommends that those that are able to make charitable donations to consider RHR. Donations to RHR and the Baptist Children’s Homes of NC are good investments to the overall betterment of Cleveland County.

Editor’s Note: A “google” search of “Cleveland County Foster Homes” turned up a lot of information, tables and graphs. All about 8 years old. But showing a big problem with no plan for improvement.

Other searches came up with the following link that indicated, like many up to date incidents and information, that “Government” is the root of many problems in the United States.

Of particular interest on this subject of Foster Home problems and issues, this link to the Prager University provided inciteful information regarding identified problems with Foster Home operations as well as other short lessons regarding things that every American Citizen ought to know about. Robert A watched them all!! For access, cut and paste this link into your browser.

https://www.prageru.com/video/is-the-foster-care-system-racist

PS: Robert A predicts the RHR Foster Children will also attend Pinnacle Classical Academy. Which is, according to fair and accurate evaluations by reputable agencies, the best school in Cleveland County!!