The exterior of the future Hope House in Hopkinsville is seen on Dec. 19, 2024. COURTESY OF JULIA ROBERTS
The Hope House to provide a welcoming environment for kids awaiting foster homes
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
A unique initiative to provide a loving environment for children awaiting placement in foster homes has “grown quickly from an idea to fruition,” according to a Sts. Peter and Paul parishioner who is helping make this dream a reality.
Julia Roberts works for Joy Closet, a Hopkinsville community foster closet that offers support for foster and kinship families upon receiving a placement, providing free items the children need like clothing, car seats, and other necessities.
But there are more children than there are foster homes in western Kentucky.
Roberts said this results in the children, who have been removed from their homes by state child protection social workers, often having to sleep overnight in state offices until a foster family is available.
“Part of that trauma is that once they have been removed from their home, (case workers) start making phone calls for potential families” which includes being required to describe the child’s distressing circumstances on each phone call, said Roberts.
Sitting in the state office, “the child hears ‘no’ over and over,” she said, explaining that this adds to the trauma already experienced.
The interior of the future Hope House, located in Hopkinsville, is seen on Dec. 31, 2024. COURTESY OF JULIA ROBERTS
Joy Closet’s solution to reducing this trauma is to provide an interim space with beds, warm meals, and bathrooms for children to feel safe and comfortable until they join their foster family. This space, which is currently being built in Hopkinsville, will be called The Hope House.
Roberts said that as soon as a child is removed from their home, they will be taken to The Hope House to be fed and bathed and have access to toys and crafts to unwind. The facility will even include a soundproofed space for case workers to call potential families without being overheard by the children.
“We will open sometime in spring 2025,” she said.
Roberts, who with her husband have fostered several children while raising their biological children, said she hopes more Catholics can get involved in supporting foster families, even if they are not called to foster themselves. Financial support for organizations like this, donating items, and volunteering are easy ways to help.
She said supporting foster families is often overlooked by Catholics and is “one of the biggest missed missions of the Catholic Church.”
She pointed out that this is a pro-life issue: “We’re protecting them in utero, but now that they’re here, what do we do?” she asked rhetorically. “As Catholics, we can make a difference… it’s about protecting life from conception to natural death. We are called to protect the vulnerable.”
“St. Joseph was a foster father, and he’s an example of loving what’s not biologically yours with such a passion that it changed the whole world,” she said.
Learn how to support The Hope House at www.joycloset.org/hopehouse. Email Julia Roberts directly at [email protected].
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Originally printed in the February 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
