LITHIA, Florida — At a place called A Kid’s Place, you’d expect to find—well, kids. And visitors do find them in the game room. However, for a television news story, we can’t show you everyone everywhere, because A Kid’s Place is for children in foster care and their identities are often protected.
“Everything that you think is normal is really not normal for a child in foster care," AKP's Development Director Samantha Mellen said. "We’ve had kids who never celebrated Christmas or never celebrated their birthday. They’ve never been to a museum or a pool or a beach.”
The 6-acre campus in Brandon was created 15 years ago with a specific goal in mind. The cozy houses with live-in house parents allow brothers and sisters to stay together.
“You know they’ve been pulled away from everything they’ve known, at no choice of theirs and it’s just really heartbreaking to see them pulled apart,” Mellen says. “So, if they’re together, they heal and do much better in the long term.”
Children at AKP receive wrap-around services including trauma counseling and educational tutoring.
There’s also a new house and program at AKP designed for young adults aging out of the foster care system. One participant who didn’t want to be identified says having a safe place to stay, while she works at school and getting a job makes a huge difference.
“Without the kind of support that A Kid’s Place provides, I feel like I’d be at a higher risk for things like homelessness and that’s something that teens shouldn’t have to face, simply because of their circumstances,” says the young woman, who aims to be a lawyer.
A Kid’s Place is a not-for-profit group and community support is essential. A large clothes closet filled with items is a great example of how people help. Many children arrive at AKP with little or nothing and they can go to the clothes closet and pick out what they like.
“Our kids want to fit in like the other kids at school; they want the same name brands, the same clothing,” Mellen says. “So, this is really just a huge blessing for our kids.”
It would be nice if A Kid’s Place wasn’t necessary, but according to AKP, every day in Tampa Bay nine children are removed from their homes.
“Children are our future, and they deserve to be a child,” Mellen says.
10 Tampa Bay is proud to help support the work of A Kid’s Place with a $2,000 TEGNA Foundation grant.