An Atlanta-area Baptist ministry says the federal government has asked whether it could help care for the surge of immigrant children who are illegally crossing the southwest border on their own.
Georgia Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries released a statement this week saying the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement made contact in March.
Between 1998 and 2005, the Baptist organization sheltered hundreds of unaccompanied immigrant children from 53 countries. A spokeswoman for the organization said Friday that she could not say whether or when those services would resume.
“At this time, we have simply answered inquiries concerning our capabilities of serving these children and are waiting to see if we will be called upon for assistance,” said Alice Bagley, a spokeswoman for the ministry.
Bagley’s organization provides shelter for troubled children, youths, and families and has campuses in Baxley, Meansville and Palmetto.
Thousands of children have been streaming across the southwest border in recent months, fleeing poverty and violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Calling it an “urgent humanitarian situation,” the Obama administration has been scrambling to care for the children. This week the White House asked Congress for $3.7 billion in extra funding to respond to the crisis.
“As a Christian caring ministry to children, we believe it is our mission to reach out to any child who comes to our door,” James Harper, the president of Georgia Baptist Children’s Homes, said in a prepared statement issued this week. “At this time, we continue to have an open dialogue with state and federal agencies and stand ready to assist these children in need.”
A spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the federal government is identifying “potential locations” to offer medical care and temporary shelter to the immigrant children and that “organizations, communities and states have offered to help.”
“While only a few facilities will ultimately be selected, a wide range of facilities are being identified and evaluated to determine if they may feasibly provide temporary shelter space for children,” Kenneth J. Wolfe, a deputy director of the agency, said in an email. “Facilities will be announced when they are identified as viable options.”
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