Hutchinson sets faith-based summit on foster children, ex-offenders

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, announced plans for the “Governor’s Restore Hope Summit: A Call to Action for Faith Leaders on Foster Care and Prison Re-entry," set for next month.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, announced plans for the “Governor’s Restore Hope Summit: A Call to Action for Faith Leaders on Foster Care and Prison Re-entry," set for next month.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday announced plans for a interfaith summit next month to address the need for more approved foster homes for children and access to societal-reentry services for inmates.

The governor announced plans for the “Governor’s Restore Hope Summit: A Call to Action for Faith Leaders on Foster Care and Prison Re-entry” at a news conference Tuesday surrounded by members of the event's steering committee. The summit will be held Aug. 25-26 at the Little Rock Marriott in downtown.

Hutchinson said his "narrow goal" of the summit is to address a "crisis in the state." Currently, 4,400 children are in foster care in Arkansas and there are only 2,500 approved beds. He said he's heard stories of Department of Human Service workers staying in their offices all night trying to find a home for a child who has just been taken into foster care.

The governor also plans to address access to reentry beds and services for the 6,000 inmates leaving the prison system this year, he said. The unemployment rate among ex-offenders is 47 percent and with a recidivism rate of more than 40 percent, and Hutchinson said that faith-based organizations can help the state provide transition services to them.

He acknowledged that many of these organizations are already involved in ministry for foster children and offenders but hopes that the summit with inspire "greater engagement."

A steering committee of members from several faiths, including a member from the Islamic Center of Little Rock, as well as state agency employees, has been meeting to plan the summit. Hutchinson said the event will be paid for with private funds that have been raised.

"The state should not endorse any religion. … It's about inclusion of those who want to help our state," he said. "It achieves, in my judgment, the right balance."

The private funds will cover sending out 5,000 notices about the summit to faith-based organizations in the area and covering some of the summit's expenses, Hutchinson said. He said there is a public component since people will be able to register for the summit online at governor.arkansas.gov and state agencies are involved.

See Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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