October 2, 2026
RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. (KT) – A new ministry is seeking to change how foster care begins in southwestern Kentucky.
Isaiah 117 House will provide a comfortable, dignified waiting location for children who are removed from their homes and placed in state custody in Logan, Simpson and Butler counties—reducing trauma for children awaiting placement, lightening the load borne by social workers and easing the transition for foster families.
"The children…often have nothing with them. They come into foster care sometimes with just a trash bag," said Gafford, who has been a foster parent for over a decade. "They're scared. They're--a lot of times--dirty, they're hungry, and they just need that love and support."
Isaiah 117 House will be that needed haven—a literal house with two bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, toys, an office space for social workers wading through paperwork to find each child a placement, brand new clothing, shoes, toiletries and other basic necessities a child may need and Christian volunteers ready to share the love of Jesus.
Gafford said the long road to opening an Isaiah 117 House started in 2019 when the Logan County Foster Association—a group of foster moms who met monthly—saw that there were local children who needed placements that they did not have capacity to take in, and began praying about what more could be done in Logan County.
"I know that God had a plan at that point; we just didn't know what it was," Gafford said.
At one point, Isaiah 117 House—a ministry based out of east Tennessee—came up in conversation, and the foster moms began the process of partnering with the nonprofit to open their own home, distinctive red door included.
Approved in April 2023, Isaiah 117 House of Logan/Simpson/Butler County now has a building completed and is preparing to open for foster children and their social workers at the end of July. It joins the ranks of 55 other Isaiah 117 Houses across 13 states.
"Logan County has really come on board with lemonade stands, with fundraisers to build this house," Gafford said. "To see our community and the faithfulness of this community to rally and walk along and build this house—it's been a beautiful project."
With over 100 volunteers already in the training pipeline prepping to serve, the Isaiah 117 House will embody the verse after which it is named: "Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow."
The care volunteers provide will be temporary—anywhere from a few hours to three days—but Gafford believes it will plant seeds about the gospel, and the God who deeply loves the orphan and the oppressed.
That care is not only for children and teenagers, but their foster families, too. A freezer stands stocked with meals so that moms and dads don't have to worry about meals when they add a child to the dinner table. Gift cards are available to purchase beds and mattresses and other needed items. A private visitation space will facilitate case plan meetings and, hopefully, improve the chances of reunification.
"It gives dignity," Gafford said.
There are more than 8,600 children currently in Kentucky's foster care system, and Gafford hopes more Isaiah 117 Houses will be established across the state to stand in the gap while children hover between the home they have known and a new normal.
"There are some Kentucky locations that have reached out all across [the state] and we've had conversations, so we don't know what that's going to look like in the future, but we are talking with several," Gafford said. "We are praying that we will get some Kentucky friends in the future."
Gafford invited prayer for the families and state officials Isaiah 117 House will soon serve, especially because it's often abuse, neglect and addiction that lead to foster care placements—and it's traumatic for the children involved.
"I just ask that they just see the love—that this house has been built for them, that they will just see the hands and feet of Jesus."
Learn more about Isaiah 117 House at isaiah117house.com.
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This story appeared in Kentucky Today.
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