Long Beach now home to a new adoption and foster support program
Magdelena “Mag” Holland serves in many roles. On one end of the spectrum, she’s responsible for organizing events, support and activities for the local community through her role as Senior Citizens Program Coordinator for the City of Gulfport’s Department of Leisure Services.
On the other hand, Holland devotes her time, energy and heart to her nine children, five who are adopted and four biological.
“I’ve been a foster mother for about eighteen years,” Holland says. “The need is so great. There are so many children. Child Protection Services needs good loving families.”
There’s a shortage of safe homes for children of all ages, from infants to teens, in Mississippi’s foster care program. According to the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (CPS), as of January 2023, there were 3,647 children in foster care in Mississippi, and CPS was providing services for another 3,622 children who were living with their own families.
“A lot of people thought of becoming foster parents,” Holland says. “They’ve thought about it, but they are scared to take that step. I’m saying take that step. Try it. If you don’t like it, you’re not under contract, but at least try it. The blessings you get from caring for these children and watching them flourish is indescribable. You get a child in crisis, and within weeks, you see a difference. Children thrive in a healthy and stable environment. These kids need your help.”
Holland, First Baptist Church of Long Beach and other organizers have launched a new program, Foster Care/Adoption/Kinship Care 101, to provide support, information and to answer questions for those in the local community who are interested in becoming foster or adoptive parents.
On Thursday, August 10, concerned citizens showed up for the first of the meetings, which are open to the public and are being held at First Baptist Church of Long Beach. The next meeting will be held September 13. If there is enough interest, the meetings will be held on a monthly basis.
Holland says there are a lot of people who are interested in becoming, or learning more about the process of becoming, a foster or adoptive parent, but have questions such as: “Can a single mom or father be a foster parent? Do you have to be rich to be a foster parent? Do you have to have a big home?”
Holland says sometimes people are concerned they won’t qualify because of age. Holland, at age 64, says she is living proof that fostering and adoption is an option, as well as a blessing, for just about anyone.
One of the reasons Holland and others organized this program is to give people answers to these questions and equip potential foster and adoptive parents with resources they need to welcome foster children into their homes.
“There are a lot of abused and neglected children that need our help. We need to step up and be there for these children,” Holland says. “When you hear of abused and neglected animals, there is a public outcry! Where is the outcry for the children? They need help now.”
Holland says this is the perfect time to launch the new adoption and foster program.
“We feel like with the Safe Haven Baby Box here in Long Beach, the time for helping children is fresh on everyone’s mind,” Holland says. “My main goal, and the program’s main goal, is to bring awareness to the unmet needs of the children in our area. Human trafficking is real, neglect and abuse is real, homelessness is real. Let’s all rally together help these children.”
Long Beach recently became the first city in Mississippi to install a Safe Haven Baby Box, an option for parents of newborns up to 45 days old to safely and anonymously surrender their infant when they feel they cannot care for the child. Caitlin Kelly, a Pass Christian resident, was the driving force behind the Safe Haven Baby Box program and its history-making installation at Central Fire Station in Long Beach, so it is little surprise that she, too, is one of the organizers of the new Foster Care/Adoption/Kinship 101 program that has launched in the Friendly City.
“I think this a great program that will provide awareness and educate our community about adoption and fostering,” Kelly says. “There are other foster families that you can get bits and pieces of information from, but to actually have someone who has as many years such as Mag on hand to share one-on-one experience and information with through this program is going to be so helpful.”
Kelly would know.
“We [Caitlin and her husband] have been foster parents for about five years,” Kelly says. “We’ve adopted two children, and our latest adoption through the foster care service was completed in April of 2023. Before that, we fostered about eight other children, and all have been reunified with their parents. Foster care for us was a family event. The whole family really needs to be on board for you to be successful. I believe Harrison County is hurting for foster families, just like every other county is.”
While some children only live temporarily with foster parents, others are returned to their families or adopted. Holland says the time spent with these young people is invaluable. She glows as she talks about her extended family and can’t help but share how proud she is of all her children and the success they have achieved, along with the opportunity it’s given her to bring out her own inner child.
“I get to play all the time,” Holland says. “I get to play with Barbies again. We have so much fun. You get to be a kid again, especially when the holidays roll around. We go lots of places. In fact, we just got back from Disney. We do so much. I pack as many memories as I can in the little time we have. Children grow so fast.”
Financial assistance is provided for those who decide to foster children in need.
“My children have done – and do – ballet, dance, band, cheerleading, all kinds of stuff,” Holland says. “There is enough money to care for that child, if you budget. When I adopted through foster care, my children have Medicaid until they turn 18.”
That is a huge help. The ultimate goal, however, is reunification, for the child to safely return home to his or her biological family.
“Reunification, when a child gets to go back to their [biological] parents, knowing they’ll be safe, that’s always the best-case scenario for me,” Kelly says.
Reunification isn’t always possible, but fostering and adopting children right here in the local community is.
“If you have it laid on your heart to foster, go ahead and explore that avenue,” Kelly says. “Single, divorced, married, children, no children, anything of that nature, if you have a heart for it, I don’t see any reason why you should not want to go down that path.”
“Children just need somebody to love them, that’s all,” Holland says. “When you foster a child, and you provide a loving, caring and stable environment, their grades go up, they sleep through the night, and their overall health is so much better. The best sound to me is a child laughing. The first time I hear one of my new kids laughing is such a blessing.”
“When my one of my children was in high school, we were talking about something amazing she had done. I said, ‘I am so proud of you. I cannot believe you did that.’ She replied, ‘You know, I knew I could, I just needed the chance.’ That’s all these children need is a chance. That’s one of the biggest things – letting these children know someone cares enough to give them a chance.”
“Break the cycle that got them in state custody. Let them know someone cares,” said Kelly.
“As a foster parent, I try to help the biological family with resources to help them be successful in getting reunited. Sometimes children are taken away because the family is homeless, or just cannot provide for their family. Reunification is the number one goal, but, if it doesn’t happen, then you have the chance to adopt them,” Holland says.
As for the process of becoming a foster or adoptive parent, there are a few criteria that must be met.
“You will have to have a background check,” Holland says. “You have to have a job or income coming in, and you have to have a home. You can find more info on the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services website, MDCPS.ms.gov.”
The public is invited to learn more about becoming a foster parent, as well as how to get or give support for existing foster families, on Wednesday, September 13, at First Baptist Church of Long Beach, from 6 to 7 p.m. The church is located at 300 North Cleveland Avenue. Free childcare for those twelve years of age and under is available with an RSVP.
“Come prepared, ask questions,” Kelly says. “Find out what the greatest need is around our community.”
For more information about the Foster Care, Adoption and Kinship Care101 Program, or to RSVP for childcare, contact Brenda Davis at 228-864-2584 or Mag Holland at 228-861-0007.
