For more than 22 years, Eddie and Allison have opened their doors to more than 80 children in need, offering safety, compassion and stability. Though they joined Lakeview Center’s CHIPS (Changing Horizons through Innovative Parenting Systems) program just this past October, their fostering journey began decades earlier.

Lakeview Center’s CHIPS program serves youth in foster care who have heightened emotional, behavioral or social needs due to trauma. These children are placed in Specialized Therapeutic Foster Homes, where they receive intensive support, structured supervision and professional therapeutic interventions.

“My husband and I have been in ministry pretty much our whole married life,” Allison explained. “We realized we had been taking in people and helping them our whole lives—we just didn’t know there was an organized effort for foster care.”

Allison and her husband chose to join the CHIPS program after caring for several therapeutic-level children. Wanting to prevent future disruptions and ensure children in their care could receive the right support from the start, they pursued dual licensure through Lakeview Center.

Her first placement in Georgia changed the trajectory of her life. Jesse, an 11-month-old boy arrived in fragile condition and in desperate need of care. “Getting him through that created just an incredible bond.”

Though reunification eventually placed Jesse with a relative, the impact of loving him—and losing him—has stayed with her. “He is a kid we will never, ever forget,” Allison said. “He made a huge impact on us.”

Jesse also shifted something in her heart she never expected. “We never went into foster care to adopt a child,” she said. “We just wanted to help families.” But after caring for him, she realized that some children truly feel meant to stay.

Years later, she and her husband adopted three children who came into their home with uncertain futures. “It’s just one of those things where you think… are you meant to stay?” she shared. “And three times, the answer was yes.”

Through every late-night call, every placement and every transition, her greatest support has been her community. “Definitely family support—our village,” she said. “Our friends who have always supported us… that’s been the biggest help.”

Now, more than two decades in, fostering has become a way of life, a deeply rooted mission she continues to embrace. Her story reflects the heart of foster care: resilience, compassion, faith and the willingness to say yes to a child who needs love.

“Even after all these years,” she said, “it still feels like what we’re meant to do.”

If you would like to make a difference in a child’s life like Eddie and Allison, consider becoming a foster parent.