The story of the Hope House is one only God could have written. My husband and I were a foster family and had taken time off to untangle grief that comes with the beauty of reunification. We were finally ready to say yes again in 2023, and our house opened on a Thursday. The following Monday, I was in the school pick up line with my then 7- and 6-year-olds when we got our call. A 5-day-old baby was ready at the hospital!
It was a quick “yes” and a whirlwind, but we had our “Honey Boy” that night. Ten days later, on our daughter’s 8th birthday, we learned I was pregnant. That limited my “yeses” to any additional children in crisis – in fact, it stopped them altogether until the following March, when God said “yes” through me before I knew what I was saying! It was to a set of brothers, ages 3 and 5, who were just “passing through” and would be a short stay. Their story is the one that really made an impact on me and my heart, and eventually created my burning passion for the Hope House.
Hopkinsville has an amazing non-profit organization named Joy Closet that was the vision of Heather Gray and Tressy Wells. They serve children in foster care, kinship placements, and kids in crisis. I came to know them with Honey and again when I said yes to the two brothers. I called Heather and asked her to get me supplies to love on these boys, and she got me diapers for the 3-year-old, 3T and 5T clothes, bathing items, toys, more than you could imagine.
My husband brought home the bag from Joy Closet and we waited… and waited. Around 9:45, two exhausted caseworkers and two wired boys walked into our home. I stood there 6 months pregnant, holding a 6-month-old, and one of the case workers said, “Julia, you need to leave the room. You and Honey can’t be around them yet.”
We then learned that the car in which they had been traveling through Kentucky was a mobile meth lab. My husband had to strip the boys down and bathe them while I got Honey to bed. When we got them out of the bath, I learned they were both in diapers, and both way larger than the items we had. It was after 10pm and we were scrambling. We managed to meet their needs, but as Logan laid them in bed, I sobbed. Sobbed because that was their story, because that was their entrance into foster care and into my home, and because I couldn’t do anything.
That night I prayed; I asked God for a sign, for a direction, for a plan. The boys returned to family in their home state the following morning, and I went to Joy Closet the next day to talk to Heather. Like most of my conversations with Heather now start, I said, “I have an idea.”
“Once this baby is here, I want to bathe children before they go to their placements. I know I can’t say ‘yes’ to every placement, but I can wash feet.”
She and Tressy looked at me and said, “That’s funny because we have this idea…”
Hope House began. I was brought on staff, and we are now weeks away from the walls being raised on land that was donated from a local farmer, with funding donated by our community. We are still raising money, and a large portion has been from churches. We go to local churches, show the film Sound of Hope, I tell my story, and we collect a love offering. We still have a way to go! I’m currently planning a large-scale fundraiser where the title sponsor will get to host a showing of the Sound of Hope for all of their employees, friends and family.
The Hope House will serve the children entering into care by reducing the amount of trauma they experience. They won’t be sleeping in offices, they won’t hear their stories told over and over followed by the word “no.” They will be bathed, fed, and loved by our staff and volunteers while a social worker housed in our home office finds appropriate placement.
This will allow social workers to do their jobs and focus on appropriate placement, instead of trying to locate food and clothes, give lice treatments, bathe kids in sinks, etc. Finally, we will be able to serve foster parents, and our “giving room” will be fully equipped with all brand-new items. Everything a family needs will be there and we will send them off with enough to last 72 hours (which is enough time to get the appropriate paperwork and set up an account at Joy Closet). Lessening the load on the family will hopefully allow for more “yeses” and less burnout.
Fast forward 8 months… you are brought to the present day. Barrett “Bear” Roberts is 5 months old. Honey is his biggest fan and finds it hilarious to sit on his head as he learns how to crawl. The court is in the process of terminating parental rights with Honey’s biological parents, and we are hoping he is officially a Roberts in 2025.
I have accepted a bigger role within Joy Closet and am now the Director of Programs and Events.
I often see reminders of my former grief through social media posts, glimpses of old uncertainties and past questions of my faith, and I just laugh because I never could have written my story this well. My old plans wouldn’t have fulfilled me like this new vocation God laid in front of me.
Our priest asked me one day why I had this connection with children in care; he wondered if I had been adopted or seen it in some way in my life… and my only answer was “because God told me to.” I truly believe this is the calling of the Church, and I’m grateful to be a voice for the voiceless.
Julia Roberts (no, not that one!) is a 36-year-old born and raised in Kentucky. An exercise physiologist by trade, she manages three fitness studios, and within the last year took on the large role of managing Hope House and overseeing all Joy Closet programs and events benefiting children in foster care, kinship care, and children in crisis. She holds a lot of jobs, but at heart Julia is a mom.
Julia and her husband Logan have 3 biological babes and currently one foster love, whom they hope to adopt. They have been a foster family for a little over 3 years, and the stories that have come through their front door are the ones that have driven Julia to do the work that she does.
