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ope Village Emergency Shelters provide emergency services to children removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. These shelters provide a safe haven until a more permanent placement can be found. Placements may include a relative, a foster home or, in the best situations, a return to parents. The maximum time allotted for a child to remain in an emergency shelter is 45 days. During that time, all medical, psychological, nutritional, and educational needs are met.


Because we believe it is important that sibling groups are allowed to stay together when facing the crisis of entering foster care, Hope Village has opened two emergency shelters. Each is licensed for 12 children ranging from birth to eighteen years of age. One shelter houses our female residents and the other houses males. This allows us to provide for large sibling groups. Even though our males and females are in different buildings, they are on the same campus and can be assured of each others’ well being.

All school age children are enrolled in our public school system. Many of our children come to us with severe educational deficits. Some have never even been to school. Meridian Public School teachers work closely with the Hope Village staff to provide as much educational opportunity as possible in a short period of time. . Tutors are provided; some volunteer and some are paid by the school system, four days a week.

All information acquired on a child during their stay at Hope Village’s emergency shelter is provided to the MS Department of Human Services’ social worker along with recommendations for further services. It is our hope that the use of our emergency shelters helps to ease the trauma of transitioning into foster care for each child we serve.