“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

— Isaiah 1:17

The opening of the Butler Isaiah 117 House on Sunday, Feb. 9 marked the culmination of two years of effort by volunteers, but just the start of something far more significant for some of Butler County’s most vulnerable.

The Tennessee-based Isaiah 117 House organization was started by Ronda and Corey Paulson after the couple became foster parents.

After witnessing firsthand the plight of children removed from homes by child services organizations awaiting placement in government offices, the couple began working toward providing a real home children could go to temporarily.

“As I looked around the cubicle-filled space, I couldn’t imagine a scared child sitting in such a sterile, cold environment waiting to learn their fate,” Ronda Paulson states on the organization’s website.

Depending on circumstances, the wait for more permanent placement can last hours or even days.

To a frightened child removed from the familiar, possibly just beginning the long road of coping with a history of neglect or abuse, the value of a warm space, with clean clothes, food and people who care ready to ease such a traumatic transitional period cannot be overstated.

The need is real. In 2023, the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were more than 5,000 substantiated reports of child abuse in Pennsylvania, according to the state Department of Human Services. Forty-two of those cases were in Butler County. Looking at data from prior years shows those are fairly typical numbers.

The state does not release data on how many of those substantiated reports result in a child being removed from their home, and recent data on total children currently in placement is not readily available. However, statistics show more than half of all cases substantiated in the state in 2023 were committed by a parent, a parent’s romantic interest or a sibling — all people there’s a very good chance they live with.

Since 2017, Isaiah 117 House has grown to include dozens of locations across 12 states. The opening in Butler County marks the first site in Pennsylvania. For the thousands of children involved in substantiated incidents of abuse in the state, let’s hope it’s the first of many.

— JP