The Smoky Mountain Children’s Home in Sevierville, facing a $350,000 loss in contracts for childcare from the state, has brought in a consultant to help them through the financial challenge, said the home’s superintendent, Paul Duncan.
“We don’t want to say we’re suffering financially,” Duncan said. “We consider this a financial challenge, but we are confident that our supporters will rise to the challenge.”
Although the nation’s economy overall has had an effect on the home’s $2 million budget, Duncan said that the primary reason for the loss is due to changes in foster care policies in Tennessee.
Specifically, the changes are the result of the “Brian A. Lawsuit,” a federal class action lawsuit filed by the New York-based Children’s Rights on behalf of Tennessee’s 10,000-plus foster children in 2000.
Mandates resulting from the lawsuit provided that no child can be placed in residential treatment or group care in excess of eight children without written approval; a standard of no more than two moves while in foster care; and the least-restrictive, most homelike setting within 75 miles of home, with no more than three foster children and three biological children in one setting.
The Smoky Mountain Children’s Home, with a capacity for 100 kids, never has more than eight children in a cottage setting, but the other restrictions of the settlement are having an impact on the children’s home.
To combat the loss from the state, the home has been active in pursuing and recruiting foster home parents within a 75 mile radius of Sevierville, and is working to establish a new program for adolescents with a potential for drug and alcohol problems.
“This will be a small, residential program, with a capacity for eight children,” Duncan said. “The satellite program will be located on property with an existing facility we own on Chapman Highway, and will be for children who are not addicted to drugs or alcohol, but show a potential or a tendency for problems in this area.”
Duncan said that the home has already communicated with the state about their intentions for the new adolescent program.
“We don’t have a contract yet, but the response was positive,” Duncan said.
If approved, a contract with the state will pay $50 per day, per child in the new program, which would bring $146,000 to the home’s budget and help offset the recent losses.
In January, Carl Richardson, a consultant from Brandon, FL., was brought in to assist the home in dealing with the financial challenges, and to help the home better communicate with the local community.
“The home has the advantage of being a faith-based facility,” Duncan said, “which is helping the home to survive even during challenging times.”
Only about 24 percent of the home’s budget comes from the state.
“I say that this is the best of times and the worst of times,” Duncan said. “Best because we are on the threshold of being able to care for children more effectively than ever, but worst because of the challenge of new mandates and the impact it is having on our home. We want to continue to reach out in a caring, compassionate way to hurting families and their children.”

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