Littleton to be honored at national event
Dr. Rhonda Littleton, a 1990 Southern Wesleyan University psychology graduate, is being honored for her work to ensure that more children get to live in a loving home.
Littleton’s work in establishing A Home for Me distinguishes her as an Angel in Adoption, and the efforts of her and her team were recognized in Washington by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) during their awards ceremony Sept. 11, 2012 and at a gala event Sept. 12, 2012. She was recognized by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) for efforts to develop “quality relationships” with agencies that serve South Carolina’s vulnerable children.
A few years ago, Littleton, minister of children at Simpsonville First Baptist Church, noticed families in the congregation who were adopting children or becoming foster parents.
“I grew up in a family where my parents were foster parents. I was a biological child but they had about 12 foster children,” Littleton said, adding that Simpsonville First Baptist Pastor Randy Harling and his wife are also foster parents.
Over a period of four years, Littleton and others at Simpsonville First Baptist combined their talents and resources to develop A Home for Me, an organization devoted to the needs of foster children, foster parents, biological parents or children who may be at risk of entering foster care.
“We have about 25 families that are licensed foster families. Many of them have adopted 12-15 kids over the past five years,” Littleton said. Nearly 75 children have come into foster homes and 15 have been adopted because of A Home for Me.
A Biblical principle behind A Home for Me is found in James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Littleton has seen lives literally saved through the ministry.
“We had an international adoption where a couple was going to abort their baby but came here to have the baby and lived with me several months,” she said.
A Home for Me partners with several local agencies including the Department of Social Services, the Bair Foundation, Foster Great Ideas and Christian organizations that include Connie Maxwell Children’s Home and Pendleton Place.
Littleton said of her honor, “It is quite overwhelming personally but it’s an honor for the church because of the impact the church and A Home for Me team has had.”
“We really feel that being a light in the community is where God called us,” Littleton said of the team.
The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about tens of thousands of orphans and foster children in the United States and millions of orphans worldwide in need of permanent, safe and loving homes through adoption. CCAI’s goal is the elimination of barriers that hinder these children from realizing their basic right of a family.
CCAI does not receive any government funding and relies on the generous support of foundations, corporations and individuals to accomplish their mission.
For details about CCAI, visit www.ccainstitute.org/ and www.angelsinadoption.org. For details about A Home for me, visit http://www.fbcsimpsonville.org/children and click on the “A Home for Me” logo.