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We provide homes, healing, and hope to families, children, and youth impacted by abuse, neglect and homelessness. We provide homes for children, teens and college-age youth through our foster care program and residential group homes. Our Family Preservation program provides targeted, specific interventions for families who are at risk for having their children removed as well as with families working toward reunifying with their children. We also provide a home for homeless women and children, a population that merges with our service footprint of serving vulnerable children and families.

Embrace Alabama Kids has programs and staff that serve and span the state of Alabama. Our Northwest Florida ministry (Embrace Florida Kids) also has programs in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton Counties.

We receive private referrals and referrals from the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR). We are licensed and contracted through DHR to provide residential care, foster care and support programs.

Income and expense vary greatly from program to program, and some are self-funded. Collectively, our Alabama Department of Human Resources contract dollars pay a small fraction of what it costs to run our homes and programs, and funding is always shifting and fluctuating. The remainder of our revenue comes from donors and churches.

We have a variety of methods to accept your tax-exempt donation: Our secure payment processing link has instructions for your credit card, EFT or check; through your financial institution, IRA contribution, and via Venmo.

All funds are considered unrestricted and for “Greatest Ministry Needs” unless the donor provides other instructions to restrict the gift for a specific location or program.

Last year (2021) (Including Embrace Alabama Kids and Embrace Florida Kids)

• 2,050 babies, children, teens, young adults and families ministered to
• 33,854 days of care delivered to 304 individuals in residential homes, providing food, clothing, counseling, nurturing and guidance
• 21,061 days of foster care provided for 137 children and youth while training and supporting 108 foster families
• 270 families kept together through intensive in-home treatment, positively impact the lives of 1,083 individuals

Employment inquiries may be directed to our Human Resources staff located at our corporate office. E-mail: hrdept@embracealkids.net, call 1.800.239.3575 or click here.

Volunteers are limited at our program locations due to sensitivity, privacy, and safety issues. We do have many community advocates and supporters in our schools and churches who raise funds, collect necessary donations (for our foster families and our teens) provide tutoring, fellowship and social opportunities, and more. Monetary donations and estate gifts ensure we are able to continue our programs long-term. We are always in need of gift cards for entertainment as well.

Additionally, we love to get an invitation to speak at your civic clubs, church groups, etc. Every invitation to speak is an opportunity to gain support from a new segment of the community. Contact us at 1.800.239.3575 or info@embracealabamakids.net to learn more about getting involved!

Embrace Alabama Kids was established in 1890 to provide services to abused, neglected, and abandoned children. What started out as an orphanage in Summerfield, AL, has grown to include a wide spectrum of foster care and family preservation programs in both Alabama and Northwest Florida.

• 1890: The brainchild of Rev. Sam P. West of the North Alabama Conference, the Alabama Methodist Orphanage was founded on faith and with $129 in Summerfield, Alabama. Charles Eppsworth Moore was the first resident. By 1905, 443 children had been served; 351 of them were adopted into homes.
• 1911: After much prayer and debate, the ministry was moved to Selma and housed in the former Selma Military Institute on Broad Street. A nearby farm helped keep food expenses down and the children learned responsibility, discipline and essential life skills as they cared for the animals and tended and harvested the garden.
• 1939: A name change reflected the evolving needs of the children and the agency’s commitment to meeting them. The Alabama Methodist Orphanage became the Methodist Children’s Home. By 1965, only one true orphan lived at the home.
• Late 1940’s: The chapel was completed at the Selma Campus, which grew over the years to include a swimming pool, 10 cottages, tennis and basketball courts, residences for the executive director and chaplain, and, at one point, a 24-bed hospital. Residents attended church services, confirmation classes and participated in UMYF groups, Bible studies and retreats.
• 1960s: More and more of the children coming into Embrace Alabama Kids’ care have been victims of abuse, abandonment and neglect. As a result, they often came with emotional and behavioral issues. Licensed social workers joined the staff and worked in partnership with state agencies in Alabama and Florida.
• 1968: The Methodist Church united with Evangelical United Brethren to become the United Methodist Church. The agency’s name was changed to United Methodist Children’s Home and then later to Embrace Alabama Kids.
• 1971: In an effort to help children maintain relationships with their biological families and to foster the hope of eventual reunification when possible, child welfare advocates began to favor small, home-like settings in nearby communities. As a result, Embrace Alabama Kids began opening licensed residential group homes. The first, a home for girls in Scottsboro, Alabama, was sold to Embrace Alabama Kids for $1 by Scottsboro First United Methodist Church.
• Through the 70’s: Other group homes followed. Embrace Alabama Kids currently operates group homes in Alabama and Florida, and each serves six to eight youth who can no longer live with their parents. The boys and girls, ages 11-18, often have mild to moderate behavioral and emotional problems. Family members remain involved and have supervised visits whenever possible. The Babies First program in Mobile serves teen mothers and their children.
• 1980’s: Family preservation became one of the major focuses of child welfare providers. Advocates urged states to provide structured services so children could remain in their homes with safeguards in place to protect them.
• 1995: Embrace Alabama Kids’ first family preservation program, Family Options Program, began in Dothan. The agency has served a seven-county area ever since. Now called FOCUS (Family Outcome Centered Unification Services), it provides intensive, in-home treatment so families can stay together. In its 20 years, the program has had a 90 percent success rate.
• Early 2000’s: Discussions about closing the Selma campus begin. Renovations necessary to meet the standards for residential care would cost more than the building and grounds are worth. Fewer children are placed there because of the state’s preference for foster care and group homes.
• 2010: The Board makes the difficult decision to sell the Selma campus 100 years after the Alabama Methodist Orphanage leaders made the decision to move from Summerfield to Selma. Painful decisions made a century apart had the same goal: to serve children and families with the highest quality of care.
• 2013: The Knabe Higher Education Homes allow students with a history of alternative care to attend college while living in a supportive, stable and loving environment. The Tuscaloosa scholarship home serves young men attending Stillman College, Shelton State Community College and the University of Alabama, and the Florence scholarship home serves young ladies studying at the University of North Alabama.
• 2015: Embrace Alabama Kids celebrated 125 years of ministry and continues to serve children, teens, young adults and families in the North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida conferences.
• 2020: Embrace Alabama Kids rebrands its Northwest Florida ministry to “Embrace Florida Kids.” Among other reasons, the new name gave donors in this region assurance that their dollars could be put to work caring for kids in their own communities.