Temporary Home

Carrie Underwood's new release "Temporary Home" is a beautiful song. The video is even more touching. And I saw an interview in which Carrie said she doesn't see it as a sad song, she sees it as hopeful.

The song contains three stories - a foster child, a homeless, jobless single mother with a daughter, and an old man on the verge of death. Each of these stories hits home with me, as I suspect they do with many people.

As the homeless liaison for our school system, it's my mission to find and help the children in the first two stories. Children who are "awaiting foster care placement" are considered homeless under federal law. Each state is allowed to define "awaiting foster care placement" and the state of Tennessee has not defined it. That leaves it up to the homeless liaison to determine what it means. As a general rule, I consider children in foster care to qualify for services when they come into custody or when they experience a change in placement, as with the little boy in the song.

Single mothers and their children make up a large percentage of homeless families. Domestic violence is one of the primary causes. Others include divorce, failure to pay child support, drug or alcohol abuse or addiction, incarceration, and the list goes on and on. We need more ways to help single parent families, whether the parent is female or male. Educational opportunities, child care, and affordable health insurance are crucial to enable these parents to take care of their children.

The third story in the song hits even closer to home. I'm lucky to still have both parents living. although we all know that can't last forever. For all of us, earth is truly our temporary home.