After being found living in a storage unit in Tennessee, four children are now in foster care near Nashville.
Anthony Poteet, director of Foster Families Assistance Network (FFAN), is helping the foster family raise funds and clothing through the organizations Facebook page.
“Their parents I guess dropped them off there and left them there, and drove away,” said Poteet in a video posted on Facebook.
The children include a 14-year-old girl, 11-year old boy, a 2-year-old, and an 8-month-old according to Poteet.
Poteet said he didn’t know how long the children were living in the storage unit before being discovered.
“I don’t know how long they were there, but the 14-year-old girl had been taking care of all of them,” said Poteet. “Washing clothes with the faucet outside. I don’t know what they were doing for food or water.”
Astounding Case
Poteet fought back tears in the video and was astounded with the case.
“I’m sorry, it really hits me,” said Poteet. “I can’t imagine a parent, or anybody, dropping any kid off at a storage unit and driving away.”
Condemning the parents for their actions, Poteet said, “You’ve gotta be a special kind of evil for that.”
According to Poteet, the foster family reached out to him and told him what happened.
“Stories like this, they just hit hard,” said Poteet.
He didn’t need to hear any more to get motivated and involved in efforts to help.
“The 8-month-old and the 2-year-old, they may have known something was off,” said Poteet. “But an 11-year old boy and a 14-year-old girl, how are they ever going to come out of this ok.”
Garnering Support
Poteet is rallying for support and said that the children are with a good family near Nashville, at an undisclosed location for privacy reasons.
“This foster parent, she and her husband are fantastic,” said Poteet. “They already have foster kids, I think that’s pretty much what she does full time. This will give them the best chance to come out of this with the best possible result.”
Regardless, Poteet expressed his disappointment with the senseless situation, and said he felt the children had the deck stacked against them.
“That makes zero sense to me and I don’t want to do anything but help these kids,” said Poteet.
Poteet said he wants to do something for the older kids to show appreciation to them for holding out and keeping their younger siblings alive for however long they were in the storage unit, saying he would appreciate any kind of assistance.
“I want to do something special for this 14-year-old girl and this 11-year old, something that helps them feel stable and secure, and semi loved,” said Poteet.
Poteet has set up a PayPal donation fund to foster families through FFAN.
“I would appreciate anyone that wants to join in, just join in with me,” he said.
Fundraising
Taylor Rowe, founder of nonprofit children’s charity Live Love Nashville, a is also running a fundraiser for the children.
On the fundraising page, Rowe posted, “Thank you all SO MUCH for the outpouring of love and support for these children. Please keep praying and donating. These children need all of the help they can get. This is just tragic.”
Rowe says raising awareness to situations like this is half the battle.
“It happens every day around us, and I think that just making people aware of the situations that are happening right around us is half the battle because once people are aware, they do want to help,” said Rowe in an interview with WKRN News 2.
According to the Live Love Nashville website, the organization’s goal is to make an impact in ensuring that over 3,000 homeless children in Nashville “never go without.”
