Helping Children and Families Live, Dream, Breathe and Build Stronger Futures
For more than 158 years, the Presbyterian Home for Children has been a place where children and families facing difficult circumstances can find safety, stability and hope.
Our ministry is rooted on our historic campus in Talladega, Alabama, but the families we serve — and the Presbyterian community that supports this work — extend far beyond our campus.
In 2024, PHFC entered into a covenant relationship with the Synod of Living Waters, strengthening our connection with Presbyterian congregations throughout Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Since then, our team has welcomed opportunities to attend Presbytery meetings, visit churches and introduce more Presbyterians to the ministry taking place at the Home.
As those relationships grow, we want our Presbyterian partners to know not only what is happening at PHFC, but how PHFC can be a resource for families in your own communities.
A Ministry That Has Evolved With the Needs of Families
Throughout its history, the Presbyterian Home for Children has adapted as the needs of children and families have changed.
Today, PHFC provides safe housing and comprehensive support for mothers and children experiencing homelessness or housing instability, assists mothers working toward reunification with children in foster care, prepares young women for independent adulthood, provides family support services, and educates children through Ascension Leadership Academy, our accredited, Christ-centered private school.
At the heart of this work is a simple belief: families sometimes need more than a temporary solution.
They need time. They need stability. They need encouragement. And they need people willing to walk alongside them while they build a different future.
Secure Dwellings Gives Families the Gift of Time
Our Secure Dwellings program is one of the clearest examples of that philosophy.
Mothers and their children can come to our Talladega campus from Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and beyond. Families do not have to be Presbyterian or Alabama residents to seek our help.
With improvements to our residential cottages, PHFC now has the capacity to serve up to 24 mothers and 40 children on campus.
Secure Dwellings is not an emergency shelter or short-term housing program. Mothers and their children can remain with us for up to two years.
For a mother who has spent weeks or months worrying about where her children will sleep, that stability can change everything. It gives her time to breathe, dream and begin planning for what comes next.
PHFC staff members work alongside each mother to develop an individualized path toward independence. Depending on her circumstances and goals, that could include finding employment, earning a GED, enrolling in college, pursuing career training, strengthening parenting skills, learning to manage finances or accomplishing several of those goals at once.
Our goal is not simply to provide a safe place for a family to live. We want mothers to leave PHFC prepared to live independently, confidently and successfully for years to come.
You May Know a Mother Who Needs Us
This is one of the most important messages we want to share with our Presbyterian partners.
A mother in your congregation may be experiencing housing instability. A family in your community may be living in a motel, a car, a relative’s home or another temporary situation. A school, social worker, nonprofit or community agency may be searching for a longer-term solution for a mother and her children.
Please think of the Presbyterian Home for Children.
A referral or telephone call could become the first step toward a very different future for that family.
Helping Mothers Bring Their Children Home
In 2025, PHFC expanded its family ministry by opening the Robinson Family Unity Center, serving mothers whose children have entered foster care and who are working toward reunification.
Sometimes the barrier preventing a mother from regaining custody is not a lack of love for her children. Housing instability, unemployment or other circumstances may stand between her and reunification.
The Robinson Family Unity Center provides housing, case management, advocacy and individualized support while mothers work toward the requirements necessary to bring their children home.
We are already seeing what that support can accomplish.
One mother we will call Laura came to PHFC after domestic violence and housing instability contributed to the loss of custody of her children. Working with PHFC staff, she began addressing the requirements for reunification and rebuilding the stability her family needed. After being reunited with her children, she was able to continue that journey through Secure Dwellings, where mother and children could move forward together.
Another mother, Faith, regained custody of her children after working with PHFC staff to secure employment, establish stability and demonstrate her readiness to provide a safe home.
Standing beside Faith was PHFC social worker Shandra Thomas, who understood that journey in a very personal way.
More than a decade earlier, Shandra had come to the Presbyterian Home for Children with seven children and in need of housing. She rebuilt her life, continued her education and eventually returned to PHFC — this time as a social worker helping other mothers do the same.
When Faith’s case went before a judge, Shandra advocated for her and testified about the progress she had witnessed. Faith regained custody of her children.
It is difficult to imagine a better picture of this ministry: a mother who once came to the Home needing help standing in a courtroom years later to help another mother bring her children home.
Following reunification, mothers may transition into Secure Dwellings with their children, giving newly reunited families additional time and support as they work toward lasting independence.
Ascension Leadership Academy: Helping Students See What Is Possible
Children living on the PHFC campus also have access to Ascension Leadership Academy, our accredited, Christ-centered private school, which also serves students from the surrounding Talladega community.
Some students come to us after experiencing homelessness, family instability or other circumstances that have disrupted their education.
Our teachers recognize that these students may need more than academic instruction. They also need encouragement and adults who believe in what they can accomplish.
Our goal is to help students who have fallen behind reach grade level — and then give them opportunities to go even further.
During the 2025-26 school year, Ascension celebrated four graduating seniors who collectively earned a school-record $240,000 in college scholarships.
Those accomplishments represent much more than numbers. They represent young people looking toward college, careers and futures filled with possibility.
Investing in a Campus Built for Ministry
As PHFC’s programs have grown, we have also been investing in the historic Talladega campus that makes much of this ministry possible.
The $1.7 million Journey Capital Campaign, launched in 2025 and continuing through 2027, is restoring and improving our campus so it can serve children, young adults and families for generations to come.
Through the generosity of Presbyterian churches and other faithful supporters, PHFC has completed major renovations to residential cottages, added a new playground and pavilion where children can simply enjoy being children, and made important sidewalk improvements across campus.
Future projects include restoring our historic chapel as a center for worship, prayer, Bible study and counseling, as well as continued renovations to Johnson Hall, which serves young women in our Transition to Adult Living program.
Transition to Adult Living serves young women up to age 26 without children, including young adults who have experienced foster care and may be entering adulthood without a strong support system.
Thanks to the generosity of God’s people, the remaining need for the Journey Capital Campaign has been reduced to $423,600.
Every improvement has a purpose beyond bricks and mortar.
A renovated cottage means another mother and her children can have a safe place to call home. A restored chapel will provide a dedicated place for worship, counseling and spiritual growth. An improved campus gives the children, mothers and young women entrusted to our care a place where they can begin imagining what comes next. Read more about the capital campaign here.
PHFC Is Your Ministry, Too
As we continue building relationships with Presbyterians throughout the Synod of Living Waters, we hope congregations will come to know the Presbyterian Home for Children as your ministry, too.
We want to be a resource you can turn to when you encounter a child, mother or family who needs the kind of help PHFC provides.
You can be part of this ministry by referring a mother or family who needs help, connecting PHFC with organizations serving families in your community, inviting PHFC to speak at your church or Presbytery, visiting our Talladega campus, praying for the children and families we serve, or supporting the ministry financially.
Most importantly, if you know a mother or family who may need us, please reach out and send moms here.
We would be honored to talk with you about our programs, answer questions, discuss a potential referral or welcome you to Talladega to see firsthand how God is working through this ministry.
For more than 158 years, the Presbyterian Home for Children has responded when children and families needed a safe place and someone willing to believe in their future.
The way we serve has changed with the times, but that calling has not.
Together with our Presbyterian partners, we can give more children and families the opportunity not merely to survive a difficult season, but to live, dream, breathe and build a stronger future.
