By Ron Veazey, Sunnybrook Interim Executive Director
For more than six decades, Sunnybrook has existed for one purpose: to create safe, stable, and nurturing environments for children and youth who need them most. That mission has not changed. What is changing in 2026 is the scale of what God is calling us to do.
Across Mississippi, the need for strong foster families, stable placements, and meaningful independence for youth aging out of care continues to grow. Last year Sunnybrook was honored to be awarded foster care licensing through our partnership with the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS), allowing us to serve as a licensing agency supporting foster parents in new and meaningful ways. That designation placed new responsibility on our ministry, but also opened the door for new opportunities to serve children and families with excellence, compassion, and accountability.
Today, we are seeing that opportunity take shape on our Ridgeland campus and throughout our community.
Through our Foster Family Community ministry, Sunnybrook is preparing to welcome foster families into a model community built on support, mentorship, and shared responsibility both on campus and within our local community. By providing licensing opportunities to foster parents, we will be able to offer a centrally located HUB of programs, services, and homes located on our Ridgeland campus. This represents a model of care designed to strengthen foster parent’s relationships and improve outcomes so that their foster children can experience the byproduct of stability, consistency, and hope.
We believe foster parents should never carry the weight alone. When the parents are supported well, their children can thrive and outcomes improve.
At the same time, we continue to see how small opportunities can change the direction of a young person’s life. In 2025, Sunnybrook’s Driver’s Education Program helped 180 foster youth across almost all 82 counties receive their driver’s licenses (plus 40 received learners permits). For many of these young people, that license meant more than transportation. It meant access to work, education, and the confidence to step into adulthood with dignity.
A driver’s license may seem simple, but for a child who has faced instability, it can represent freedom, responsibility, and a future they can begin to claim for themselves.
These efforts that are supporting foster families, preparing youth for independence, and strengthening community partnerships are all part of the same calling. Our role is to remove the barriers that weigh children down and surround them with the support they need to move forward.
As we look ahead to the rest of 2026, Sunnybrook is not focused on growing for the sake of growth. We are focused on growing in the right way, at the right pace, with the right foundation beneath every child and every family we serve.
Our prayer is simple: that every foster parent and child will know they are supported and they are not walking alone.
And with the right support beneath them, they can not only fly but also soar to new heights!
How to Get Involved
Sunnybrook invites families, volunteers, and community partners to help shape the future of foster care. Whether through fostering, mentoring, or lending a hand with the Foster Family Campus, every commitment makes a difference.
Learn more at www.sunnybrookms.org/contact or call (601) 856-6555.