SHENANDOAH JUNCTION — Family Renewal Initiative is a new program put together by multiple churches within the Eastern Panhandle, with the goal of preserving the family and preventing neglect and abuse before it happens.

West Virginia has one of the highest percentages of children placed out-of-home in the country. And 10 percent of the children in the West Virginia foster care system are located in the Eastern Panhandle. Illona Roman, the executive director of the Family Renewal Initiative, believes that helping these families with help the community as a whole.

“Providing care here and strengthening families will in turn help build a stronger community,” Roman said.

This program began at Independent Bible Church in Martinsburg, when the church’s adoption committee recognized this issue and wanted to do something about it in the local community. After doing some thinking themselves, the committee invited Roman to help them brainstorm and think through the process. With her background in the social work field, as the former satellite office branch director of Bethany Christian Services West Virginia, she was more than capable of helping to start the program.

Roman said she herself would have benefited from the Family Renewal Initiative, if it had existed in the past.

“When I moved to the area, I was a single mother,” Roman said. “I needed help and support, and my neighbors helped me. I want to help other families in the same way and give them the support they need.”

Now 15 years later, she has the opportunity to help other families who are going through hard times as she did. The Family Renewal Initiative is made to help build a network of support for families who need it. It focuses on creating and building relationships between people, who don’t have people nearby who are able to help them in times of need.

The Family Renewal Initiative, with its foundation by local churches that joined together with Independent Bible Church’s initial work, believes the church should be one of the main support networks for families.

“God intended us to step up,” Roman said. “We are called to return to God’s commandment to care for widows and orphans. That includes supporting families who need it.”

The initiative is here to serve anyone within the community who needs help.

Roman said she has seen that the volunteers and employees all “have a heart for the community and want to help families heal.”