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TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The East Texas foster agency Hope Haven is undergoing an expansion into adoption services this spring, with teens in mind.

For years, Hope Haven has served as a refuge for girls thrust into foster care through several services tailored to their unique situations. An emergency care shelter in Gladewater takes in girls who need temporary housing for up to 90 days. Teens 13-17 without foster homes live in a “group home” in Lindale. Hope Haven also meets the needs of young women who’ve “aged out” of the system through a supported independent living center in Tyler.

“So many people just don’t understand what the real need is and that is very much for those older kids,” explained Child Placing Administrator Anna Thomas. “We’re just trying to plug in everywhere that we can.”

The new branch, Rekindle Foster and Adoption Services, is a partnership with East Texas’ new private agency overseeing child placements, 4 Kids 4 Families.

“They are going to partner with us to recruit specifically for Rekindle,” Thomas said. “It will be our child placing agency for kids in Region 4, so all 23 counties, that need a place to go. Ages 0-17, boys, girls... all levels of care.”

With a long history of working closely with teens, their goal is to put their expertise to work in finding permanent homes for the kids that walk through their doors.

“I’ve been going out to our Lindale campus and getting to know our girls, so I can recruit specific families,” Thomas explained. “It’s super easy to place kids that are five and under, but once they turn about five, it’s really hard to find them a place. So, that’s kind of where our focus is going to be.”

As an adoptive mother, Thomas tells us this mission has always been personal. It’s also a demographic she doesn’t want to see left behind.

“There are some that are just like, ‘Find me a family!” Thomas said. “Our focus is going to be training families to take in those older kids, so they have a place to go.”

The first recruitment event for Rekindle is slated for Apr. 9, state licensing pending.