MADISON COUNTY – Kids to Love will build Cottage Community, a grouping of small houses for girls who are too old for foster care.

Officials conducted a groundbreaking on Sept. 30 for the first-ever Cottage Community that will be built at Davidson Farms, a home for girls in foster care that Kids to Love operates at 4533 Elkwood Section Road in Ardmore.

“A Cottage Community of tiny homes promises enormous impact for young ladies aging out of foster care,” Julie Reyburn, Kids to Love Communications Director, said. Kids to Love, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, meets the needs of foster children and has served more than 275,000 children since 2004.

Lee Marshall is Founder and CEO of Kids to Love. The organization does not accept state or federal funding.

Showing the importance and strength of the organization, Takia Reed appears in a video on Kids to Love’s website, kidstolove.org. Reed is one the girls who has lived at Davidson Farms as a foster youth and now serves there as a member of the management team. “Takia is amazing and can speak from the perspective of the girls who will live in our tiny homes,” Reyburn said.

The Cottage Community is the first of its kind. “The main house at Davidson Farms is licensed for girls ages 10-19 and serves girls across the states of Alabama and Tennessee,” Reyburn said. “The Cottage Community is critical because statistics show many foster youth are homeless, in prison or dead within two years of aging out of the system.”

“It’s a natural next step,” Marshall said. “When our girls move into Davidson Farms, we promise them hope and a home. Our Cottage Community will assure them both of those things will be part of their future.”

Located in Madison County, the Cottage Community will consist of 5 homes. The homes “will be a bridge to independence as the young ladies continue their education or begin a career while remaining under the guidance of the Kids to Love team of mentors,” Reyburn said.

The Cottage Community is made possible through many partnerships.

Kids to Love office address is 140 Castle Drive in Madison. For more information, visit kidstolove.org.