Jen Lilley Celebrates Opening of Tulsa Girls’ Home: ‘Something That Works’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Great American Family actress Jen Lilley recently posted a reel to her Instagram about a project that she is working on to help girls in need.
The Tulsa Girls’ Home is a foster home in Oklahoma for teenage girls that includes a beautiful house with many amenities, access to counselors and activities.
“Tulsa Girls’ Home (TGH) is on a mission to provide the highest quality residential care for girls needing placement outside their homes,” their website says. “TGH is nestled on a small ranch that specifically supports each girls’ healing through therapies and trauma-informed programs that promote the development of social and relationship healing.”
The grand opening of the home, which can house up to eight girls, took place on Monday, and Lilley shared all about it.
“We have teenage girls ages 14-18,” the actress shared. “There are nine boy’s homes in the United States to every one girls home. Girls don’t get a lot of help because they’re considered more difficult than boys which is crazy…I got involved with Brittany Rae Stokes who’s the founder of Project Orphans, and I met her totally through God.”
Lilley explained how the two met through Instagram, which birthed the dream for the girl’s home.
“Each girl is unique and should be treated with a personalized approach while they journey to find restoration,” TGH’s website adds. “In partnership with the Department of Human Services, local ministries, donors, volunteers, equine rescue organizations, and businesses — TGH is dedicated to meeting the needs of Oklahoma girls in foster care.”
In addition to the home, the facility also includes “transitional houses” for girls who turn 18 and still have nowhere to go.
“When kids turn 18, they age out of foster care which means they’re going to be homeless if they don’t have a family to go to,” Lilley explained. “We really need funding. You can go to Tulsagirlshome.org. We need funding for another house, because otherwise we have some girls that are aging out and we want to keep them with us.”
Lilley explained that there are certain requirements for the girls to live in the transitional homes.
“In order to live in those girls’ homes, they have to either be going to college, have a job…our girls are amazing. You know, they come in broken, having sustained, you now, more than you can imagine…Tulsa Girl’s Home is actually something that works,” she said.
Foster care is something Lilley has been passionate about throughout her life.
The Western Journal reported, “Lilley grew into her mission to help foster care children by growing up in a home where her parents took into their home those ‘who just needed help transitioning in their life.’”
“And so that planted an early seed of empathy for me,” she said.
Movieguide® previously reported on Lilley’s support for TGH:
Actress Jen Lilley is celebrating the construction of new “transition homes” for the Tulsa Girls Home organization.
“This looks like wreckage, but for me, this is a picture of restoration and hope,” she wrote on Instagram. “It’s a long time dream that’s actually happening. We’re breaking ground on our Tulsa Girls Home transition homes.”
Tulsa Girls Home “exists to shelter, empower, restore and support teen girls who have been placed in foster care,” their website reads. “Every day we are on a mission to equip and empower each girl through their uniquely-given talents so they can discover their purpose, value, and destiny.”
Lilley, who serves as TGH’s secretary, has been a supporter of Tulsa Girls Home for years. In 2021, she urged Sapulpa, Oklahoma, residents not to oppose the construction of a new home.
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