Nearly 4,000 people have signed on to a petition to reopen foster homes that were suspended by the Department of Human Resources over the summer.

Kids to Love, a Madison-based non-profit that operates foster care facilities and acts as a private child placement agency, had all placements to their homes frozen in June after the state agency determined there were “serious violations” of standards to be met by child placement agencies.

However, according to Kids to Love founder Lee Marshall, DHR has not been forthcoming about alleged violations and has not provided the organization with information necessary to redress any issues.

DHR soon after tried to remove children from the organization’s homes. A judge granted a temporary restraining order in September to stop the agency from removing children from Kids to Love placements without evidence of harm or unsafe conditions. The restraining order was upheld by the Alabama Supreme court last month after a DHR appeal.

“I asked [DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner] if she would clarify and there was no response. I followed up asking again, asking for a meeting. No response. We’ve had multiple lawmakers go to Montgomery on our behalf. We have followed every chain of command that we know to avoid getting to the point of filing a lawsuit. That was what we felt was our absolute last resort,” Marshall said.

Kids to Love still holds its license to operate, and a recent DHR audit of the non-profit’s operations turned up zero deficiencies, according to Marshall.

The change.org petition to restart placements to Kids to Love homes – which has a goal of 5,000 signatures – is “calling on the Alabama Department of Human Resources to restore Kids to Love’s licensed foster families back into its statewide database, so those families can continue to serve children who need a home.”

“At a time when the number of children in foster care greatly outnumbers the number of homes available to take them in, Alabama DHR chose to leave children sleeping on the floor of DHR offices when there are caring, loving, licensed foster families available,” wrote petition organizer Patrick Ary, a Kids to Love employee.

“All Kids to Love wants is to be able to continue to serve children in foster care with the same outstanding service it has provided since 2004.”

While litigation on reopening Kids to Love’s homes is ongoing, Marshall wrote an open letter to Gov. Kay Ivey on Oct. 17 calling for changes to leadership at DHR, namely Buckner, and asking the governor to rescind the current suspension on placements.

“My staff and I are fighting for the children of Alabama, and I cannot sit by and allow DHR to perpetuate further abuse of the children they are sworn to protect,” Marshall wrote in the letter. “This leadership has created a crisis in the state. It has cost children their lives, cost foster parents their lives, and cost tax paying citizens millions in every lawsuit lost because of incompetent leadership at the highest levels in State DHR.”

In an October statement to AL.com about the court’s ruling, DHR said, “There is ongoing litigation and another side of the story to tell.”