The mission of the Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Services is to share Christ’s healing Love with children, youth and families in crisis.  Vera Lloyd maintains an administrative office in Little Rock, Arkansas and a campus in Monticello, Arkansas. Dedicated staff carry out this mission every day through comprehensive services available to youth and families who live at the organization’s six residential homes in Monticello. The organization’s vision is to be the recognized model for transforming and empowering children, youth and families.

Vera Lloyd contracts with the State of Arkansas to provide a safe place for youth in need through residential living, therapeutic group home, emergency shelter, and respite care programs. The organization provides the only Presbyterian children and family residential homes in Arkansas and northern Louisiana. They are accredited through the Council on Accreditation and maintain a commitment to excellence through its Continuous Quality Improvement Program. They are one of the first childcare facilities in the state to use the Texas Christian University Institute of Child Development Trust-based Relational Intervention model of care, which incorporates recent neuroscience research to help children heal from trauma.

Westover Hills Presbyterian Church has adopted the Pettus House and maintains a Pettus House Account to help pay for activities when the Pettus House children come to Little Rock. Movies, roller skating, swimming, trips to the zoo, bowling and eating at restaurants are some of the activities covered by the account.  The account has also purchased items for the house including computers, televisions, dining room furniture, dishwashers, etc. Money for the account is generated from the sale of notecards, coasters and the church photo calendar.

In response to the need for siblings in the foster care system to stay together, Vera Lloyd recently opened a Sibling/Shelter Home in the Pettus Home. The new Sibling Home allows Vera Lloyd to keep siblings of different genders together in a family like setting. Over the years Vera Lloyd has had many siblings on campus, but until now they have been unable to house siblings of different genders together. Experts agree that for children in foster care, close proximity to their brothers and sisters promotes a sense of safety and well-being, while being separated from them can trigger grief and anxiety. Since children in foster care lose many significant relationships, siblings are often their only continuous attachments.