PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — November is National Adoption Month and some counties and communities in Florida are in dire need of help.

A record number of children are being removed from their homes for abuse and neglect, but there are not enough foster homes or families willing to adopt.

But a local pastor and his wife said they are on a personal mission to help children in their community find good homes.

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Derrick and Stephanie Parker have been taking in foster children and keeping them safe for years.

"We decided to foster to stand in the gap for these kids as their parents are having difficult times,” said Stephanie. “We just felt burdened for the kids and the parents — the bio-parent — and standing in the gap for them is a way to give them a loving home and a safe place during a hard time."

Derrick, the pastor at Starkey Road Baptist Church, remembers the rough start for each child they've fostered.

They picked up two children when they were born, both addicted to cocaine. Another was suffering from neglect and then there was a foster child born in jail.

It is a sad start that Derrick knows all too well, because he was adopted.

“My parents knew, my biological parents knew, I'd be better off,” he said. “Our very first foster child, we actually got to pick him up from the hospital, he was a newborn, he was 4-and-a-half pounds and we went down to get him. And a year later, he went up for adoption and he's ours."

Now a father of five, Derrick has a powerful love for protecting families, and not just his own, but hundreds of other people's.

"Probably more than ever, people seem to be so confused,” he said. “They lack hope, anxiety, stress, even depression — they seem to be at all-time highs and as a church, that's what we want to do, is walk with these people in those situations, give them the hope they're looking for so desperately."

Dozens of families at the church are now following in the Parkers' footsteps and have opened up their homes for foster children.

For Derrick, he's leading the way to love and security for all children in our community.

"So many blessings have come out of that mission itself," he said.