KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Melissa Cox looked around her house one day and decided she could do more.
"We just felt just kind of called and saw the need in our community," she said.
Six years and 15 foster kids later she's an avid supporter of the foster care system, a champion for children and an advocate for the need for more foster parents.
"These kids need a safe and nurturing home, they need love and acceptance," Cox said.
Her passion for more parents doesn't go unsupported, and the state's latest calculation shows nearly 8,000 kids remain in the system statewide. However there are less than 4,000 foster families willing to provide homes.
"They need adults that can support them," Cox said. "These kids are in our backyard, foster care doesn't discriminate."
To put this into perspective, Cox said you don't have to look far.
The latest DCS report shows between 2016 and 2017 more than a thousand kids were in some type of DCS custody.
"It's staggering that there's that many children in our county alone and not enough foster homes," she said.
While the causes vary, Cox believes retaining parents is a big issue, coupled with more and more kids entering the system.
"Kids are coming from all parts of Knoxville, some even in your kids' schools," she said.
After years of taking in children and adopting one, Cox said she still believes there's still a lot of room for good across the state. She said all it takes is a look around your house to know maybe you could do more, too.
"We knew that we could do something, we had a home that had room," Cox said.