Practically every day, we hear about a child who has been abused or neglected, and we wonder, “What’s wrong with these people? Why would anybody abuse a defenseless child? Somebody ought to do something.”

Well, somebody is doing something. A bunch of somebodies, in fact. Talk to the people who deal with this problem every day. Maybe you’ll see a need.

You might start with foster parents — people who open their homes and their hearts to children who have been taken from their parents or guardians for various reasons, or who have just been abandoned to an unfriendly world all alone. Ask them why they became foster parents.

Debra Eubanks prayed about it, and she knew God wanted her to be a foster mother. When asked his opinion, her husband, Keith, said, “I’m not going to argue with God.”

Sharon Perry prayed about it, too, but she thought God had lost his mind when she understood his answer. She did, however, attend a meeting where children’s services were discussed, and she listened. So did her daughter, Cory, who said at the end of the meeting: “Mama, I think it’s something you ought to do.”

And her mother said, “Girl, are you crazy, too?”

No one was crazy, fortunately, and now they’re all involved in taking foster children into their homes.

The decision was easier for Eubanks, who lives off Spout Springs Road with her husband and daughter, Katie, 15. This grandmother from Texas was director of a day care business for 28 years and then operated her own in-home day care for 14 years. “Kids have always been my thing,” she said.

Perry, a single mother who lives in the Hoschton area, has no regrets about signing on as a foster parent. She’s doing what she was called to do. She grew up on a farm in Statham, and her parents taught her to follow the rules. The same applies for children in her home.

Eubanks agrees. “The rules are the rules,” she said. “There’s no bargaining with me.”

But then they talk about love, something a child may have been missing for a long time. And when a child — especially one who arrived angry, seemingly unloved, confused — leaves the home with a better attitude toward life, knowing someone cares, the foster parents have received their reward.

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Another somebody you might talk to is Judge Lindsay Burton of the Hall County Juvenile Court. She speaks to civic clubs and other groups about the need for more foster homes in Hall County, where 215 children, the most ever, needed foster care in early January. About 85 percent of those children, she said, were placed in other counties because of the shortage of foster homes in Hall County.

Some caseworkers for the Hall County Department of Family and Children Services must drive each month to South Georgia to check on children.

Problem is, the judge said, “We’re putting more kids into the system faster than we’re adding foster homes. ... (But) we’re definitely getting people’s attention.”

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Talk to Rebecca J. Davidson, DFCS’s resource development supervisor for 13 counties in Northeast Georgia. She supervises recruiting, training and maintaining foster homes in those counties, eight of which have no resource development case manager of their own. Hall County, in fact, has not had an RD case manager for nearly three years, although Davidson finally has received funding and permission to hire one. So she does what she can to help, and like Burton and others, she speaks to any group interested in listening.

Actually, Hall County DFCS added seven new foster homes last year, Davidson said, pushing the total to 21. But then others closed for different reasons, and the number now stands at 18. Davidson’s goal for the county this year is 30 DFCS homes, and eventually at least 50 homes.

Forsyth County proved what’s possible. In January 2013, Forsyth had seven homes. Today, with two resource development case managers, the county has 41 homes. The number grew through DFCS recruiting and help from churches and the entire community.

Said Davidson, “It takes the entire community realizing, ‘Hey, we have a problem; we need to come up with a solution.’

“DFCS,” she said flatly, “should not take a child into custody unless we have a top-quality, A-plus home to put that child into. We’ve got to do better.”

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Others working to make things better are Liz Coates and representatives from several churches in Hall County. Coates, an associate minister at First Baptist Church, was host last September at a luncheon attended by representatives of 10 churches. The goal was to encourage foster parenting through the United Methodist Children’s Home, a child-placement agency. Another meeting is planned March 3.

As a result of the first meeting, eight families have completed Impact: 23 hours of foster-care training mandated by the state.

“We want to create a faith-based foster care coalition” in Hall County, Coates said, “and six or eight churches are committed to being on the coalition. We’d like to have more.” The group’s goal, she said, is to add 20 new homes for UMCH this year.

“Foster homes that come through churches have so much built-in support,” she said. “They tend to have less burnout and continue to foster.”

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One more person you might talk to is Connie Stephens, executive director of CASA for Hall and Dawson counties. Volunteers for CASA, the court-appointed special advocates, are, as the name implies, advocates for children placed in foster care. They advocate in juvenile court, and they visit children in the homes. More volunteers are desperately needed, Stephens said. This year’s training of volunteers is just beginning.

“It will change your life,” she tells prospective volunteers. “It will impact not only the lives of children, but it will impact your life for the better.”

So, yes, somebody is doing something to protect children who have been abused or neglected. And there are openings for more somebodies to help.

How about you?

Phil Hudgins is a North Georgia newspaper veteran, a former Times managing editor and a Gainesville resident.