When Jessica Hopper-Landrum was ten years old, she watched the Miss America pageant on TV and recognized something that called to her. “I knew it fit me,” she says. “I felt that connection. But then I immediately looked around my living room, saying, ‘Oh, I can’t.’” She was convinced that a pageant wouldn’t want girls like her. Girls who were poor, girls who often went hungry, girls who were abused. That world was for girls who were rich and had fancy educations.
Jessica’s world was different. Her family was poor. She didn’t go to a fancy school. The oldest of five children, she was kept at home under the strict control of her parents. She suffered physical, emotional, and psychological abuse from her family, all covered with religious teaching and terminology that made it difficult to break away.
But in the midst of this darkness, Jessica found people of light. When she was fifteen, she was removed from her parents’ home and sent to Vision of Hope residential treatment center, which allowed a handful of minors from abusive homes to come and live in safety without having to enter the foster care system. At Vision of Hope, Jessica was assigned a counselor, the first person to listen to her full story and help her to name the abuse for what it was. She also had friends who opened their hearts to her. Her best friend’s parents took her in and treated her as one of their own. She felt safe and loved in their home, and while there was no formal adoption process, they truly became her family.
These people who stepped in made all the difference in Jessica’s life. When she finished high school, she was able to attend Anderson University, where she studied psychology, hoping to one day be for others what her counselor had been for her. After graduating, she did just that as a social worker until the Lord opened a different set of doors to help others. In her junior year of college, Jessica was one of the Jasper County Fair Queens, when someone from the Miss America organization visited and approached her about entering more pageants. At first, Jessica resisted, but after a few years of continued offers, she decided to enter one of the national competitions. Her path since then has led her to several national and international pageants.
Today, Jessica holds the title of Mrs. United USA, and she uses her platform to promote SAFE Homes, the organization she founded to advocate for children who have suffered abuse. SAFE stands for Stability, Allocation of resources, Family, and Education. The organization raises awareness, partners with school systems and lawmakers to promote changes in child abuse laws,and offers scholarships to child abuse survivors to support their educational goals. Jessica is proud to partner with organizations that have sustainable impact in the lives of children, which is how she became connected with Hands of Hope.
Jessica has many words of encouragement for families who are fostering or caring for children who have suffered abuse. She acknowledges the depth of commitment that is required. “Depending on what [kids] have experienced, things stick with you forever. Because we often feel that there is something wrong with us. For me, my counselor and then my father figure said, ‘I love you. I love you unconditionally. It doesn’t matter what you do. It doesn’t matter how your brain works.’”
For Jessica, people being there for her in crucial moments made all the difference. Not all of her siblings were so fortunate, and while she acknowledges the power of personal choices, Jessica has seen firsthand that having people who chose to cling to her changed the course of her life. “You may only be there for a moment,” she says, “but I promise you that moment makes a difference.”