A Word from the President

2011-12-21T06:55:00.001-08:00

The Changing Face of Circle of Care

Childwelfare is a broad term that is used to describe the process of protectingchildren from abuse and neglect. Historically, there was no system forproviding for the welfare of children outside the church or immediatefamily. Christ told us to care for thewidows and the orphans, and in many early societies, if a man died, his brotherwould take his wife as a second wife and her children as his. Later, societies would often take childrenwho were orphaned and place them in the care of the church, often inmonasteries, where they would be cared for until old enough to be apprenticedto a tradesman. Later independentprograms were established with the support of the church to care fororphans. Bethesda Orphanage was founded by George Whitefield in1740 on a site north of Savannah, Georgia. Like many founders of earlyorphanages in the U.S., Whitefield established Bethesda Orphanage as a “methodof fulfilling Christ’s teachings”. The facility supported by the UnitedMethodist Church continues to this day as the Bethesda Home for Boys. Theterm, orphanage was only loosely accurate since many if not most of the childrenplaced there had at least one parent living, but that surviving parent wasunable to care for the children because of financial hardship, substance abuseor mental illness. By the early 1900’s, more that 100,000 children lived inAmerican orphanages.

Evenas orphanages were at the peak, there began a movement against this model. TwoWhite House Conferences on the Care of Dependent Children, in 1909 and 1919, beganan anti-orphanage direction concluding that if single mothers could receivefinancial aid so children could stay at home, and orphans or those completelyabandoned could be placed in foster care. Still, it wasn’t until the Social Security Act of 1935 that federalfunds were allocated to help families in need. However, due to a change of attitude and changing regulations over theyears, the large institutional orphanages evolved over time to smaller grouphomes or treatment centers, and so by the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, most ofthe larger dorm-type models of group care were abandoned for smaller cottagetype campuses. Through the years, theCircle of Care has led in innovative care for children and youth in Oklahoma.

Over the years, we inchild welfare have looked at problems in our system and have changed our servicesto meet the changing needs. Some problems have included a lack of preventative services thatmight help families remain intact, placement in too restrictive settings,brothers and sisters placed separately due to a lack of adequate fosterhomes. To face these challenges, theCircle of Care has changed as needed to better serve our children and ourchurches. In the early years, children’shomes or orphanages were not licensed by the State of Oklahoma; there were noestablished standards of care for children. In 1963, the state of Oklahoma mandated that all children’s careproviders be licensed. I order to accomplishthis goal, the state asked several providers to sit at the table and helpdevelop the standards for licensure; among these providers were the Frances E.Willard Home for Girls, the Methodist Boy’s Ranch, and the Methodist Children’sHome.

In 1999, the Circle of Care openedHolsinger Home in Enid as a D.H.S. foster home and began recruiting andsupporting foster homes for the State in Oklahoma City with our Child SHAREprogram. Today over 300 foster children across the state are served in Child SHAREhomes and over 225 children have been adopted into “forever homes” by theseparents. In 2006, seeing the number of youth over sixteen in need of homesincreasing and the trend of placing all pre-teen children in foster homes, webegan expanding our Independent Living and Transional Living programs for thoseyouth. In 2008, we opened Pearl’s Hope on our Frances E. Willard campus toserve the growing population of homeless single mothers with dependentchildren. Because of these changes, wehave been able to serve more children, youth and families, in more ways, moreefficiently than ever before. We havealso been able to respond more readily to those of our church in need ofassistance in their home communities and provide support in times of crisis.John Wesley reminded us, “Do all the good you can, to as many as youcan, in every manner that you can for as long as you ever can” The challenge today is greater than everbefore.

Today,the Child Welfare League of America estimates the number of children in thefoster care system to be between 550,000 and 600,000 nationwide. So, the 100,000 children placed in orphanagesin 1900 that I spoke of earlier has risen to well over a half million. So theneed of children, youth and families are greater than ever before, and we atthe Circle of Care need to find new and exciting ways of meeting that need.

Thislast year, we were asked by the state to recruit emergency foster homes in theOklahoma City area to serve children aged five and under with a concentration onchildren under the age of one. Ouremergency shelters are full and children this young really need a stableChristian home while plans are made for their longer-term placement. We are excited that we have now been asked toexpand this program into the Tulsa area. The need is great.

Itis clear and apparent that the trend of child welfare is towards smaller, morehome-like placements. In the 30’s and 40’s, the large dorm style orphanages supervisedby a House mother dominated. In the fifties and sixties, residential careevolved towards smaller, cottage type facilities of ten to twelve children on acampus of perhaps four to eight cottages with each cottage overseen by familycounselors. Today, we are trending towards homes with no more than five childrenor youth under the supervision of a foster parent couple. Current licensingrules that a foster home can have no more than six total children, whether theyare biological, foster or adoptive children. This coming year, we plan to convert the larger cottages on our campusesat our Children’s Home and our Boy’s Ranch to what we are terming “CampusChristian Homes”. We will be able toserve more children and youth in a more home-like setting that we can now. We can also begin serving sibling groups once moreso that brothers and sisters can again be placed together.

Iknow that as we make these changes, our churches and our communities willcontinue to be there for us, and that we will continue to provideChrist-centered care to all those who come to us in need. Since 1917, for almost a hundred year, the Circle ofCare has provided help, healing and hope to those in need. With your support,we will continue to do so for the next hundred years. Whether we serve childrenin large dorms, in cottages of twelve or in Campus Christian Homes of six, wewill continue to serve children. MayGod’s Grace be with you always.

Oklahoma United Methodist Circle of Care

A Word from the President