Waco Children’s Home Pioneers Care!

For the past couple of years, The Methodist Children’s Home headquartered in Waco, TX has focused on improving operations, becoming better managers of human and fiscal resources, and improving accountability to clients, constituency and benefactors, as well as improving management and governance practices.  Their efforts have paid off.

Brown reports, “We continue to be quite busy and are in the process of a research project with the Child Development Center at Texas Christian University implementing TBRI (Trust-Based Relational Intervention) which is a Trauma-Informed Practice Model of Care for working with traumatized children in foster care, residential care, from broken adoptions, and other situations of abuse and neglect.”

MCH has some information about the project on their website, and more can be found on the TCU Child Development Center website at http://www.child.tcu.edu. The Home’s newsletter, Sunshine, also has articles in the Summer and Winter 2011 editions as well as the Spring 2012 issue. The two more recent publications contain statistics about the success rate of the program. Childcare providers are aware that measurable outcomes and results are the watchwords for the future of serving children and their families. Documentation of success is quickly becoming the norm.

To learn more about what MCH is doing in this program, visit them on the web at www.methodistchildrenshome.org.  You can also download a copy of their current strategic plan is also on the home page…bottom right hand side.

CEO Brown went on to say, “We continue to expand services across Texas and New Mexico, and we are evaluating our programs and services in an effort to produce more evidenced-based outcomes.” He indicated MCH is launching an expanded Independent Living program that will allow the agency to monitor and supervise youth who are struggling with emancipation issues.

In-home services now complement foster care and residential care.  MCH has also developed a program and support groups to assist grandparents raising grandchildren. They are incorporating “Family Connections” and the “Nurturing Parent” models of care into Community Services outreach efforts to strengthen evidence-based outcomes.

They are encouraged by donor support as contributors learn more about the successful outcomes with students. Their annual operating budget is approaching $27 million, and they serve between 1400 and 1800 children at any given time.

The Home is blessed to have one of the largest endowment funds anywhere. Like everyone else, the Home’s endowment suffered during the economic downturn, but has recovered to a point near its all-time high of $360 million. Part of the MCH endowment makes it possible to fund close to 100 students on MCH scholarships in college and vocational programs. With this kind of programming and financial support, graduation and completion rates are steadily increasing.