My Kentucky Kids

This Thanksgiving season I have thought a lot about family. Not just my family but the families the Lord has brought to my table of care. So I would I would share my thoughts: 

I love my family. I have an amazing wife of 31 years, three beautiful and successful daughters, one stinky son in-law and two gorgeous twin grand-babies! How can a heart and soul that is already SOOOOO full make room for more? Well, I have discovered it can because the power of love and compassion just enlarges your heart and soul to depths and width you never thought possible.

In May, we went from a family of eight to one whose numbers shift daily. On one residential campus, I can have a capacity of 48 and another campus a capacity of 46 of which neither take into account the numbers of children we have in therapeutic foster care and family preservation programs. Regardless of how many or where, I consider them MY kids. Why? Because thinking of them as my kids gives me the passion, energy and commitment to provide, protect and prepare them just as much as I did for my own biological kids.

Someone asked recently, “What is it that you exactly do for these children?” My answer was simple, “We help angels find their wings.” You see, when these precious children of God come to us, we find that their childhood innocence, naivety, idealism, unswerving trust, dreams and hope for tomorrow have been taken away. Survival for them is neither “what toy am I going to play with next” nor “wonder where we are going for family vacation this year?”

Through life experiences of being sexually abused by a loved one or “friend of the family”, abused physically (beaten, burned with cigarettes, etc.), sexually trafficked by a parent so that they could next their next drug fix, neglected and left to take care of self while mom or dad is passed out from drugs, become addicted to drugs because a parent fed it to them to sedate the child when they didn’t want to deal with them or some other more than imaginable trauma…they come to us with broken or completely ripped off wings!

Untreated trauma in the lives of the kids often manifest in negative behaviors, lack of boundaries, lack of respect for adults and others, and can ultimately lead to a diagnosable psychosis. Almost all of our kids exhibit substance abuse, highly aggressive behaviors, sexually acting out and self-harm/mutilation behaviors.

During our time with them we seek to give them a safe and healthy environment to reside, provide adults in their life that will not harm them, provide nutritious meals, provide therapeutic recreation activities, help them develop better coping and decision-making skills and eventually get to the root of the trauma they experienced. Providing a safe, healthy and secure environment for these kids is the first step in helping them adjust to community life and work the program that has been developed in concert with family, clinicians and campus staff.

This is hard work. This is heart-wrenching work. There are successes and there are failures. So in the spirit of It’s a Wonderful Life, a towering bell will be put on each campus and will only be rung for one occasion.

Each time we hear that bell ring on campus, we know that an angel has earned his/her wings and will be leaving as a graduate of our program and has been released to fly into a future full of health and hope! An Angel who has earned his/her wings, that’s what we are about...that is success!!

Buckhorn Children & Family Services

As one of the largest human service providers in Eastern Kentucky, Buckhorn Children and Family Services (BCFS), delivers vital services to over 5,000 children, teens, and families each year.  We recognize that children grow, develop, and thrive in the context of family.  We therefore believe that the key to our success is our holistic approach and focus on strengthening the family.

BCFS is unique as an organization in that it offers a wide-range of services that enable us to support families in a comprehensive way.  From preventative early education and care programs to support for children at risk of abuse and neglect and their families, to therapeutic foster care, to residential behavioral health/psychiatric/developmental-intellectual challenged programs, BCFS provides a wealth of resources to families.

For over 100 years, our organization has been and continues to be an extension of the communities we serve.  With a staff of over 200, our agency impact not only affects those who enter our doors for services but also impacts the economy of the counties our offices reside. Most of our staff resides in the communities we serve and many have overcome struggles similar to the families that seek our help.  They bring a deep passion and commitment to helping families prevail in a crisis and find a path to a stable future.  Our staff brings their passion, deep understanding and love of their community to the work of helping others, and in turn, the agency provides them with solid training in best practice approaches to ensure their work with children and families is effective.

We meet people where they are—not just where they are in there circumstances, but where they have been and where they seek to go.  The bulk of our work is through residential services and in community settings.  Our staff is often working evenings, weekends and holidays, and we always have staff on call, 24 hours/day.  We understand that accessibility is key to engaging families and sustaining their engagement. In all that we do, we seek to be recognized as an organization that respects the humanity and dignity of every individual.  We strive to create an environment where every person who works or receives resources from BCFS will feel cared for, safe, empowered, respected and accepted.  Our work is focused on strengthening families and individuals through a culturally sensitive, strength-based and trauma-informed approach that achieves recovery, healing and that result in a community that is hopeful and resilient.

It is my pleasure and honor to serve BCFS as the new President/CEO as we continue the century old legacy of providing hope and healing and move forward into a new future with renewed passion, energy and commitment focused upon those at-risk.