Since 1886, Missouri Baptist Children's Home has been responding to
the needs of hurting children and youth. One hundred
twenty-one years ago the needed response was an orphanage for
abandoned and orphaned infants. More than a century has passed
and an orphanage for infants is no longer the greatest need.
Today our most critical concern is the disintegration of the family
unit. Child abuse, abandonment, behavioral problems and
emotional disturbances bring hundreds of children to the Children's
Home each year
MBCH Children and Family Ministries is the nonprofit, tax-exempt
subsidiary of Missouri Baptist Children's Home that provides
programs and services for children, youth, adults and families.
We offer our services to anyone regardless of race, color, national
origin, religion, age, sex, handicap or income. The current
scope of services includes, long-term residential care for children
ages 6-18, 30-day emergency care for children age 6-14, Pregnancy
Counseling and Supportive Services Program, Transitional Living
Program for both girls and boys age 16-21, group home living for
developmentally disabled adults, family counseling and
foster/adoptive placements.
Through each of these programs, the goal of MBCH Children and
Family Ministries is to meet the changing needs of society's
children, youth and families. With service locations in
Branson, Bridgeton, Jefferson City, Joplin, Lee's Summit, Mt.
Vernon, Peculiar, Springfield and Southeast Missouri, MBCH Children
and Family Ministries is privileged to serve children and their
families from across the state.
In 2008, 442 clients were served on one of our three campuses and
1,427 additional clients were served through off-campus programs.
We provided 203,547 days of service delivery in 2008 - an increase
of 22% over 2007.
FAMILY WORKS
View a video explanation of “Family Works”.
MBCH Children and Family Ministries has a program model called
"Family Works" that guides ministry conducted in all of its
programs. There are four components to this model:
Permanency - Every client served deserves to have
a permanent family. Family can be defined in many ways:
Biological family members, adoptive family or an independent
living situation. Residential centers and foster families
are stepping-stones to finding permanency.
Family - MBCH Children and Family Ministries believes
that every child has the right to a loving, caring family.
We also believe that children will not get better until their
families get better. Therefore, we work with both the
family and child.
Community - Our goal is to help the child and family
find the resources they need to be a functioning and successful
family in their community. As professionals we always seek
to find resources for the child and family, not become
that resource for them. As professionals we realize that
we have a beginning and an end with the family. We seek to
find those in the community who can be natural, long-term
supports.
Spiritual - We never criticize or belittle other
religions or faith traditions; instead, we seek to find ways
that we can show and tell our clients about the life-changing
power of Jesus Christ.
PHILOSOPHY OF CARE
The agency's Philosophy of Care shows how our staff practically
live out the Family Works Model. The Philosophy of Care has
three components to providing care for our clients: Initiation
of Care, Duration of Care and Continuation of Care. Each of
these is explained below:
Initiation of Care
Philosophical Statement:
"Embracing tomorrow starts with today"
Key Scripture:
"See I am doing a new thing!" Isaiah 43:19a
When there is a new partnership with a client, we ensure a
connected relationship through the following
components...acceptance, belonging, and care.
Tasks:
WE ENSURE ACCEPTANCE by openly receiving clients into
one of our programs.
WE ENSURE BELONGING by helping our clients feel they
matter.
WE PROVIDE CARE by helping our clients know that
MBCHCFM is going the extra mile to help them "start a new
thing."
Duration of Care
Philosophical Statement:
"It's All About Relationships"
Key Scripture:
"So in everything, do to others what you would have
them do to you" Matthew 7:12a
When services are being rendered to our clients, we ensure a
connected relationship through the following components...treatment,
commitment, positivism and nurturance.
Tasks:
WE TREAT our clients as unique individuals by
creating goals that are authentic, realistic and directly
related to their lives "outside of care."
WE COMMIT OURSELVES to modeling healthy relationships,
and being a positive influence in clients' lives.
WE EMBRACE POSITIVE strides towards the completion of
goals.
WE NURTURE FAMILY growth by creating opportunities
that will help to achieve permanency.
Continuation of Care
Philosophical Statement:
"Say hello to new faces and places."
Key Scripture:
"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is
ahead, I press toward the goal for the prizes of the high
calling of God in Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:13-14
When our clients are exiting MBCHCFM program services, we ensure
continuation of care by doing the following:
Tasks:
WE ENSURE SUCCESS by helping our clients become
knowledgeable about and prepared for the next step by connecting
them to the community, church, agency, etc.
WE CELEBRATE SUCCESS by discussing with clients the
specific positive growth seen in them.
WE CONTINUE SUCCESS by connecting with our clients
after services have ended.
Performance and Quality Improvement Program
MBCH Children and Family Ministries is an agency that seeks to
continuously improve its services to clients and always seeks to
provide support to its employees to enable them to provide the best
services possible. Our Performance and Quality Improvement
Philosophy includes the following:
No matter how good we are there is always room for
improvement
The opinions and ideas of each person have
great value for the agency
Most problems are found in processes, not in people, so we
seek to improve processes, not blame people
MBCH Children and Family Ministries' performance and quality
improvement program includes its clients (children, youth, adults
and families), staff, board of trustees, foster and adoptive
parents, professionals with whom we worki in the community, etc.
We seek input from each of these categories of people to determine
strengths of the programs and areas we need to improve in the
following ways:
Clients: We seek input through an annual survey
and one at discharge from our services
Foster/Adoptive Parents: We seek input through
an annual survey, parent support groups, annual evaluations,
home visits, etc.
Staff: We seek input through an annual survey,
Performance and Quality Improvement teams, departmental team
meetings, etc.
Board of Trustees: We seek input through an annual
survey as well as suggestions received at quarterly board
meetings.
Community Professionals: We see input through
an annual survey.
Other ways we work on performance and quality improvement include
the following:
Each program in MBCH Children and Family Ministries has a set of
outcomes that measures the effectiveness of the services received by
clients. These outcomes are reported on once every six months
and corrective action is put into place as needed.
Each quarter a Performance and Quality Improvement report is
submitted and reviewed that gives information on client records,
client grievances, serious incidents, hotline calls, safety reports,
etc. Again, corrective action as necessary, is implemented.
Employees serve on CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement) teams
each year working on projects assigned based on input received from
surveys, results of outcomes, and results from CQI reports.
These teams assist in making program changes that benefit the
clients we serve.
MBCH Children and Family Ministries is committed to continuously
working on performance and quality improvement in order to fulfill
our mission of serving God by meeting the needs of our clients in
order to make a lasting difference in their lives.
