Providing Hope and Restoration

For 130 years Missouri Baptist Children’s Home has served God by offering Hope and Restoration to children and families who desperately need both. Through our affiliate corporations, MBCH provides a variety of residential and community-based services throughout the state of Missouri.

As you explore all that Missouri Baptist Children’s Home has to offer, we invite you to look for ways that you can become a partner in providing Hope and Restoration to children and families who are hurting.

Thoughts from the President

By: Russ Martin

Sexual Abuse and Mandated Reporting--What is Your Responsibility (posted 02/14/2019)

The Houston Chronicle recently printed part 1 of a 3 part series on sexual misconduct by Southern Baptist pastors, deacons, Sunday school teachers, and volunteers.  It is a sobering and extremely concerning report that the very spiritual leaders one should be able to trust instead are perpetrators of abuse.  It is also alarming that apparently some church leaders did not intervene to protect those who were abused.

The legal definition of abuse is any physical injury, sexual abuse, or emotional abuse inflicted on a child other than by accidental means by those responsible for the child's care, custody, and control (except that discipline including spanking, administered in a reasonable manner, shall not be construed to be abuse).  Neglect is the failure to provide, by those responsible for the care, custody, and control of the child, the proper or necessary support, education as required by law, nutrition or medical, surgical, or any other care necessary for the child's well-being.

Anyone involved in church ministry is required by law to report abuse or suspected abuse.  In the Missouri statute, ministers are defined as "any person practicing as a minister of the Gospel," (which would include youth and children's workers and Sunday school teachers), and day care workers, child care workers, mental health professionals, and other people with the responsbility for the care of children are also mandated reporters of suspected abuse or neglect.  The bottom line is that it is everyone's Christian duty to immediately report any knowledge or suspicion of abuse/neglect, whether one falls in the legal category of a mandated reporter or not.

Missouri has a child abuse and neglect hotline you can call 24/7 at 1-800-392-3738 to make a report.  The identify of callers to the child abuse and neglect hotline is kept confidential.  You do not need to be certain that abuse is taking place; you only need to suspect the abuse.  By calling the hotline, you allow trained professionals to make the determination.

Child sexual abuse is a very serious problem in society as a whole, not just Southern Baptist churches.  One in ten children will experience sexual abuse before their 18th birthday. 

Missouri Baptist Children's Home is available to help train your church to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child abuse through the "Stewards of Children" TM training.  This training is available in nearly every part of Missouri and is provided at no cost, except for a minimal charge for participant workbooks.  Please contact my executive assistant, Kristi McCormick, at 314-739-6811 or 1-800-264-6224 if you would like to take advantage of this training.  You can also email her at Kristi.Mccormick@MBCH.org.

Let's do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of children, youth, and families. 

A Life Changed (posted 02/12/2019)

One of the staff at the Byrne Campus shared the following story:

Today the Byrne Campus staff received news from the parent of a recent placement that shared that the youth was doing very well.  He is staying in school, making A's and B's, and is needing the extra supports of his IEP less often.  He is also doing "fantastic at home with minimal blowups and those are not severe."  The parent thanked the staff sharing, "he's the happy kid we had lost for that short period of time.  We thank you so much for everything you did to help our family."  

What a positive and encouraging piece of news to hear.  While we thank our staff who worked with this youth, we also want to thank you who pray for us and those who support us so we can minister to children, youth, and families.

Together we are making a difference!

A Foster Child's Wants in a Family (02/08/2019)

Each of our board meetings begins with a devotional thought usually brought by a board member or a staff member.  In our most recent board meeting, board member Rev. David Stephenson, pastor of First Baptist Church Tipton, brought the devotion and concluded with the following list of things that were identified by a foster child when asked what he wanted in a family.  Here is that list:

Things I want in my family:
1.  I want food and water
2.  Don't hit on me
3.  A house with running water and lights
4.  I want love
5.  Mom and dad don't fight
6.  I want no drugs
7.  Don't kill my pets
8.  Help with school
9.  Nice clean clothes
10.  No lice; no bugs in home
11.  A clean house
12.  A clean bed with covers
13.  Don't sell my toys
14.  Treated fair
15.  Don't get drunk
16.  TV in house
17.  Let me keep my games
18.  School stuff
19.  Nice house and safe
20.  AC and heat
21.  Coat and toothbrush

These are all items that most of us take for granted; yet these are the things this foster child identified as what he wanted.  It reminds me of the awesome responsibility God has given us to minister to Him by ministering to the least of these (Matthew 25).

Thank you for partnering with us as serve God by responding to the needs of children, youth, and families to make a lasting difference in their lives.