On June 23rd, 2011 David visited the Children’s Home Society of Florida-Intercoastal Division in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The aim of the visit was to help celebrate a birthday and provide a morale boost to the staff and children in the Home. David sang Happy Birthday for the ‘Birthday Boy’ and then took time to meet and talk to the children and staff.
The Children’s Home is an emergency shelter for children removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. The children who have endured hardship after hardship through no fault of their own receive the care they need without having to leave their community.
The group home can serve twelve 8- to 15-year-old boys in foster care who need long-term, intense, therapeutic care. Because of their tragic backgrounds, the boys are often coping with severe loss, abuse, neglect, abandonment and/or other struggles. The home provides safe shelter in a homelike environment, case management, individual and group therapy, psychiatric services and medical care, tutoring and educational services, independent living training, and more. Each child receives comprehensive services from a multidisciplinary team of nurses, caseworkers, a master’s-level clinician, a psychiatrist, counselors, and child advocates. The House provides solid therapy, behavior management and educational guidance so the boys may transition to live in a traditional home setting, whether with foster families, adoptive families or, if safe and appropriate, their biological families.”
Though partially funded by Medicaid and ChildNet, the therapeutic home relies on donations to fund the home’s expenses. For more information and to make a donation please visit their Facebook page and website http://www.chsfl.org
- David with staff members: Sherry Mailey, Teri Lurie and Krisztina Kupfer
