 Florida Baptist Children's Homes is a faith-based, nonprofit organization that provides safe, stable, Christian homes for boys and girls who have been neglected, misdirected, abandoned, abused, or caught up in family turmoil.
We do a lot more than just house these children, though. We ensure that they get good medical care, nourishing food, proper clothes, and education. We give them counseling, lots of love, attention, and a positive lifestyle. And we try to give them a childhood that's as normal as possible under the circumstances. But the most important thing we give them is hope: we teach them about Jesus Christ and how He died for them so that they may have Everlasting Life. In short, we provide for their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.
Boys and girls are selected to live at Florida Baptist Children's Homes based on (1) their need, and (2) our ability to help them. We do not discriminate.
We have residential-care facilities, commonly called "campuses," in Miami, Fort Myers, Lakeland, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Pensacola. Additional campuses are planned for Gainesville, New Smyrna Beach, and the Sarasota/Manatee County area. All of our campuses provide social work services; we also have social work offices in Milton (near Pensacola), Plantation (near Fort Lauderdale) and Gainesville.
We employ child care workers and social workers/case workers — and we partner with foster parents — who are Christians and don't regard the children as clients or case loads! They truly CARE for the children and care ABOUT the children. They love and nurture them, and laugh and cry with them. They pray with the children every day, and they take them to church on Sundays and Wednesdays.
In addition to the residential care we provide through our campuses, we maintain a network of Christian foster homes throughout the state for the care and nurturing of infants, preschoolers, sibling groups and children with unique needs.
Florida Baptist Children's Homes takes a proactive approach to healing broken lives. During the time a boy or girl is living in one of our facilities or foster homes, our social workers/case workers interact with the child and his or her family, child care workers or foster parents, to assure progress is being made in their particular situation. The goal is to eventually reunite the child with his or her family, whenever that is in the child's best interest. In the alternative, he or she may remain in our care through high school, placement in foster care or adoptive family. There are thousands of well-adjusted adults now who have deep gratitude for the help, love and guidance they received when they were most vulnerable.
Florida Baptist Children's Homes has also committed its support for the Florida Baptist Convention's emphasis on the Sanctity of Human Life; our staff is working with pastors, pregnancy care centers and pregnant, unwed, teen-age girls to help prevent abortions.
We serve developmentally delayed adults, too.
More than 70 percent of Florida Baptist Children's Homes' financial support comes from benevolent individuals, churches, businesses, foundations and organizations. The children's families help to cover the costs based on their ability to pay, but many pay little or nothing.
We operate under the auspices of the Florida Baptist Convention and we're governed by a 24-member Board of Trustees. These trustees are committed Christian men and women from throughout the state who are elected by the Convention to serve three-year terms on a rotating basis.
We would appreciate your prayers and financial support.
We are accredited by the
Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children, Inc.
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