| Board of Child Care opens W. Virginia facility By Melissa Lauber UMConnection Staff The Board of Child Care of the Baltimore-Washington Conference entered new territory April 8 when it consecrated a $14 million facility in Falling Waters, W.Va.  Before the new residential facility was completed to serve youth with moderate to severe behavioral problems, most of the states children were being sent out of state for care, said Joan Ohl, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at the consecration service.
The Board of Child Care campus is the only one  of its kind in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, made up of Berkeley, Morgan and Jefferson counties, said Thomas Curcio, chief executive officer of the board. Of the 30 children living there today, 25 were brought back to the state from Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas. Placing children in such remote locations was a drain on the states budget and did little to help reunite children with their families, one of the primary goals of child services, said Ohl. The new facility, Ohl said, is one of the finest in the United States.  Located on 40 acres, the campus has five cottages, each housing 10 children. There are also 11 classrooms (education is provided by the state), a gymnasium and a chapel seating 120.
The facility is expected to run at full capacity with 50 residents by September, Curcio said. At that time, they will have a 70-member staff and an annual operating budget of a little more than $6 million. The campus is modeled after the one in Rockdale, outside of Baltimore, said board member Sally Ransom-Knecht. The cottages, scheduling and staffing are structured to create a home-like atmosphere. Wow. That was the first word that came to mind when I saw this place, she said. The Rev. Wayne DeHart, who consecrated the entire campus to the service of God, was equally impressed. Like Ransom-Knecht, he too was delighted at how the old-fashioned country chapel stands out so vividly as one approaches the campus. Thats as it should be, he said. Faith is central. Curcio acknowledged the pivotal role spiritual development plays in the wellbeing of the youth. But he also stressed the need for state-of-the -art physical, psychological, educational and emotional care. Providing such care for abused, abandoned and neglected children is not something the state can do alone, Ohl said. She praised the Board of Child Care for its willingness to nurture a dream and go above and beyond everyones expectations. Its a match made in heaven, or as we say here, almost heaven West Virginia. More than 200 people gathered at the service in the campus gym for the consecration. The chairman of the board, Jim Mathis, explained that the Falling Waters facility is one small piece of the ministry the Board of Child Care provides to the area. Its other programs include: - Residential care at a campus near Baltimore for 90 children, ages 9 to 18. The average length of stay is 14 months.
- Emergency shelter care at the main campus and at three satellite sites in Anne Arundel, Frederick and Washington counties.
- Strawbridge School on the main campus is licensed by the Maryland Department of Education and serves 110 children daily, 80 of whom are bused in from surrounding counties.
- Adoption services.
- Outpatient mental health clinics at five sites in Baltimore, Arbutus, Cumberland, Cambridge and Pasadena.
- Tide Point, a high-tech day care center in Baltimore.
- Foster care in Washington, D.C., which currently serves 90 children and will relocate and expand its services this summer.
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