| Center to tell story of children's ministry By Melissa Lauber
UMCONNECTION STAFF It started out 130 years ago with the cries of one child whose mother sought to place him in a United Methodist orphanage. None existed so Thomas Kelso, at age 90, bought a house in Baltimore and the roots of the Board of Child Care began to grow. This fall, the Board of Child Care of the Baltimore-Washington Conference will break ground for a new archival facility and visitors' center on its campus in Randallstown. The $3 million, 14,000 square foot building, which is scheduled to be completed next June, will chronicle the history of United Methodist ministry to abused, abandoned and neglected children.  | COURTESY OF BOARD OF CHILD CARE | An artists rendering of the new Board of Child Care archival center. |
It will also tell the story of today's board of Child Care, which has had some of its most dramatic growth during the last decade. From 1993 to 2003, the number of children helped by the Board grew from 90 to 1,020. Spending exploded from $4.7 million in 1993 to $28 million in 2003; the number of staff increased from 60 to 440 and the number of program locations grew from 3 to 13. 
Curcio | Some people look at the last decade and believe such growth should probably have stretched over a 20-year period. But the lives of children were at stake, said Board of Child Care CEO Thomas L. Curcio. 'We put children first.'
The Board of Child Care now offers residential care for 90 children in Randallstown and 50 children in Falling Waters, W.Va.; shelter care for children in crisis in Anne Arundel, Frederick and Washington counties; a state licensed, a non-public school to serve children with special needs; a foster care program; outpatient mental heath services at clinics in Baltimore, Arbutus, Cumberland, Cambridge and Pasadena; and parenting programs and day care centers in Baltimore and Washington. At the new, three-story archival center, Curcio said, visitors will be able to see the dramatic transition from custodial care of children to a new kind of assistance that stresses treatment, movement and hope. Sharon Kistler, the director of admissions who has been with the board for 23 years, was an eyewitness to some of these changes. She remembers when the board provided a safe haven that addressed the basic needs of its residents, becoming in affect, surrogate parents. The industry term, she said, was 'warehousing.' A TIMELINE OF CARING | 1874 | Kelso Home for Orphans opens in Baltimore. | 1912 | Swartzell Methodist Home for Children opens in Washington. | 1922 | Strawbridge Home for Boys opens. | 1943 | Board of Child Care created. | 1953 | Womens Auxiliary Board of Child Care formed. | 1960 | Eight buildings and 20 acres in Randallstown dedicated to 'the loving care of children.' | 1976 | Foster care program opens in D.C. | 1981 | Singewald Boys Emergency Shelter opens; in 1982, emergency shelter for girls opens. | 1994 | Strawbridge School opens. | 2001 | Tide Point Day care Center opens. | 2002 | Falling Waters residential program opens in West Virginia. | 2003 | Group home for youth opens in Colesville. |
But the old orphanage model has vanished and Kistler is thankful that the church has kept pace with the times, willing to adapt the most advanced standards of care for troubled children. Kistler sometimes shudders when she thinks of hundreds of horror stories these children have told her as they seek assistance. 'We give them opportunities for a better life,' she said. 'I don't know if that happens every time, but when they walk out of here they have something of value.' | 
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