I have lived in Charlotte, NC or the surrounding area since 1998.
For twenty years I have driven to Virginia for holidays, long weekends, or just for the day. And for twenty years I have driven past a sign on interstate 77 identifying exit 42 as the location for the Barium Springs Home for Children.
Despite my consistent curiosity about Barium Springs, I never delayed my trip in either direction to exit and investigate. Nor did I look it up online when I got home!
Shame on me!
Sometimes, as I passed the sign, my imagination offered me visions of the modern-day equivalent to little orphan Annie living at Barium Springs, complete with musical arrangement . This is probably because my imagination sought to soften and significantly distort the reason a place such as Barium Springs must exist today.
A couple of weeks ago, almost twenty years to the day when I passed the sign for the first time, I was invited to go on a tour of Barium Springs.
Who and what I discovered at Barium Springs is nothing short of amazing.
Barium Springs Home for Children is an unassuming assortment of buildings nestled together on the west side of downtown Troutman, NC. At first glance, one might think it is an elite private boarding school for children that lacks a proper endowment for keeping up the century-old building facades.
But then, the silence would insist on a closer observation of the lawns and the distinct absence of children scurrying about on them, leading the onlooker to realize their initial conclusion is incorrect.
Barium Springs is a home for children, among many other things, and is part of a larger organization called Children’s Hope Alliance.
Each year, in the United States, over 6 million children are reported to Child Protective Services as victims of abuse and neglect. Half of the children in North Carolina, live in at-risk homes, where there may not be enough food, where one or more parents abuse drugs or alcohol, or where there is a lack of proper medical care. One in seven victims of domestic violence are children.
It is at Barium Springs, and within the Children’s Hope Alliance as a whole, where children are being helped up the stairs to healing.
The Children’s Hope Alliance strives to provide hope, health and healing for as many child abuse victims as possible, not only helping the child, but also the generations that follow.
Innocent, intelligent, and beautiful children are served there – children who had hopes and dreams that danced behind their bright, sparkling eyes. Barium Springs helps reweave these children’s dreams and teaches them new dance steps to fill their mind with possibility again.
While nothing can erase that which disrupted or destroyed the dreams of a child, the Children’s Hope Alliance can teach children life-long coping skills that help them heal.
They give a child hope so they can dream again.
Like the wind and water change the land, child abuse and neglect change a child. The land is lucky though, for the wind and water can transform the land again and erase their previous damage. Children who are victims of abuse and neglect do not have that luxury. They must be taught how to navigate through the giant chasm left by their abuser.
look at you & decided that the world needed ONE of you too!
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the number of children who received a Child Protective Services response increased by ten percent from 2013 to 2017 to 3.5 million children.
There is an abundance of children suffering at the hand of neglect, abuse and trauma and they are hiding in plain sight.
It is difficult to find overall causation, aside from poverty being a factor, but there seems to be a correlation to the over-abundance of pornography available in the market, as well as the opioid crisis.
While I was on the tour, I heard some of the children’s stories. Their experiences are nothing short of unspeakable and unfathomable.
Those children are being helped because of the Children’s Hope Alliance, despite the fact that their fees for services cover only 49% of their expenses. And their work to expand prevention efforts is only just beginning.
The Children’s Hope Alliance imagines a world where families have resources that prevent them from going down a path of child abuse and neglect, often a pattern an abuser has experienced first-hand. Barium Springs and the Children’s Hope Alliance want to reverse their work from healing a broken child in the aftermath to preventing the abuse from ever occurring in the first place.
In May, I am excited to be a table captain at a their Give Them Hope Luncheon, which is a fundraiser to help fill their funding gap. I am thrilled to take part in helping an organization that is doing herculean work for innocent children, an organization that is ultimately trying to eradicate child abuse.
Please consider helping the many faces of childhood neglect and go to the Children’s Hope Alliance site and click on Donate. Or, join me at the luncheon!
Imagine a world where child abuse could disappear and became a thing of the past.
More About the Children’s Hope Alliance
In their last fiscal year, the Children’s Hope Alliance generously served 2,200 kids from 61 North Carolina counties, including 600 from Iredell County, despite the gap in the funding.
They provide outpatient services, residential services, and community-based services in order to provide a safe and healing journey for hurting children and families.
Ninety percent of the work at The Children’s Hope Alliance helps heal children and families who are troubled, abused or neglected through therapy and counseling. Ten percent of the work focuses on providing prevention and developmental programs to stop abuse before it starts.
Through both streams of work, they are able to give a child hope for a safe, forever home.
Today, there are more than 200,000 children in North Carolina who need services like those provided by Barium Springs and the Children’s Hope Alliance. Only half get the help they need because of inadequate funding.
The funding gap is filled through grants, endowments and private donations and if those do not come in, then children are left without the help they need, or prevention programs are omitted.
It is hard to prioritize the needs of the copious non-profits doing great work, and it is impossible to help them all. But as you consider philanthropic giving, please consider helping the many faces of childhood neglect, abuse, and trauma by giving to the Children’s Hope Alliance.
This blog post wandered from where I typically write, which is a place that often offers whimsy and humor. I wrote this post as a gift to bring more awareness to the problem of child neglect and abuse, and with the hope of helping the Children’s Hope Alliance on their path to eradicate child abuse.
