Our Story
My name is Bj Forehand Meadows. I am asking for your help with a project that God placed on my heart years ago. Our Vision has changed and we have a NEW PARTNER! Please check out that info- Jonathan now has TONS of stuff on the website!
A little about me: I am mother with two beautiful natural daughters, and I have also been blessed with two special needs little boys- through the gift of adoption. After marrying the love of my life I am also now the proud mother of another beautiful little girl.
I am an ESE teacher for Bay District Schools, and have been for close to 20 years-most of those years being spent teaching children who are intellectually or physically disabled. I was blessed several years ago to be able to start a ministry called Angels in the Wings Ministry and Foster Facility, which is a registered non-profit organization. Due to issues beyond my control, I had to put this project on hold, but God has been speaking to me and said that it is again our time! Let me tell you about my vision and the circumstances in our area that lead me to believe this is necessary for the children I love and work with everyday.
This ministry began when we found that these students, these in-between students- that I love- when taken into foster care were being transferred to foster facilities in Tallahassee or Pensacola due to there being a lack of placement here within Bay County. Yes, we do have foster homes. However, the type of student I am referring to are those who are hard to place due to being low cognitive or having behavioral issues. While some of these students fall into a category that allows them to be placed in Medically Needy foster care, many of them do not. Take, for instance, an Autistic child, or a child born addicted to Crack Cocaine. They have no need for ongoing medical services such as Children’s Medical Services would provide. Because of this, they are placed in regular foster homes. Unfortunately, typical foster homes are not equipped to handle this type of child.
A few years ago, I had a student in my class that fell into this category. He had Cerebral Palsy and was incontinent due to his condition. He also had behavioral issues due to chemical exposure and other issues within his life. He was under the care of CMS (Children’s Medical Services), and was therefore in the medical foster program. He had a loving family who was considering adoption, and had adopted special needs children previously. However, one afternoon at his routine CMS appointment, the doctor deemed him to no longer “medically needy”. Within a day, he was removed from the home that he had grown to love, the family he had grown to trust. The worker desperately tried to place him close by in a standard foster home. Unfortunately, many of the foster parents were simply unable or unwilling to care for his needs. He went through 5 placements in 5 days before he was finally placed in a Foster Facility in Pensacola where his needs could be met. He was only in the first grade.
There are several other cases such as these, and I have made it My Mission that once our doors are open, this does not have to happen to another child.
Imagine the sea of emotions when a child is taken from their parents and placed into foster care. Now, imagine that child has low cognitive abilities or has a disability, such as Autism, where they need structure and familiarity to survive. Now imagine that child has not only lost their family (many times for an extremely good cause), but they have lost their friends, their surroundings- everything familiar to them. This situation can cause the issues to multiply exponentially. I am praying that, with the support of others in our community, I can ease some of the stress that these children are facing.
Our Organization will be focusing on housing low cognitive and hard to place school aged children who are in the foster care system in Bay County. These students will be living full time in the facility until reunification with family or adoption occurs. One of our goals is to ensure that these students are able to attend their home schools within the district in an attempt to create some semblance of stability in their lives. We also intend to transport them to their home churches, ball games, whatever we can do to keep their lives as normal as possible while going through the tough ordeals placed on them by others. We will maintain any facet of their life that can be maintained. We will meet with school officials to ensure consistency for these children between school and home life. We will also offer on-site therapies, such as speech, language, occupational, physical, emotional and behavioral as needed. As we grow, we will offer equestrian therapies as well.
Our first hurdle is the final purchase of the land and what will be the “main house” before we can expand to include the “cabins” over the property.
We are climbing this mountain a step at the time, and we hope to find those who will lend us a hand up so that we may continue to climb.
As the name implies, we hope to be the “angels waiting in the wings” during these childrens’ times of need. Please help us to be waiting with open arms when they need us!
Thank you for taking the time to look over our information! I look forward to hearing from you concerning this venture!
Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Angels-in-the-Wings-Ministry-and-Fosterhome-103701872999137/
Comments
Faye Warren
29.12.2019 02:48
Hi, my NAME is Faye Warren. How are you doing? I have quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy. I am looking for somewhere to live. Can you please tell me more about your Angels with Wings Facility. How m
Thank you so much.
Faye, BFA