We’re so blessed to have a communications team at Buckner who can tell our story with passion and clarity.  Many efforts have been made to tell the tale of our varied response to the epidemic of child abuse, from both sides of prevention and treatment.  However, the following story, written by Russ Dilday, communicates our passion most effectively.  Read, and learn about the heroes who work at Buckner.

BEAUMONT, Texas – Linda Miller knows abuse. She sees its effect on the bodies of children she encounters as clinical manager and therapist for Buckner Children in Family services of Southeast Texas. But she also sees the effects in the children’s eyes. And, although many of those effects will stay with the children throughout their lives, she tries to help them cope as well as they can during the brief period they’re under her care.

Linda Miller meets children where they are at the Assessment Center on the campus of Buckner Children's Village.

“Here at the Buckner Assessment Center, we get two situations,” she said. “We get Child Protective Services referrals for children who are neglected or abused and taken out of their homes and kids not doing well in foster care.”

Miller recounts the forms of abuse she sees ranges from emotional abuse to “physical abuse where a child has been hit, thrown against a wall, or has bruises or slashes.”

The Buckner Assessment Center is a short-term program which provides shelter to children while conducting testing to help insure they are placed in the foster home or residential program that best meets their needs. (more…)

2009 Graduates of Westbrook High School

I just came from our high school’s graduation ceremonies. The Montagne Center, on the campus of Lamar University, was packed to the rafters with supporters of the graduates, celebrating their accomplishment.

As a part of the pomp and circumstance, those of us in attendance heard several speeches, every one of which included a long list of thank yous to moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. And I found myself curious about the graduates seated on the floor of this event center who could share none of those sentiments. Their thank yous will go to foster parents, child care staff, therapists, casemanagers, and a treatment team of professionals who have parented them, or shepherded them, through childhood and adolescence to the threshold of adulthood. (more…)

This week, our high school seniors will graduate.  So, we’ve been reminiscing around the office, retelling stories (both embarrassing and inspiring) about these young graduates.  It helps us to say goodbye.  Recently, one of these seniors sat down with Russ Dilday, who writes and edits for our Buckner Today magazine.  I hope you’ll take time to read and get to know John a little better.  His story is unique, but not completely unfamiliar.  He is representative of every child and every graduate living at Buckner.  When you get to know him, you’ll realize why we love our residents so much.

On the Edge:  Overcoming Challenges on the Way to Success

John Hoyle is expressive and talkative. He has the energy of someone with a direction, a purpose. Tall and thin, he’s seemingly made out of angles and edges.

John knows edges. An abuse survivor, he’s lived on them for much of his life. But now he’s on a new edge, the edge of a new life as a college student after he graduates from high school and leaves the campus of Buckner Children’s Village, where he’s been a resident for almost three years. And he’s ready to go over that edge.

“I’m going to Lamar Institute of Technology,” he says proudly. “The staff here has helped me grow up a lot. But they’ve also shown me that I need to do everything I have to do if I’m going to make it on my own.”

Without Buckner, he admits, he wouldn’t be on the edge of success – probably skirting the edge of failure. “Without Buckner, I wouldn’t be going to college. I was looking at dead-end jobs for the rest of my life. I came here when I was 15. My grades were OK, but I wouldn’t be getting a scholarship. I would’ve been one more high school graduate working in fast food.” (more…)