Attachment Focused Parenting class

UMCH welcomes Dr. Wendy Hanevold to our campus to facilitate a four-part series on attachment focused parenting. Dr. Hanevold comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience working with foster and adoptive families and children with attachment problems.

One session has already happened, but there are still three sessions left: March 13 , March 27 and April 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This is a pilot program to develop a parenting curriculum based on the book Attachment Focused Parenting, by Dan Hughes, Ph.D. Dr. Hanevold welcomes your feedback after the sessions. You are not required to attend all four trainings; however, each session is different so you are encouraged to attend as many as you can!

RSVP as soon as possible if you plan on attending any of the sessions in order for child care to be arranged. RSVP to Debora Burger or call 404.327.5862.

Anyone who is a parent is welcome to attend; foster parents are especially encouraged to attend.

Volunteers help rebuild Leigh Cottage

Thanks to the hard work of so many United Methodist Men groups and other volunteers, as well as the leadership of GlenCastle Constructors, the rebuilding of Leigh Cottage is going really well!

A grand reopening celebration is planned for May 23 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. More information to follow!

Hearts with Haiti benefit a huge success!

The Hearts with Haiti benefit put on by our youth was a great success!  Our youth and staff did so much to prepare for the evening. They created centerpieces and artwork for the walls. They recruited volunteers, gathered donations, planned entertainment and decorated the room. They even studied Haitian art and created some of their own masterpieces!

When the night finally arrived, the room looked festive and colorful. Everyone had a great time!

Volunteers from Roswell UMC’s Bereans Class served yummy pancakes…

… our youth put on a talent show…

… and we all learned a lot more about Haiti and the three children’s homes the fundraiser was benefiting.

Youth and staff also assembled dozens of medical kits for UMCOR during the evening.

Our youth started the fundraising earlier in the month by selling carnations to staff and students.

Staff and volunteers made yummy baked goods to sell at the event…

… and also created beautiful baskets and donated wonderful items to be a part of the silent auction.

Between the money raised from the carnations, the silent auction and the donations for the pancakes and baked goods, our youth exceeded their fundraising goal of $1,000. They raised over $1280, and more money is still coming in!

We are very proud of all the hard work our youth put into this event!

Snow day!

The UMCH campus was blanketed in snow over the weekend. Our youth had a great time playing and making snowmen. Enjoy the photos!

UMCH responds to Haitian crisis

St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince was devastated by the earthquake.

As a ministry called to care for children in need, the United Methodist Children’s Home feels a strong connection to and desire to help the children injured and orphaned during the January earthquake in Haiti. The UMCH family is responding in several ways:

• Hearts with Haiti youth fundraising event: Our students are transforming their Valentine’s Day party into a benefit for an orphanage in Haiti. The evening’s festivities will include a pancake supper, Fluid: The Youth Movement dance troupe performing Haitian dances, a silent auction and dessert sale, and opportunities to learn more about the country and people we’re helping. All proceeds from the evening will support the organization Hearts with Haiti, which runs the St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, Wings of Hope home for disabled children and Trinity House boys’ home. Visit the Hearts with Haiti website for more information. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator if you’d like to help with this event.

• Our youth are also assembling medical kits for UMCOR. Click here to learn how you can also help with this effort.

• On Sunday, January 24, our worship service was dedicated to praying for the people of Haiti. One of our volunteers has visited Haiti several times. She shared photos of Haitian teenagers and each of our youth received a photo to pray for that person.

UMCH has received many phone calls regarding fostering or adopting Haitian orphans. UMCH is not currently involved in any efforts to relocate Haitian children. It is natural to be moved by such a tragic situation, but caution is needed. It is extremely difficult in circumstances such as this to determine whether children who appear to be orphans actually are. Children may be temporarily separated from their parents, or there may be other family members who can care for them. Click here for a great article explaining the need for caution. Click here for information from UNICEF about their response to help Haitian children.

UMCH celebrates MLK Day together

Staff member Hillary Peete announces the MLK Day essay award winners.

The UMCH campus gathered on MLK Day to celebrate and remember. Staff and students brought dishes to share with each other, our administrator spoke about how he worked to integrate the Home 40 years ago, and students and staff shared essays they wrote about human rights.

The following are excerpts from the essays that our youth wrote:

Human rights to me are the rights that the following people fought for: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Susan B.Anthony, Patricia McKissack, Frederick McKissack, Rosa Parks, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Abraham Lincoln and Malcolm X.  These people fought for what they believed was right. They did not just fight for people of one race, but for people of all races. They fought for men and women to be created equal, too.

Take Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This man fought for people of every color to be free and to be created equal. Dr. King was arrested for fighting in what he believed was right. Dr. King was killed while giving his “I Have a Dream” speech. He was shot fighting in what was right.     -Andrea

Human rights are imperative. Human rights are necessities. They are rights that are non-negotiable to all human beings whatever their nationality, place of birth, sex, national ethnic origin. Color, religion or language or any other status should not be a factor in human rights. They are often guaranteed by laws in forms of treaties or documents. They are rights because they are things we are allowed to be, to do or to have. I feel that we are all equally entitled to human rights without discrimination. These rights are all inter-related, interdependent, and indivisible. These rights should come as natural as breathing.      -Briana

I believe that human rights have come a long way. Every person in the world, in particular the USA, should not be judged or discriminated against because of race, sex and age. Every person should know their rights and have some sort of knowledge when being abused by the government. As a human being, I know that if someone denies me a job or anything public because of my preferences of religion or opinion they are violating my human rights.     -Desiah

In these times it seems like kids or young adults don’t have rights at all. We are told everything and life is planned for us. The only thing that keeps us going are our dreams and goals. If we didn’t have those we would have nothing. In these days we can’t go certain places, do certain things, or work because of our age, but the one thing that African-Americans tell their kids is that “men have to work to be a success in life.” Should success have a color restriction? In my mind, if you have the motivation to be successful then that’s all that should matter.    -Jeremy

What human rights mean to me is that we can do what we want, just with rules and responsibilities.   
-Khadijah

As a person, as an African-American, as a Caucasian, Chinese, Asian, purple, yellow, orange, or whatever you are, you have human rights, and as a human myself, I believe we shall no longer abuse them. We should use them the best way we know how. We should be the person making speeches and sacrificing our life for what we believe in. If one man can change it, then why not you? Why not me? Human rights are all our rights and they shall no longer be abused.     -Tiara

Pray for UMCH foster family from Haiti

The UMCH community is joining with the rest of the world right now and praying for Haiti. We ask you to specifically pray for one of our foster families: they are from Haiti and still have very close relatives living there, with whom they have not been able to make contact.

Below is a letter from our Minister of Religious Life, the Rev. Ellen Shepard.

Friends, the following prayers was written by a pastor in Haiti – I invite you to pray it with the world. When my youngest child was just four months old, my husband Kelly left for a mission trip to Haiti. Since that time, our hearts have been inextricably tied to the Haitian people.  May the Lord hold us all in the palm of his hand… Ellen

Prayer for Haiti

Together let us join in prayer

wrap a mantle of compassion upon Haiti

for the babies, sisters, brothers, workers, family, friends, strangers, enemies, animals, and more, more, more who died and will die,

who are wounded and ache

and will ache, suffer,

who grieve, breathe in shock

crawl

paw through the rubble of time

a violent collapse of daily routine.

…..

May fresh air breathe with vital necessity.

May we sacrifice and share.

May we enable compassionate action, and service—now. Right now.

May our mantle of compassion console and heal.

And may our prayer build grateful action, life.

–K’T’U, 13 January 2010

Volunteers share their love of reading with our children

There is a wonderful new children’s library in a room on our Decatur campus, available for the younger children residing in our Short-term Family Housing units.  Friends of UMCH donated the books, and volunteers spend time reading with the children on Thursday nights.

If you would like to be a reading partner for children ages 3 to 12, call Hillary Peete at 404.327.5871 for more information. To learn more about volunteering at UMCH and to begin the process of becoming a volunteer, click here.

Our chapel at Christmas

Merry Christmas from UMCH!

As a gift to you this Christmas, we’re posting some of the artwork our youth have been working on lately. Our beautiful art room (made possible by some of our generous friends) and our wonderful volunteers inspire our youth to express themselves in creative ways. Merry Christmas!

Christmas comes early to UMCH, thanks to volunteers

Instead of sitting around sipping holiday punch and exchanging White Elephant gifts like most office parties go, the staff at Sugar Hill UMC opted for a different way to celebrate the season: by giving back.

They spent the day at UMCH, painting one of our Short-term Housing units. Thanks to their gift of time, a family will soon move into a freshly painted, cozy home for the cold winter months ahead.

We’ve had many other groups bless us with their gifts of time and labor recently as well.

Staff from BB&T took time out of their busy holiday season to spend a Saturday volunteering at UMCH.

And on a Saturday in late November, students from Agnes Scott University painted doors on a Short-term Housing unit…

… and the confirmation class at Northbrook UMC got their hands dirty working on our campus grounds.

If you’d like your group to volunteer in the new year, contact Alina Crews. Or if you still want to give back during this Christmas season, you can make an online donation to help the children and families we serve.

Leigh Cottage is rising again!

Leigh Cottage was destroyed in a fire two years ago, but the building is rising again, thanks to the help of so many. The donations of friends in our community and United Methodist churches across north Georgia, plus the efforts of United Methodist Men and GlenCastle Constructors are making this rebuild possible. When the cottage reopens, it will be used to house youth in our Independent Living Program, who are working toward lives of independence.

If your UMM group would like to be a part, visit the North Georgia Conference UMM website for more info. Thank you to all of the donors and volunteers for helping the Children’s Home continue to provide a safe place for youth to live and grow into independent adults!

Check out the progress that has been made since rebuilding began in July!

Christmas cards display artwork by UMCH youth

This year, send Christmas cards created with artwork by UMCH youth to all your friends and family! Three original designs are included in the 12-pack of cards (four of each design). Each card contains a Christmas greeting and Bible verse, as well as blank space for writing your own holiday greeting.

Each 12-pack of cards is $15.00, plus $3 S/H per order. All proceeds support the ministry of UMCH.

If you would like to purchase a pack of cards, mail your check made payable to UMCH to 500 S. Columbia Drive, Decatur GA 30030. Please indicate it is for the Christmas notecards. If you have any questions, contact Scott Young.

Making Halloween happy for others

Nine ILP and GED students threw a Halloween party for children at Our House, a preschool for children of homeless families. Our students interacted with the children by setting up booths to help them play various games. They tossed beanbags, went “fishing” for prizes, played “pin the nose on the pumpkin,” and painted their own miniature pumpkins. They also decorated cookies and dipped apple slices in caramel, and, of course, enjoyed eating their creations! One of our students told them a story about “Scat the Cat.”  The party was big fun for all the children there – ours and theirs  – and even the staff!

Seven children find a new home

Congratulations to Ray and Veronica Brown for welcoming Tamaya and Patrick into their family when the adoption of the two siblings was recently finalized.

Cindy and Joe Beaulieu also finalized the adoption of their foster children Jessica, Trey, Reachel, Angel and Jaren. Cindy and Joe already have four adult children – two biological and two adopted – and three grandchildren. But with room in their home and their hearts, they began fostering with UMCH. More information on their story and photos of the happy family can be found in the fall issue of Signposts, our quarterly newsletter. If you do not receive the magazine, click here to sign up.

The Beaulieu family

“Summer of Service” continues into fall

The UMCH Activities Staff declared summer 2009 the “Summer of Service.” Our cottages participated in community service projects twice a month throughout the summer break and are now continuing to volunteer this fall. Pictured are Trustees Cottage residents working at the Decatur First United Methodist Church organic garden. Other projects include picking up trash for the “Adopt-A-Road” project through Keep DeKalb Beautiful, providing childcare through “Our House” so that the children’s parents could look for work, providing respite care through “We Care Respite,” and volunteer work at “Forgotten Paws Rescue, Doggie Meet and Greet.”

UMCH youth enjoy “Stamp Camp”

The mother and sister of our Religious Life intern, Katherine Malloy, traveled all the way from Virginia to put on a “Stamp Camp” for the young women in our cottages and Whitehead Intake Center. Katherine’s sister, Alison, is a Stampin’ Up demonstrator, and she and her mother Esther did all the prep work before arriving. They developed projects for our young women, cut and scored the paper, and brought everything with them to our campus. The young women were able to put together and decorate a notepad, two full-size cards and two small cards. They took the completed projects with them so that they could keep them or give them away. The young women, some of whom appeared skeptical at first, seemed to truly enjoy the activity!

Dive-in movie and other summer fun

Our youth have had all sorts of fun this summer, including a “dive-in” movie night.

The youth were so excited about their first night swim that they barely paid attention to the movie, but a great time was had by all!

Check out the most recent Signposts, coming to a mailbox near you, for more photos and stories of the summer fun we’ve had. (If you are not on our mailing list to receive our quarterly magazine Signposts or our monthly e-newsletter, you may sign up for either one here.)

UMCH at Annual Conference

UMCH’s presentation at Annual Conference was a big hit this year — thanks to our youth sharing their stories via their artwork and their music. One of our ILP students also shared her story. Click here to view the presentation.

Scouts reach out to UMCH with time, toys and cookies

The Children’s Home is continually blessed by others — including many groups from the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts.

John Ewing, a Scout working on his Eagle Rank, from Troop 77, built trash can holders to keep the cans in place that keep our campus clean. He also repaired several of the picnic benches around the campus. John planned the project himself and recruited other Scouts to help with the work.

Boy Scout Troop 266 donated two truckloads of toys and sports equipment to our boys and girls — our youth will put all this to good use!

Eliza Craft and Brianna Hunter from Brownie Troop 28433 brought by a bunch of Girl Scout cookies to give to our youth.

Many thanks to all the friends of the Children’s Home who donate time, money and gifts so generously to make sure our campus is safe and our children are cared for!

Foster parents get much-deserved night off

We are incredibly grateful to our foster parents for the work that they do to serve, love and care for the foster children they welcome into their homes. One of the ways we show appreciation to our foster parents is by giving them a night off.  On one recent Saturday night, UMCH staff offered childcare for the children and sent the parents off with gift certificates to Outback Steakhouse. We’re not sure who had more fun — the parents or the children!

Celebrating the good work of UMCH’s Auxiliary

UMCH’s Auxiliary does wonderful work for the children and families we serve, raising over $60,000 a year for the Home at their biannual flea markets. We took some time out to recognize their hard work at the annual Appreciation Luncheon, which was a Garden Party this year.

The Dining Hall was decorated with flowers galore, as well as a display of the artwork created by our youth (which was also used to decorate flower pots given to the Auxiliary).

Many of the Auxiliary members got into the spirit of the Garden Party, wearing all manner of fun hats!

After a delicious lunch, the Auxiliary was entertained with music and even a message from “Mrs. Ashford-Dunwoody” herself! (pictured far right)

Leigh Cottage rebuilding to begin

One of the residences for our youth, Leigh Cottage, was destroyed in a fire in November 2007. GlenCastle Constructors, representing several well-known construction firms, is overseeing the rebuilding of Leigh, and United Methodist Men will provide the labor. Click here for more information on the project.  The Leigh Cottage Groundbreaking was on May 15. UPDATED: Photos of the service below!

Leigh Cottage in 1950

Leigh Cottage before the fire

Leigh Cottage after the fire

UPDATE: Photos from the groundbreaking

The crowd at the service

Jasper Russell, the President of the United Methodist Men, shares a greeting with the crowd

Dr. Jamie Jenkins, Executive Assistant to the Bishop, shares Scripture during the service

UMCH administrator Bev Cochran looks on as Board member Verdery Cunningham and UMCH alumna Liz Brown break the ground where Leigh Cottage will be rebuilt

New trainings added

UMCH often makes trainings available to the public. These trainings are always being added to our calendar, where you can get information on dates, times, any cost and who to contact.  Upcoming trainings include CPR/First Aid trainings on June 3 and June 6. See the calendar for more information.

Parenting classes are changing lives

“Everyone is telling me how proud they are of me, because they can see the difference in my tone and how I treat my daughter. And even she’s changed a lot.”

“Ever since I took the class, things have been totally different.

“Honestly, most of us believe we’re doing a great job raising our kids, and we’ll do anything for them. And I’m not saying we’re not, but there’s an alternative to parenting that we simply just don’t know about.”

Are you a new parent? Or maybe you’re having trouble with one of your children and need some advice? Maybe you’re just looking for some new ideas on parenting and would love to hear how other parents do things?

There are many reasons people sign up for a parenting class at UMCH, but the one thing everyone seems to have in common is the need for help. Even the UMCH instructors themselves say they learn something new every time they lead a class!

If you are interested in learning more about the classes or signing up, call Bonita at 404.327.5860. If you are interested in a parenting class at one of our other offices, call the office closest to you.

A place for families to visit

Children in our foster care program have regular visits with their birth parents while in foster care. The visitation room where birth parents are able to have these meaningful visits with their children recently received a wonderful makeover, thanks to Babes & Kids Furniture in Marietta.

Healing arts continue in the new art room

Thanks to the generosity of so many friends of the Children’s Home, our youth continue to enjoy the healing power of creativity as they create art in the Healing HeArts Center. The new art room was renovated from a workshop that had fallen into disuse. Now our youth spend several hours a week in the room, working with staff and volunteers to express themselves through art.

UMCH staff celebrate accreditation success

UMCH staff recently gathered to celebrate the announcement of accreditation by the Council on Accreditation and the EAGLE Commission. Staff committed countless hours to the process of accreditation, which in turn, sharpened and improved our programs. UMCH is honored to have received this distinction, and we look forward to continuing to meet the high standards set forth by both of these accrediting organizations.