About Us
Additional information is available to you on our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Baptist Family & Children’s Services has served kids and families in Maryland since 1920. More recently, the agency has expanded its reach to include Delaware, Southern Pennsylvania, and eastern West Virginia.
Mission, Vision, Values
The mission of Baptist Family and Children’s Services is to plan, develop, implement, and promote services that encourage the physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing of children, the elderly and families in crisis in the Maryland/Delaware region.
To accomplish its mission, Baptist Family has established three programs of service: CHOSEN Treatment Foster Care, The Good Samaritan Network, and the Safe Families for Children.
Baptist Family and Children’s Services strives to be the primary faith-based wraparound resource for churches and community groups who serve individuals and families in need of new starts in the Maryland/Delaware region.
BFCS holds the following values as key to our work:
- Christian Following the example of Jesus Christ, we will devote ourselves to serving people in distress, treating them as we would want to be treated, and providing them with help, hope, and healing.
- Family-Centered The focus of our help, primarily, is on the family unit, believing that the best opportunity for healing, growth, and development occurs in the context of the family. This value is still lived out even when the family is not able or willing to participate.
- Community-Supported BFCS staff draws on the formal and informal community resources and mobilizes these resources to help meet clients’ needs, recognizing that families are strengthened as they are embraced by their communities.
- Strengths-Based We get to know clients in positive ways (i.e., strengths, values, beliefs, goals, dreams, etc.) and connect these strengths to goals that the family develops in the planning process.
- Solution-Focused The emphasis in the helping relationship is on defining desired outcomes and focusing on their achievement. A small change is all that is needed as an impetus for resolution because a change in one part of the system will affect the other parts.
Accreditations
In 2007, Baptist Family & Children’s Services received two important endorsements of its work. In January, the agency was granted accreditation by the Council on Accreditation. COA was founded in 1977 by the Child Welfare League of America and Family Service America (now the Alliance for Children and Families). It offers the most rigorous accreditation available to agencies with foster care programs. This accreditation was renewed in October 2010.
In November 2008, the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations announced that Baptist Family met its “Standards of Excellence.” While COA accreditation closely focuses on service delivery, the Standards of Excellence emphasize good governance and administrative functions. This accreditation was renewed in March 2011.
Directions
Baptist Family's main office is at 7161-A Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046. The location is marked with a red pin on the map below. For directions from anywhere in the world, click the pin and then "directions."
SUCCESSES!
Note: These stories are taken from our monthly "PrayerGram." If you would like to receive the Prayergram by email, please click here and leave us your address. All names have been changed to protect the identities of our kids and families.
Melissa approved two new families for our Safe Families for Children program. One family is from Faith Baptist Church in Glen Burnie and the other is from North Harford Baptist Church. We also welcomed two new CHOSEN families earlier this month --one from Howard County and the other from Baltimore County. We are happy that they are willing to open their homes to children in need.
There is great news to pass along about Ching Lan, for whom you have been praying over the past several months. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in January and started a full time job with benefits this week. Ching Lan is now looking at a more stable future.
Darron took his GED test this week. After he receives the GED, he has a job lined up and ready to go.
Kudos to foster parent Tamara Harris for her willingness to stay up all night during a recent hospitalization with her CHOSEN child.
Prayer Requests
...for a foster child who is having difficulty with the transition back to his biological family and is acting out.
...for a foster teen who has not had contact with his biological family for years and is hesitant to respond after they reached out to him through social media.
...for a woman who lost her husband on Monday; she is feeling overwhelmed by the logistics of his burial as well as the grief of losing him.
...for a foster child who is struggling to stay on task at school.
...for a young man who is seeking a diagnosis for chronic abdominal pain.
...for a foster child who has been experiencing suicidal ideations.
...for a man who will undergo cataract surgery next week.
...for a young mother who is recovering from a severe infection in the brain and going through physical therapy.