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Help Families Support Their Adopted Daughters
We provide individualized respite and year round specialized boarding school for families whose adopted daughter is struggling with emotional and behavioral issues.
In times of great uncertainty comes great compassion and Changing Hearts Boarding School and Ministry, in an effort to bring additional stability to our families and provide relief, has begun a program that allows for the community to assist us in supporting our families in these uncertain times.
Donations to the CHBSM COVID-19 fund will go directly to the tuition of our families with the greatest need to keep their daughter in a strong specialized learning environment during this chaotic time. Please consider donating to subsidize families whose daughters are already enrolled at CHBSM in an effort to help the girls and families finish their program and not have to discharge prematurely.
What things could look like for the child and the family to be reunified prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic
“When a child is appropriately placed in a therapeutic setting, part of the treatment process is the determination of when to transfer to a lower level of care or reunification with family. In the case of reunification, this decision is made based on the childs progress as well as the family's progress in terms of their healing and their development of new skills. If this move is premature, it can cause regression in the client's progress. They can believe "I got back home and I didn't have to work hard or change my behaviors". This can easily reinforce the negative behaviors and cause regression or possibly even increase the negative behaviors. In addition, home can be a trigger for the child and cause regression and/or an increase in negative behaviors.
It is also important to note that if the family is not ready or not recovered from their own PTSD, then the family can be further harmed by the choices made by the client after they return home. This also can further damage the relationship between family and the client. The decision to reunify is a very important part of the therapeutic process due to the potential for regression if reunified prematurely.”
—Debi White, LMFT
A message from our founder:
“My name is Debbie West. I am the Administrator for Changing Hearts Boarding School and Ministry, located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I am the Mother of 10 children, four birth and six adopted, and now Mammie to 14 grandchildren.
CHBSM was born in my heart the day I realized that my adopted daughter had emotional issues I did not understand. I felt hopeless as I tried to parent and care for my daughter. At that time, 1996, parents with children with developmental and attachment disorders had few options and even less resources. This is where our journey began. A quest for understanding and a mission to help others parents and children experiencing what my daughter and I were. I learned to understand my daughter’s challenges and effective methods on how to best parent her. I wanted to share with other adoptive parents in similar situations.
In opening and continuing to run CHBSM we help parents understand the heart of their adopted daughter and the challenges she faces. My goal was to help families be families while facing these challenges together. The girls we work with have the challenges of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), general PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit) and an array of other challenges from their experiences before adoption and beyond.
We opened the ministry in the fall of 2006 and we have served more than 80 girls ranging in ages from 8 to 20 in the last 14 years.” - Debbie West
Website: CHBSM.org
In times of great uncertainty comes great compassion and Changing Hearts Boarding School and Ministry, in an effort to bring additional stability to our families and provide relief, has begun a program that allows for the community to assist us in supporting our families in these uncertain times.
Donations to the CHBSM COVID-19 fund will go directly to the tuition of our families with the greatest need to keep their daughter in a strong specialized learning environment during this chaotic time. Please consider donating to subsidize families whose daughters are already enrolled at CHBSM in an effort to help the girls and families finish their program and not have to discharge prematurely.
What things could look like for the child and the family to be reunified prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic
“When a child is appropriately placed in a therapeutic setting, part of the treatment process is the determination of when to transfer to a lower level of care or reunification with family. In the case of reunification, this decision is made based on the childs progress as well as the family's progress in terms of their healing and their development of new skills. If this move is premature, it can cause regression in the client's progress. They can believe "I got back home and I didn't have to work hard or change my behaviors". This can easily reinforce the negative behaviors and cause regression or possibly even increase the negative behaviors. In addition, home can be a trigger for the child and cause regression and/or an increase in negative behaviors.
It is also important to note that if the family is not ready or not recovered from their own PTSD, then the family can be further harmed by the choices made by the client after they return home. This also can further damage the relationship between family and the client. The decision to reunify is a very important part of the therapeutic process due to the potential for regression if reunified prematurely.”
—Debi White, LMFT
A message from our founder:
“My name is Debbie West. I am the Administrator for Changing Hearts Boarding School and Ministry, located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I am the Mother of 10 children, four birth and six adopted, and now Mammie to 14 grandchildren.
CHBSM was born in my heart the day I realized that my adopted daughter had emotional issues I did not understand. I felt hopeless as I tried to parent and care for my daughter. At that time, 1996, parents with children with developmental and attachment disorders had few options and even less resources. This is where our journey began. A quest for understanding and a mission to help others parents and children experiencing what my daughter and I were. I learned to understand my daughter’s challenges and effective methods on how to best parent her. I wanted to share with other adoptive parents in similar situations.
In opening and continuing to run CHBSM we help parents understand the heart of their adopted daughter and the challenges she faces. My goal was to help families be families while facing these challenges together. The girls we work with have the challenges of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), general PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit) and an array of other challenges from their experiences before adoption and beyond.
We opened the ministry in the fall of 2006 and we have served more than 80 girls ranging in ages from 8 to 20 in the last 14 years.” - Debbie West
Website: CHBSM.org
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