I want to express my support for retaining the Minimum Standards for Licensed Child Caring Institutions for three reasons.

1. The institutions under these standards do not receive government funding.  They are truly “charitable organizations” maintained by a free association of clients and organization.  Because the state does not financially support or reimburse these institutions the state has only a minimum vested interest in them.

2. Since Minimum Standard Institutions are not providing services on behalf of the state the only regulations that should concern the state are those regarding the health and safety of the residents. Decades of successful operations of these facilities are evidence that Minimum Standards do more than an adequate job of this. 

3. The residents in these private facilities are not wards of the state but have been voluntarily placed by their parents or guardians.  Things like program parameters, treatment goals, and case management are matters of concern between the parents and the institution, not the state. 

Robert J. Day

Executive Director

Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes

I am writing in support of maintaining Minimum Standards for those institutions which have successfully operated under them for decades.

While a long, successful history alone may not be enough to warrant continuation of  Minimum Standards for those organizations which have operated under them, it certainly begs the question of why it should be changed.

For those charitable organizations which receive no government funding or support, and have an admirable record of compliance there is no need to add on extra oversight and paperwork and mindless record-keeping for the sake of bureaucratic fiat.

Children in the care of these organizations should have no different status, in the eyes of the Commonwealth of Virginia, than any other child residing in Virginia.  They were not placed by any state agency but by the trusting hands, and by the faithful judgement, of their parents or legal guardians.    

These organizations operate in the light of day, completely open to the view of their parents, the Department of Social Services and, for that matter, the citizens of the Commonwealth.  Operations, personnel, financial management and policies and procedures are under the watchful eye of a Board of Trustees with a long history of ensuring the highest quality of care for children who come into the programs.  In my opinion, as a 15 year member and past President of the Board of one of these organizations, the quality of care provided is unmatched by any childcare organization in Virginia.  From what I understand from those in a position to know the fact, the care provided is also far superior to that provided by many in the foster care system in our fine commonwealth. 

The thoughts are very properly laid out. A job effectively done i must say. Along with the layout of the internet site contemplates nicely with content. I must say, as a lot as I enjoyed reading what you had to say, I couldn’t help but lose interest after a while.  It’s as if you had a wonderful grasp on the subject matter, but you forgot to include your readers.  Perhaps you should think about this from far more than one angle.  Or maybe you shouldn’t generalize so considerably.  It’s better if you think about what others may have to say instead of just going for a gut reaction to the subject.  Think about adjusting your own believed process and giving others who may read this the benefit of the doubt.

               The decision to eradicate the Minimum standards for Child Residential Care Institutions would impede the autonomy afforded our facility in the development of plans of care for individual residents based on their specific needs.  Due to the fact that we do not receive government funding and are not licensed under the Child Residential Care Facility standards we have autonomy that other facilities that are licensed under CRF standards do not have. This provides us the ability to specialize our services and meet the need of resident’s referred out of state regulated facilities, thus becoming a resource for other facilities and children. Should CRI Minimum standards be eliminated this would break a bond for us as a resource for other facilities who are unable to meet the needs of children and families related to limitations placed on their program by mandated CRF standards.

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Patrick Henry Boy’s & Girl’s Homes was founded in 1951 which established a namesake with a living memorial to Patrick Henry, Statesman who loved children. The ministry goals were driven by the great virtues possessed by Patrick Henry to include: Christianity, patriotism, work, citizenship, academics, and discipline. While all of these are important Christianity is the one that stands out as the common link in all that Patrick Henry as an organization has accomplished over the past 50 years.  This Christian foundation not only defines who we are as an organization it provides a foundation for the services we offer and the evolvement of new services that are established as a direct need. Terminating the Minimum standards that regulate Child Residential Institutions would limit our ability to continue to build based on Christian Principles and values, thus minimizing the initial purpose in the founding of Patrick Henry Boy’s & Girl’s Homes. Again I request that you do not eliminate the Minimum Standards that currently govern Child Residential Institutions thus continuing to allow continued growth to benefit the current and future resident’s of Patrick Henry Boy’s & Girl’s Homes.

I.                The decision to eradicate the Minimum standards for Child Residential Care Institutions would impede the autonomy afforded our facility in the development of plans of care for individual residents based on their specific needs.  Due to the fact that we do not receive government funding and are not licensed under the Child Residential Care Facility standards we have autonomy that other facilities that are licensed under CRF standards do not have. This provides us the ability to specialize our services and meet the need of resident’s referred out of state regulated facilities, thus becoming a resource for other facilities and children. Should CRI Minimum standards be eliminated this would break a bond for us as a resource for other facilities who are unable to meet the needs of children and families related to limitations placed on their program by mandated CRF standards.

As the Licensing Compliance Coordinator/Health Care Coordinator for Patrick Henry Boy's & Girl's Homes I do not feel that it would be beneficial to abolish the Minimum Standards for which Child Residential Facilities are governed. In reality to abolish these standards would be unfavorable in the fact that it would in  no way improve the quality of services provide by our facility but would increase cost to implement and maintain the standards as set forth for Child Residential Facilities. The change of standards would increase cost per resident and require an increased budget (which would be a strain in today's economy). The fact that we remain after 50 years of service a private, self funded organization easily enables one to see that a change in standards requiring additional funds for the organization would be more harmful than advantageous in regards to the services we provide. In our tenure no child has been denied admission to our program due to the parent or guardian's inability to pay and it is our goal to maintain this standard.

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“Hope for Tomorrow” is the slogan adopted by Patrick Henry in 1984. This slogan was coined with a twofold meaning: the first being that our “Hope for Tomorrow” is found in Jesus Christ and second that we provide training and opportunity for resident’s to develop their talents and prepare them for a productive and meaningful life. This mission has been in place since Patrick Henry’s early years and has been accomplished with great success with the governing of our licensure by the Minimum Standards for Child Residential Institutions. This being said I do not see how abolishing these standards and mandating operations under the Child Residential Facility licensure standards would benefit the services we provide to children and families in need. In effect it could negatively impact not only the services we provide, how we deliver these services, but also the outcome of these services. After reviewing the CRF standards there is no standard identified regarding the basic care, safety and welfare of the resident’s that Patrick Henry Boy’s & Girl’s Homes is not currently practicing with Minimum Standards for Child Residential Institutions  currently governing our licensing; therefore why implement a change to a program that has proven successful in its mission for over 50 years.

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Ms. Sharon Lindsay,

I am writing to show my overwhelming support for Minimum Standards as applied to private non-profit residential child care institutions that receive no governmental funding.  I am the current Chairman of the Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Home Board of Trustees.  Our institution has been providing a caring environment for children who do not have a nurturing family or are experiencing difficulties in life for over 50 years.  Our residents are freely placed in our facilities by their parents or legal guardians rather than being placed by state agencies.  At Patrick Henry we seek to provide the highest quality care for our residents and in most cases we exceed the minimum standards set for child care.  One of the core building blocks of our institution is we were founded on the principal of providing a christian environment for the children in our care for we know without a change in spirit they may not be able to overcome the situations they find themselves in and may have no hope for tomorrow.  The only way we can continue that mission is to stay under Minimum Standards.

Patrick Henry Boys & Girls Home made a decision when it was founded not to accept governmental funding. Because of that we sought and a bill was passed in the legislature in 1987 that exempted private non-profit children’s residential institutions that receive no governmental funding, such as Patrick Henry, from state licensure except from the minimum standards such as fire and building codes.

I want to express my appreciation for the job you do and the relationship we have shared over the years.  I would also encourage you to continue to support Minimum Standards for those non-profit residential child care facilities that do not accept governmental financial support.

J. Michael Davidson

2273 Sugar Hill Road

Brookneal, VA 24528

JMDavidson@co.campbell.va.us