BCFS Health and Human Services (formerly Baptist Child and Family Services) is a U.S.

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...

based in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas, specializing in emergency shelter, foster care, and adoption. It was founded as an orphanage for

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

children in 1944.

Projects

San Antonio youth centers

In 2000, BCFS was a partner with

Texas Youth Commission The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) was a Texas state agency which operated juvenile corrections facilities in the state. The commission was headquartered in the Brown-Heatly Building in Austin. As of 2007, it was the second largest juvenile correct ...

and

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Bra ...

Juvenile Probation in establishing the first transition center in Texas for youth aging out of foster care with a grant from

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploym ...

. Former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher Jimmy Morris was hired as a motivational speaker in 2015, saying "It's my job to tell the kids what they're capable of... It's not about me. It's about what God can do through me." BCFS has operated Guadalupe Street Coffee and Westside Community Center in San Antonio as a service to area youth and their families in partnership with city agencies, non-profits, and faith-based organizations. A San Antonio BCFS office focuses on supporting victims of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

that works in coalition with

San Antonio Police Department The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of San Antonio, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. Its headquarters are at South Santa Rosa district. SAPD is one of the largest munic ...

, ChildSafe, and other organizations. A 2023 panel discussion run by BCFS highlighted the particular vulnerabilities for youth in the

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...

system.

Emergency shelters

BCFS coordinated shelter for the 462 children displaced from

YFZ Ranch The YFZ Ranch, or Yearning for Zion Ranch, was a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) community of as many as 700 people, located near Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas, United States. In April 2014, the State o ...

in 2008. Affiliate Baptist Children’s Home Youth Ranch was adapted to support keeping large amounts of siblings together. In response to

Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 200 ...

mandatory evacuation orders in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, BCFS operated shelters that implemented software from Texas Health Services Authority's partner

Audacious Inquiry Audacious Inquiry (Ai) is an American company founded in 2004 and with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. The company provides health information technology services and cloud-based software. History Audacious Inquiry was founded in 2004 b ...

to coordinate medical information and histories for displaced patients.

Minor detention centers

BCFS first started administrating shelters for unaccompanied migrant children under

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

's administration. By 2014, BCFS ran two large temporary detention centers and six permanent shelters. In 2015, BCFS received more funding than any other

Office of Refugee Resettlement The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is a program of the Administration for Children and Families, an office within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, created with the passing of the United States Refugee Act of 1980 ( ...

contractor and nearly a quarter of total funding designated for the unaccompanied minors program. In 2017, a 10 year-old girl with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

was arrested after traveling in an ambulance unaccompanied for a gall bladder operation. Representative

Joaquin Castro Joaquin Castro (born September 16, 1974) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who has represented Texas's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2013. The district includes just over half of hi ...

attempted to visit her at BCFS shelter and was refused access while her deportation status was being determined. District judge Fred Biery suggested that her mother should have been detained as well. The child was released without deportation following objections from the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

. BCFS operated

Tornillo tent city The Tornillo tent city was a temporary immigrant detention facility for children located in Tornillo, Texas and operated by BCFS on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. The Department termed it an ...

, the largest detention camp for minors at the time, from June 2018–January 2019. In December 2018 it is estimated that the camp held more than 2,800 minors, mostly from

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, and employed 2,000 people. CEO Kevin Dinnin claimed that the organization was pressured to expand their operations by the federal government. Dinnin notified the

Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

on December 17 that the organization would not accept additional detainees. It was announced the following day that controversial fingerprinting requirements would be rolled back to expedite sponsorships. Conditions of the camp were not subject to scrutiny by state agencies and standard FBI fingerprint background checks for employees were waived, raising alarm about the safety of detained minors. In 2019, employees at

Wayfair Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 global su ...

staged a walk out in protest of a contract with BCFS for a minor detention facility in

Carrizo Springs, Texas Carrizo Springs is the largest city in and the county seat of Dimmit County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,368 at the 2010 census. (2018 estimate 5,470). The name of the town is derived from the local springs, which were named by th ...

, a former Stratton Oilfield Systems "man camp" with estimated capacity for 1,000 detainees. In 2021, BCFS threatened to close the Carrizo Springs shelter when Health and Human Services attempted to apply requirements that would increase employees' pay above

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

Awards

* 2022- Texas Emergency Management Partnership Recognition * 2022- Texas Emergency Management Leadership Award for BCFS President and CEO, Kevin Dinnin

References

External links

*
BCFS Health and Human Services
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GuideStar Candid is an information service specializing in reporting on U.S. nonprofit companies. In 2016, its database provided information on 2.5 million organizations.Wyland, Michael. "GuideStar Introduces Program Metrics Section for Nonprofit Profile ...

profile)''
Interactive: Federal Children's Shelters in Texas
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The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternativ ...

)'' {{authority control Adoption, fostering, orphan care and displacement Immigration detention centers and prisons in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Texas Baptist organizations established in the 20th century