Buckner International: What We Do

Residential children’s programs

Buckner was founded in 1879 as an orphanage a place of refuge for children with nowhere to go. Providing a safe living environment for orphans and at-risk children is the heart of our history and our ministry.

In Texas, Buckner operates residential programs for children in Dallas, Mission, Beaumont, and Lubbock.

Over the past 11 years, Buckner has built programs in several countries to support the work of national orphanages, some of the most needy and neglected places in the world. Part of Buckner International’s mandate to care for orphans and at-risk children is to continuously seek ways to improve their lives.

Sometimes it’s independently, sometimes it’s through collaborations. Either way, we attempt to find new systems to benefit children and connect resources with the needs.

The Buckner philosophy is to work with other countries’ governments for the good of its orphan children. We start by asking the right questions. When Buckner goes into a country, we ask, ‘What do you need from us? What do we have to offer?’

Often they want us to help them, consult with them, sometimes to do it for them. Sometimes we model it, sometimes we write a simple consultation. Sometimes we determine their needs for them and then seek ways to help them meet their needs. There’s a lot of mentoring, handholding.”

More than 400 children in Texas receive direct care by Buckner in residential child care programs such as residential group care, residential treatment and assessment center each year.

The Buckner residential group care model provides supervision, structure, and nurturing of boys and girls. This model is designed to provide a safe, home-like environment for children who, due to a variety of factors, are unable to remain in their family home. Through educational and social support, teaching of independent living skills and counseling services, it is our hope that children will leave with the skills to be successful in both their personal and professional endeavors.

So how do we provide care? Children are supervised by trained, live-in child care specialists in a group home setting. The children are active in the community, attending local public schools, churches in the community and participating in many local activities.

But our chief goal in providing residential services is to give children opportunities to grow by challenging them to do something for others.

Internationally, Buckner staff use their vast experience and expertise to have a direct impact on the lives of boys and girls living in residential settings such as orphanages. We provide direct-care mission opportunities for volunteers who spend valuable time with residential children. Teams also provide sweat-equity to improve the physical living conditions of these children.

Learn more about our three Buckner children’s home campuses in Texas at the links below.

— Peru, where Buckner formed a non-government organization (NGO), allowing us to do ministry work and hire nationals to help with our ministry. Buckner sends mission groups and recently signed a five-year agreement with the Peruvian government to develop a foster care system that includes pilot programs, helping the Peruvian legislature write the laws for foster care and a strategy to take foster care countrywide.

— Guatemala, where Buckner and collaborators instituted a Buckner-run babies’ home in Guatemala City. Buckner identified children in a government babies’ home who it thought would thrive in a Buckner-run facility. Mission groups also provide constant interaction with children through sports, Bible camps and a variety of other activities.

— Romania, where Buckner received approval from the government to provide care for gypsy children and their impoverished families through an early childhood education center. Buckner, in collaboration with Red Dot Building Systems of Athens, Texas, has begun reconstruction on an abandoned government building in Tarneveni, Romania in support of the project.

— Latvia, where Buckner developed a foster care program for children living in government orphanages fully supported by Buckner and a national Latvian partner ministry, as well as developing an evangelistic follow-up program to minister to children in orphanages.

— Russia, where Buckner expanded its work into the Leningrad region outside of St. Petersburg in partnership with Russian evangelical churches, immediately connecting local churches with local orphanages.

— Kenya, where Buckner officially began its Child Development Center initiative. With four Kenyan sites identified and two of those nearing construction completion, the centers will soon bring education to dozens of poor and orphaned children. Additionally, the Buckner foster care program in Kenya has grown to care for 125 children. Buckner International is also a vital partner in the operations and support of the Baptist Children’s Center of Nairobi, a ministry of the Kenya Baptist Convention.

— Ethiopia, where Buckner has been approved by the government as an official non-governmental organization. Buckner may now submit projects for approval, such as its planned school in Bantu and an infant-toddler home in Addis Ababa.