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Healing Abused and Neglected Children



For 131 years, Buckner has cared for many of the least fortunate boys and girls in our society. Many of these children have endured appalling suffering: physical and mental abuse, neglect, and even abandonment. Instead of experiencing the joys of childhood, they were forced to grow up quickly.


May is National Foster Care Month. At Buckner, almost every day, we see children heal through the ministry of foster care. Foster families can restore hope to children who have only known fear and hardship.This year, more than 1,500 children will rely on Buckner Foster Care in the United States and around the globe. Each foster child in our care receives personalized attention from a Buckner case manager and is carefully placed with a loving family that has been thoroughly trained to help and heal the child.

But not every child in Buckner Foster Care is the victim of abuse.

Mason Budke is a child with severe autism. Though his parents Mary and Henry love him dearly, they struggled to give him the specialized care he needed. By age 12, he still wasn’t speaking or toilet trained.

So the Budkes placed Mason into foster case where he would end up living with Ellinor Nixon, a Buckner foster mother who has cared for special needs children since the early 1990s. It didn’t take long for Mason to begin flourishing.

Today, he’s well adjusted – he’s speaking and learning to live more independently. He’s even on course to graduate from high school.

In Texas, Buckner Foster Care is supported in part by the Department of Family and Protective Services, but these funds do not cover all the expenses. The extensive case management, education and support that Buckner provides its foster families is what separates our services from others. In other countries internationally where Buckner provides foster care, it relies completely on philanthropic support.

Buckner relies on the generous support of donors to make stories like Mason’s a reality -- in the United States and around the globe. To help support foster care through Buckner, please click here.

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