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 ...

based in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

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

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

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 correc ...

and

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; ) 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, making it the state's fourth-most populous county. Bexar County ...

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, unemp ...

. Former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

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 act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

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

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 tropical cyclone 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 2005. In terms of m ...

mandatory evacuation orders in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, BCFS operated shelters that implemented software from Texas Health Services Authority's partner Audacious Inquiry 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 and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

'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, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

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 Party (United States), Democratic politician who has represented Texas's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2013. The distr ...

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 an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

. 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 Health and Human Services, BCFS on behalf of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of He ...

, 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 is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, 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 US federal government created to protect the health of the US people 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, 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 gl ...

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 4,892 at the 2020 census, down from 5,368 at the 2010 census. The name of the town is derived from the local springs, which w ...

, a former

Stratton Oilfield Systems Stratton may refer to: People * Stratton (surname) Places Australia * Stratton, Western Australia Canada * Stratton, Ontario England * Stratton, Cornwall * Stratton, Dorset * Stratton, Gloucestershire * Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset * Str ...

"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. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

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. It is the product of the February 2019 merger of GuideStar with Foundation Center. ...

profile)''
Interactive: Federal Children's Shelters in Texas
''(

The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a nonprofit politics and public policy news website headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. Its stated aim is to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. ''The Texas T ...

)'' {{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