Father’s Day this year was a special day at Hephzibah Home, but not in the traditional sense. The male staff at Hephzibah Home were in for a treat! The children at the home came together to make it an extra-special day for them. The kids honored these male staff members, who often step in as father figures, by making cards, drawing pictures, and creating signs thanking them for showing up in their lives. The male staff were each presented their special gifts, along with a personal share by the children of how much they mean to them. They concluded the celebration in the best way possible…with doughnuts from a local bakery!
When children come to Hephzibah Home, often they have been removed from their homes due to severe neglect or abuse, sometimes at the hand of the very mother or father that was supposed to love and protect them. They come to us confused, shaken, distrustful of adults – rightly so. Our staff is always waiting for them with open arms, hugs, kind words, and comfort. They listen, nurture, and guide them back from the dark space they have been in, both physically and emotionally.
The male staff members become role models and show the children what a father can be. Sometimes this is a first for these kids. We strive to create new pathways in which these kids learn to trust others. Sometimes it takes a while to get that trust back, and our caregivers know that. To convince a child that they will not be abandoned or harmed again is not a task these men take lightly. When a child comes to Hephzibah Home, we make sure that the child is aligned with someone they can safely trust, and let that relationship grow until it feels like a real family.
Peter Murphy, once a Hephzibah Kid, now a staff member of over 25 years at the group home said, “To be able to patch up a mental bruise that these kids have had, I think is the true calling of my existence…you have to listen to them, you have to understand them, you have to respect them.” These beliefs shine through in the way the men and women staff at Hephzibah Home care for the children who have had that biological parental relationship shattered. Not just on Father’s Day, but every day, the male staff at Hephzibah fill the lives of these children with guidance and love, become a stable presence in their lives and show the kids that they are worth it.
