The Rio Bend Vision
The Resue Mission for Unloved Children
Rio Bend as an answer to problems that plague the current foster care system. Christine and Tom DeLay has developed the Rio Bend’ Vision based on their experiences as therapeutic foster parents and Fort Bend Child Advocates. Addressing the problems and shortfalls with foster care is the vision for Rio Bend.
Rio Bend currently has eight single-family homes. Each home is equipped for no more than six children, including the parents’ biological, adopted, and foster children. Rio Bend has a chapel, retreat center, play areas, a large swimming pool, an air conditioned gymnasium, fitness center, playgrounds, and a stocked fishing lake. The board of directors has expansion plans that include an equestrian center and a barn to house animals for pet therapy and livestock projects.
The Rio Bend Solution
The Current Crisis of Foster Care
Foster parents have a livable income not including the children’s reimbursement. With both a mother and a father in residence, one parent is fully employed while the other cares for the children and the home.
Foster children have been exploited for the tax free reimbursements that the state provides for their foster parents. The typical facility and caregiver base their quality of care for the children on state and federal funding. Therefore, an inadequate number of appropriate foster homes exist to care for abused and neglected children that enter the court system.
Rio Bend is committed to permanence. The children need to feel safe, secure, valued, and cared for.
Children often experience several placements during their time in the foster care system. The multiple placements can and do cause serious emotional and psychological damage that is often irreversible. Children can develop attachment disorders that cause them to be unable to love or bond with other people and fail to develop a sense of compassion for others. Studies show that a large percentage of inmates in prison for violent crimes were abused and neglected children. Many grew up in multiple foster homes or other basic care facilities.
Rio Bend is committed to continuity. It can be home for the children from the time they are removed from their biological parents until they can go home to their parents or are adopted. Rio Bend continues to be home for its young adults during their college breaks and holidays, or just when they want to visit.
When children reach the age of 18, they are “emancipated” from the system. No one is legally responsible for the new adult. In other words, no one legally has to care and the young adults no longer have anywhere to call home. If they have no family as a support system, the results are often disastrous for the individual and the community in which they live. The police and the court system still care about their behaviors.
Rio Bend does not accept funds from the federal government or the State of Texas. It is supported entirely through private dollars from individuals, grants, and estates. The community has been generous. The current property; buildings, streets, and equipment are paid for in full and a capital campaign is planned to complete the building program.
A caring community is the solution to the foster care problem. If parents can’t or don’t care for their children, then their children belong to the community. The quality of care that a child receives from the community generally determines the outcome of his or her adult life. If the people in a community take personal responsibility for foster children, they will actively take an interest in who cares for the children and the quality of care they receive. This is a fact that has been observed and appreciated at Rio Bend.
Rio Bend Board of Directors
Christine DeLay, Chairman of the Board
(281) 341-6257
http://www.riobend.org/
Rio Bend is properly licensed by the State of Texas and fulfills all governmental requirements and regulations. RB is also a 501 c 3 charity.