PACE — Jared and Tammy Owens are well aware of the time, effort and hard work that go into raising a special-needs child. Four years ago, Tammy gave birth to their first child, Silas, who has cerebral palsy.
With the support of church family at Living Truth Church in Pace, the couple wants families in similar situations to have some relief with the church’s respite care program.
“God just put this on us,” Jared Owens said. “These parents need a break; they need time to go on a date, they need time to just take a nap and they need a safe place to bring their kids.”
For the past two years, the couple — with volunteers’ support — has hosted a free respite care program. Sessions are 1 to 5 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at the church. The service is open to the public, not just church members.
Here are a few things to expect from the program.
1. The program offers faith-based lessons with activities.
“Each kid has their own buddy, either as an adult or a youth worker that day, and they just come and have fun,” Owens said.
In addition to having a Bible story and worship time, the program allows for games and outside time for attendees. The program is open for special-needs children and their siblings.
2. The respite care program offers relief for families.
“It provides parents four hours a month, where they can just be normal and go on that date in which they haven’t been on in a year,” Owens said. “A lot of these kids need constant attention and these parents are in desperate need for respite care. Some of these families don’t have relatives here…they are on their own.”
Owens said the program is not just used by families in Pace.
“We have families that drive from Brewton (Ala.); we have families that drive from Navarre, Gulf Breeze, Pensacola just to utilize the respite care,” Owens said.
3. Volunteers have training in dealing with special-needs children.
In addition to Jared and Tammy, the program has a couple of licensed nurses on hand, who are also church members. In addition to undergoing a background check, volunteers with the respite program undergo training in dealing with special needs children.
“In our church in general, we have a lot of people who work in the school system that are already working in Exceptional Student Education classrooms … they are able to train other people,” Jared Owens said.
The Joni and Friends International Disability Ministries, which assist churches in reaching out to the special-needs community, support the program.
4. Space is limited. Owens estimates the program has between 12 and 18 kids attending each month; that includes siblings of special-needs children. The Living Truth program can handle a limited number of kids each month. Should a family register for a month at full capacity, Owens said administrators would contact the family and let them know they are registered for the following month’s program. Once extension of the church’s children’s area is complete, Owens hopes to increase the number of attendees.
5. More respite programs are needed. Owens said Living Truth and Marcus Pointe Baptist Church in Pensacola, to his knowledge, are among few local churches that offer the program. The Living Truth program will work with Marcus Pointe to ensure families have two opportunities a month for respite care.
Owens encourages more churches to offer a respite care program. In fact, the church is hosting a workshop in January that shows how local churches can organize and train to set up their own program.
“I went to other churches in the past and spoke to people (about this) but I haven’t had much traction,” Owens said. “We would love to see multiple churches doing (this), because there is no way we can handle every special-needs family in Milton, Pace and Santa Rosa (County).”
While details for the workshop are still in the works, families should contact the church for more information about the respite care program or visit the church’s website at livingtruthchurch.com, which has an online registration form.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 5 facts about Living Truth Church's respite care for special-needs children