Eastern Shore Group Homes
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The Board of Child Care has started construction on a new group home facility, located in Caroline County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, which is slated to open in 2011.
The new facility will include two homes, each with eight single bedrooms for boys, ages 14 to 18, referred to BCC by social service departments on the upper and lower Eastern Shore. One home will be for short-term placement, and the other for long-term placement. An activities center will house a meeting room, a movie, game and computer room, and classrooms for onsite schooling.
The new residential facility is supported by a $300,000 grant from the Wicomico Partnership for Families and Children, the local Management Board for Wicomico County, and the Governor’s Office of Children and Families. Local churches within the Peninsula-Delaware Conference of The United Methodist Church have also supported the project, as have the Caroline County Department of Social Services, and the state Department of Health and Human Services.
More than 50 people attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the new group homes on June 22, 2010, including BCC staff, Board members, local officials, clergy and other friends.
“We are here to celebrate the Board of Child Care coming to the Eastern Shore to serve young men who need opportunities to become productive members of society,” BCC President and CEO Thomas Curcio told the audience at the event. “We are thankful for our relationships that we’ve developed on the Eastern Shore so far. A partnership is so important for the success of this program.”
In her remarks to the audience, Dina Daly, the Director of the Caroline County Department of Social Services, called the groundbreaking ceremony a “wonderful occasion.” “I thank the Board of Child Care for remaining involved,” she said. “You did it because you are committed to providing wonderful, adequate, excellent service for children.”
