If the experience of the Charlie Warren family is any indication, churches
must take care when dealing with special-needs children.
If the experience of the Charlie Warren family is any indication, churches
must take care when dealing with special-needs children.
If it were not for his familys deep commitment to Christ and the church,
they would have stopped attending long ago because of frustrations with special-needs
ministries, said Warren, editor of the Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine.
Warren has a 20-year-old daughter, Jan, who is autistic, legally blind, hearing
impaired and non-verbal.
Attempts to keep her involved in church life often have proven frustrating
and even hurtful, he said.
At times, it was “like pulling eye teeth” to find someone else willing
to take care of his daughter, Warren said.
Also, at one church, the girl was assigned to a cleaned-out closet at the end
of a long hall that got little traffic.
Warren said two things eventually became obvious – the church was trying
to keep the special-needs girl out of sight, and she was a low priority.
Finally, the Warrens became so frustrated, they changed churches.
Harpeth Heights Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn – where the family lived
at the time – was just beginning a special-needs ministry and had about
10 trained workers. Church leaders welcomed the Warrens.
“Harpeth Heights made special needs a priority and Jan was never hidden
away somewhere,” he said, noting it provided care any time the family attended.
Warren said he knows how exceptional this is, since the three churches they
have joined since have provided care only on Sunday mornings.
“There have been many times when we have arrived at one of these churches
only to discover there was no one to work with Jan,” Warren said. “Weve
had to get back in the car and drive home.”
However, probably more damaging than the lack of resources is the attitudes
of some church members toward the developmentally disabled, Warren said. He
tells of reactions by teachers and the unwillingness of some persons to care
for his daughter even for a few minutes.
“Incidents like that are why many parents of special-needs children drop
out of church,” Warren said.
Today, the family attends a church that pays two deaf-education students to
work with Jan. The church also is making an effort to develop a special-needs
ministry.
“When it works well, we can know that Jan will be well cared for and we
can depend on someone being there for her,” Warren said. “We also
know that Jan is loved despite her uniqueness and occasional bad behavior.”