January 8, 2001
Buckner & Baylor forge partnership
___By Scott Collins
___Buckner News Services
___WACO--Tracy Burkhart knew from the time she was a little girl that she wanted to help other children--children like herself.
___After moving between foster homes as a small child, she eventually ended up at Buckner Children's Home in Lubbock. There, Burkhart learned the basics of growing up, such as knowing right from wrong.
___But more important to Burkhart, social workers at Buckner showed her the love and nurture she never received from her family. And Buckner became a safe place for a young girl who felt threatened by an abusive stepfather.
___Now a master of social work student at Baylor University's School of Social Work, Burkhart hopes to combine her personal experience with her college education to make a difference for other children.
___When she sits down with at-risk children some day in the future, Burkhart said she will tell them, "They can make it. This is their second chance."
___And while not all the students at the Baylor School of Social Work have Burkhart's direct connection with Buckner, many of them will benefit from a new partnership being forged between the two Baptist institutions. The groundbreaking partnership unites two of Texas Baptists' oldest institutions in a joint effort to provide trained social workers for churches and other faith-based organizations.
___That connection is a natural, according to officials from both Buckner and Baylor.
___"The confluence of concern of Buckner and Baylor's School of Social Work is clear," said Diana Garland, director of graduate social work education at Baylor.
___The goal is "a partnership in the work of building a base of knowledge, language and tools for social work," Garland said. "Baylor brings to the partnership one of the only social work faculties in the nation dedicated to research and skill development for social work practice in the church and its ministries and missions."
___Ken Hall, president of Buckner, said the partnership provides a hands-on laboratory for Baylor students who serve as interns at various Buckner ministries throughout the state.
___"We minister to real people with real hurts on a daily basis," Hall said. "The Baylor students who serve internships at Buckner will have the unique opportunity to put into practice the principles they learn at Baylor, and to do so with one of the oldest and largest Christian social ministry organizations in the nation."
___The partnership also will include joint sponsorship of conferences, field research and job placement.
___Baylor President Robert Sloan said the partnership helps the School of Social Work faculty accomplish the double task of providing "the best social work education possible" while "seeking ways to develop the knowledge, skills and methods for working through faith-based organizations with congregations and their families and communities.
___For Baylor, the launching of its School of Social Work in the fall of 1999 completed a request made by Texas Baptists in 1958, Sloan said. That's when the BGCT completed an extensive study of Texas Baptist resources for missions and ministries and concluded that Baptists needed a graduate social work program. The BGCT asked Baylor to develop the program.
___However, three Southern Baptist seminaries developed graduate social work programs, with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., eventually opening the Carver School of Church Social Work. Consequently, Sloan said, Baylor decided not to pursue a social work program.
___"Times have changed," he added. "With changes in the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Seminary's School of Social Work was closed and the other two seminary programs have been so altered that they are no longer recognized as social work education. The time came for Baylor to respond to the request first made by Texas Baptists in 1958."
___Now, by working with Buckner, Baylor officials believe they have the opportunity to develop one of the most relevant Christian social work educational programs in the country.
___"Social work has always been the 'family profession,'" Garland said. "Both children and adults need to be firmly rooted in strong families--and social workers know how to help communities and congregations to grow strong families."
___Officials with Buckner and Baylor are seeking to raise additional funding to provide scholarships, internships and graduate study stipends for the partnership. For details, call the Buckner Foundation at (888) 4BUCKNER, ext. 8050, or the Baylor development department at (800) BAYLOR-U, option 4.
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