Baylor School of Social Work honors Kentuckian

WACO—Baylor University School of Social Work recognized Darla Bailey of Louisville, Ky., as the Baylor School of Social Work Honorary Alumna of the Year.

Bailey is founder of an innovative day health center for adults with disabilities—a previously underserved population in the Louisville area.

Darla Bailey

"Darla believes we are called to seek justice, and she has done it throughout her career for those who could not seek justice for themselves," said Diana Garland, dean of Baylor School of Social Work. "She is a prophetic voice in the sense of calling us to care for 'the least of these.' That's exactly what we want our alumni to be doing."

Bailey completed her undergraduate education in psychology at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas in 1987. In 1993, she went on to earn her Master of Social Work degree at the Carver School of Church Social Work, then in the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville.

During her time at Carver, Bailey's field practicum was held in a faith-based organization that hosted an adult day health program for seniors, a model Bailey would later say informed the concept for an agency serving a younger population of adults, ages 21-60, with disabilities.

Early in her career as a social worker, she discovered that there was no place for this population to be cared for if they did not have family who could give them assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Instead, they were sent to live in institutions or nursing homes.

So, in 1998—one year after Southern Baptist Seminary closed the doors of Carver School of Church Social Work—Bailey opened the doors of Kaleidoscope, a place of learning, activity, therapy and professional medical care during the day so that clients could live at home with their families and not in an institution.

With only a mailing list of 15 individuals in the area who might fit the program's criteria, it was a modest beginning. Two months after opening, however, the building was already at capacity with 17 participants, confirming Bailey's concern that the need for this type of agency was great. Her team began almost immediate renovation of the building, doubling its capacity to serve the local population.

Today, after its third expansion, Kaleidoscope Inc. serves approximately 150 families in the Louisville area.

Consistently seeking to improve the quality of life for adults with disabilities and their caregivers, Bailey has become known in the Kentucky State Legislature as a tireless advocate for the population group.

"Because Darla is unrelenting when she's on a mission, we've had a lot of success," said Kentucky State Sen. Julie Denton. "She has bonded with a lot of legislators, myself included. We trust her. We know that she knows what she's talking about and that she's there for one reason only, and it's the best interest of the people she serves."

With no enduring alma mater, Bailey recognized Baylor School of Social Work as a place where the integration of theological and social work education—the core of her Carver School legacy—lives on.

In 2006, Bailey, with the help of friends and other former Carver students, established an endowed scholarship at Baylor in honor of her former professor and founding dean of the Carver School of Church Social Work, C. Anne Davis. The Cora Anne Davis Memorial Scholarship assists Baylor graduate students who are pursuing a major in social work and demonstrate a commitment to the integration of Christian faith and social work.

"Darla's establishment of the scholarship in honor of Anne Davis said to the students in this place, 'You are my relatives,'" Garland said. "That claiming of the connection between our schools was just an incredible gift to us here at Baylor. We have been so glad to have her in our family." 

Bailey has served on the Baylor School of Social Work Board of Advocates the past three years.