From Struggles
to Success

Back in the 1890s, as citizens continued to struggle in the aftermath of the American Civil War, an abundance of orphans and needy children populated the Southern landscape. In response, children’s homes cropped up to care for the youth – including the Palmer Home for Children, which opened its doors in 1895, led by a Presbyterian church and named after a pastor in honor of his tireless efforts to help.

Though its Mississippi campus is now located in Hernando, the organization began in Columbus, still home to its administrative offices. In earlier decades, a dedicated staff tended up to 10 children in need, but the model has since grown far beyond its founders’ dreams.

“About 15 years ago, the board made a decision to buy land in Hernando and built three homes on its campus,” explains CEO Drake Bassett. “Though we have lived through a lot over many decades – World Wars I and II, the Great Depression – it has always been our mission to provide a safe home for abandoned, neglected, and abused children. We’ve certainly retained that mission, but we have expanded on the original model.”

Today, a four-pronged approach is designed to help children at every stage of life. The campus, now with six homes, first creates a sense of stability and normalcy for those who enter on the heels of traumatic experiences, while staff such as family counselors determine the appropriate path to help them heal. Once they are more stabilized, the team can introduce a foster family (who are also trained by staff) and move children to a foster care home, where they can permanently live with one family to create the optimal outcome for their futures.

A third aspect involves transitional care to help older members on the path toward responsible adulthood – a feature that Bassett believes sets Palmer Home apart, as an average of 60 to 70 percent of these cases nationwide show children reverting back to the damaging habits they learned from their troubled upbringings.

“Historically, when children reach a certain age, they have to leave, but we continue to work with them, and they stay part of our family,” Bassett says. “Our coaches and counselors help them obtain their first job, attend college or technical school, or find an apartment – and that’s where they really begin to break the cycle. We’re excited to see these kids find success.”

Finally, a fourth area focuses on family care. This facet is helpful when, for example, a pregnant woman enters prison and cannot immediately care for her child. The staff helps facilitate child-parent bonds and has counted numerous successful reunification stories in its history.

Therefore, Palmer Home works with children of all ages, from newborns to high school-age, though the majority of residents are in elementary school or junior high. A large number are recent success stories, from ages 17 to 24, who are transitioning to healthier lives. And those who received the organization’s care in past decades have never forgotten its contribution to their futures.

“People who grew up here in the 1940s or 1960s still tell me about the core values they learned here, of hard work and faith,” Bassett notes. “It’s interesting to talk to people, now in their 60s or 70s, who became nurses, teachers, businesspeople, plumbers, or pastors. Those different success stories reflect not perfection – because not every situation turns out perfect – but progress. To know that they’re loved and that they have a family helps them in life.” 

As a faith-based operation, a number of evangelical denominations support Palmer Home’s work, whose mission is rooted in the scriptural obligation to care for orphans. Its 60 hard-working staff members are united in their passion to contribute.