Christopher Reeve Foundation awards grant for medically fragile foster children
June 30, 2006

Lutheran Social Services was recently awarded a $5,000 grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation to benefit primary medical needs foster children in Texas.

More than 1,000 Texas foster children are considered medically fragile and LSS serves about five percent of the most severe cases. Children served have diagnoses of spinal cord injury, stroke, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury including shaken baby syndrome and other paralysis-related conditions.

The $5,000 grant will serve these medically fragile infants and children by providing funds for medical equipment and other needs for day-to-day living. Additionally, the funds will give primary medical needs children the opportunity to attend special camps throughout Texas.

“There is a major gap in services available through the state and Medicaid and we are working each day to fill this gap so that no child is refused care,” said Cecilia Blanford, grant director of Lutheran Social Services. “Grants like this one from the Christopher Reeve Foundation allow us to provide special needs children with the medical equipment and everyday supplies they require to have a better quality of life.”

The number of abused and neglected children throughout Texas has grown tremendously in recent years. All have special needs, especially those with primary medical needs, and LSS is working to provide nurturing homes and families to this increasing number of children.

The Christopher Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.

Lutheran Social Services serves more than 35 foster children with severe medical and rehabilitative needs in Central Texas, but more foster parents are needed to care for children with special needs. Unless foster homes are found for these children, they can end up in institutions or nursing homes. For information on therapeutic foster parenting, call LSS at (800) 938-5777 or visit www.LSSS.org.

With an award-winning foster care program that cares for more than 1,400 children daily, and four residential treatment centers serving more than 240 children everyday, LSS is the largest provider of residential services to abused and neglected children in Texas.

Lutheran Social Services is the social service arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. LSS annually serves more than 30,000 children, elderly and poor in Texas and Louisiana regardless of religious beliefs, ethnicity, gender or age. Its affiliated ministries include therapeutic foster care, adoption, children’s residential treatment, senior health care and retirement centers, emergency assistance, adult day care and disaster response.

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