A Legacy of Change: All God’s Children

By Ami Williams

Some people leave legacies that affect their children. Others leave legacies that affect their business. This story is about a legacy that is affecting and changing a culture—one teenage mom at a time.

In 1986, Pam Smith, founder of All God’s Children in Nicholasville, began volunteering as a counselor for a crisis pregnancy center in Lexington, following a passion to help girls who were in hopeless, crisis pregnancy situations.

But like many who work with those in need, Smith had a desire to follow up—she wanted to know what happened to the girls after they left the center’s care. Did they get kicked out of their homes because they wanted to keep their babies? Did they have the support or supplies they needed? Did they have the information and ability to properly care for an infant? 

For Smith it was a concern that wouldn’t go away until she did something about it. In 1991, she, her husband Karl, and their two children opened their home as a Shepherding Home—a home that gives care and housing to girls in crisis pregnancies until the birth of their child.  

Over the next five years, the Smiths hosted six teenage girls during their pregnancies. They even became an approved Special Needs Foster Home because of the growing number of teen girls in care who were parenting or became pregnant in foster care.

“As soon as we became an approved special needs foster home, we began receiving calls very quickly concerning babies they wanted to place in our home,” says Smith. “They came to us as fetal alcohol babies, drug babies, shaken babies, burned babies, babies who had been abandoned, abused or neglected. 

“The quantity and task began to overwhelm us. In working with these babies, families and the teen moms who had lived with us, I began to sense that growing burden again that so enveloped me many years earlier about teen moms.”

It became clear to Smith that she was supposed to do more. “During my prayer time, God began to show me a home—not an institution, but a home,” Smith explains. “It was a Christ-centered home with lots of love, family meals and brightly decorated rooms. But with that love came structure, discipline, progress in school, proper child care and new independent living skills. What a wonderful place to offer someone in crisis.”

In April 1999, the Smiths opened the doors of All God’s Children (AGC) in a historic pre-Civil War home located just south of Nicholasville. That first day they welcomed three moms and three babies.

“Since that time, we have had more than 200 (as of 1/1/08) moms and babies through our doors. We’ve had some incredible, life-changing moments and we’ve had some moments of tears and heartbreak.” 

Through it all they’ve been able to impact a culture riddled with abuse and neglect—one that often results in teenage pregnancy. Most of the girls are from Kentucky, and many come from families who have experienced generational poverty.

“Their presence here and their pregnancies are symptoms of other things they’ve had to endure in life,” Smith says. “We’re trying to protect them—it just so happens they’re pregnant and have children.”

But beyond protection and provision, AGC wants to help the girls learn how to survive in society. “Our goal at All God’s Children is to help the girls learn effective parenting skills and independent living skills so they can learn how to have access to things and people in the community and continue their education,” Smith explains. “We want to give them a safe and healthy pregnancy, and stop drug use, abuse and neglect for the safety of the teen and the unborn baby.”

Beyond their safety for today, Smith hopes their time at AGC will give them hope for a brighter future. “Just to make these girls successful in any area of their lives is going to help them go forward,” Smith says. “They have been beaten down their whole life. Any gains they make—however small or large—are directly impacting their future.”

Though the Smiths’ work will never wipe out the problem of teen pregnancy in Kentucky, their compassion and vision are making a huge impact on the girls they serve. By providing safe haven and equipping the girls with life skills, they are giving them an opportunity for a better life.

“We’ve been able to provide eight years of breaking cycles,” says Smith. “That starts a legacy for these young teen moms and their children.”

 

Courtesy of Lexington Woman Magazine, July/Aug. 2006 issue