CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- From abused children to children whose parents are out of work, more kids than ever before have special needs in Mecklenburg County because of the recession.
Thompson Child and Family Focus is battling to put kids first.
"We believe that all children have potential," said the center's director.
At Thompson Child and Family Focus, most of the kids need a little extra.
"We have some children that may have been in foster care. Some we have very young teen mothers," the director added.
Some have been kicked out of other day cares or tough times mean parents can't afford them.
There are autistic kids and those who are otherwise developmentally delayed, and that's just at the day care.
"Some of them who come to us just need a leg up. Some need a little help with stability, but some of them are so mentally ill," said the center's president in charge, Ginny Amendum.
She is based at another Thompson campus where there is even more specialized care for kids with no families and still others who have been traumatized.
Amendum adds, "Then there are children who have been treated with violence, sexual abuse. It's not a pretty story."
The nonprofit runs the gamut of services, and thanks to the nationwide cash crunch, the need just keeps getting bigger. This past year they helped 137 percent more kids than ever before.
"The need is just so great," Amendum said.
But donations are down nd so are government reimbursements. They can't help them all.
"That's what keeps me awake at night. Where are they? Who's speaking for them? I worry about these children that horrible things are happening to them, and they have no voice. They have no one to turn to and they have no way out. That's why we do the work we do here at Thompson," Amendum said.
She says when kids land at her place, something bad has usually happened. But something really good is about to change their lives.
"For me it's all about hope because, when the children come here it's the dawn of a new day. To me, it's a step out of darkness into light," she said. "The goal for me is that they get to reclaim their childhood and they become happy, because many of them have never experienced a childhood, let alone a happy childhood."
"My kids have been to day care before but this is totally different," Marlena Butler told us.
A single mother with four kids, Butler just moved from one of Charlotte's toughest neighborhoods.
"It was just tremendously horrible out there," she said.
She got her high school diploma this week.
"It was rough, but being a mother you make things happen," Butler said.
She says Thompson means a better future for her family.
"It was a blessing, so I'm very happy to be here," she said.
Amendum says that's what it's all about.
"I want the children who come here to be able to reclaim childhood and to step forward believing in themselves, understanding they are safe and they have incredible promise," Amendum said.
For more information on Thompson Child and Family Focus, visit www.thompsoncff.org.
