Chambliss Center for Children

My story begins in 1969, I believe. My home was broken. My mom was ran away from home by my father. She left us to his care. My dad was in and out of jail. One day, my dad went to work and my two younger sister and I were left alone at home. We were of a vulnerable age, around four, three and two years old. Me thinking it was my baby sister's birthday, I decided to make her a cake, but I used clothes strewn about our house. I found candles, placed them in the clothes and lit them. You don't have to imagine what happened next! I'm trying to put the flames out, but there were too many clothes. Police and Fire were called out and we were taken into custody. We were eventually sent to what I only remember as the Children's Home! There were a lot of kids there. Everything was miniature, as I went back in 1999 to revisit memories of the experience. I was astonished of how small everything was, from the beds to the bathroom fixings, to the stairs and more. I walked through the place in wonderment as I reminisced of my time there. The place was going through renovations, so no staff or children were around, only workers. I was standing in the place where I first learned of the stories of Santa Claus and Christmas! Those were magical times. This is also the place when I first remembered seeing snow fall from the sky! The place had a lot of firsts for me. The staff there were as wonderful as can be. As a treat, we used to receive these candies called "Space Sticks!" That sparked my interest about astronomy. There were also trips out to what I still consider the giant yard. I mean, even today, the place has a humongous yard. But we'd take trips to the yard to see and learn things. I never found the kitchen, but I'm sure it's there and is huge! I spent a little over three years there and it became a staple of the rest of my life. My sisters didn't want to revisit the place, and that is sad. Although we got there in an awkward way, we were there. And to ignore that would be like denying a piece of our lives! Sadly, I have no photos, as I was too young to know where I was or what it was all about! I'm just glad I was there and I have the memories of the place fifty-six years later! ❤️

My grandbaby goes, my nieces and cousins have children here. The staff is sweet and informative. Plus I found out they are open 24 hours for the children and parents.

There's no way the place is still ran by the same people, well here is my story. When i was 15 in 2007 i got taken into states custody because of a very rocky home. All adults were addicts an some very abusive. Chambliss was the first placement i went too. It had its moments. Being put in that situation as a child was terrible to say the least. I can honestly say there were people that cared. Tula,MS.Elizabeth,Ms.Liz,Cedric,Ms.Amy an many more i am leaving out. I am 33 years old now an still think of those times every now an then. Thanks for anyone that reads this, -Andrew

I have mixed emotions in regards to the Chambliss center Headstart program. I was excited when I first enrolled my son here for the Pre-K program, however my opinion for the school immediately changed. My son only attended the school for 4 months until he was un-enrolled. I noticed that the staff has little to no patience when it comes to toddlers. The staff was very unprofessional and I noticed my son was labeled on a daily basis. As educators, I took offense at the terminology the staff would use to describe my son, It was extremely unprofessional. My son has been labeled as a threat, abusive of other kids, obsessive with boys, special needs, and has behavioral issues. My son has never been labeled as such until his attendance at the Chambliss center. The school does more labeling than teaching. However It was stated he was the only kid in his pre-k class that could spell and write his name. Its extremely frustrating placing your child in a facility where he's not accepted. The director was more welcoming with un-enrolling him vs trying to figure out the real root of the problem and keeping him enrolled for Pre-k. It was also concerning to me that he was placed in a class with kids that were considered non-verbal and special needs. My son rarely spent a full day at the school, I was advised that he could not attend before and after care, because it was a privilege however I paid $60 a week for him to attend and he's not allowed. This school has no patience and no concerns in regards to the kids education, my son has not learned anything while attending and the staff should be more professional in handling and communicating with the parents as well as the students. I do not recommend this school to anyone, they do not have the kids best interest at heart.

My husband and I fostered a preteen young lady from this organization from May 2023 to August 2024. We grew to love this child and worked hard to help her with her extensive trauma. We even wrote DCS in Nashville, Tennessee to advocate to get this precious child in therapy. She finally began therapy eight months after arriving to our house. My husband and I spent hours working with her to help her progress in her education, making calls to try to get her in therapy, and showing her a different way of life. Toward the end of May 2024, after much prayer and conversation, we decided to not adopt this child. We have three grown children and thought this child would benefit from having someone that could focus solely on her and her trauma. Our case manager, Jen Davis, began the foster journey with us regularly praising our efforts and thanking us for being so involved in helping this child. She told us she personally knew a perspective, adoptive family, and believed they would allow us to remain in the child’s life and even suggested us being called “aunt” and “uncle”. Over the next two months, my husband and I reached out to try to meet the adoptive parents for dinner to let them know they had our full support. Over the last 14 months, we had developed such a close relationship with this child and knew her personality extremely well. Jen kept leading us on to believe that the family would appreciate our support. Two weeks before our precious foster daughter left our home, Jen tells us that the new family, being pre-adoptive foster parents did not want to meet us and wanted to start with a brand new slate getting to know the child. You cannot take a child that is almost a teenager and want a new slate. This child has an established personality, likes/dislikes, and many other character traits. Of course we were shocked, disappointed, and sad. The pre-adoptive family consists of a school principal and a guidance counselor. We concluded that they felt they did not need any additional information about the child. My husband and I, both being career professionals, did not want to tell the new family what to do. We simply wanted to help them make the process easier for the child. It has been over two months since we’ve seen or heard anything about the child. We understand that we have no rights. Jen Davis should have never strongly indicated that we would be able to remain in the child’s life as a support system. We trusted her because she knew the family personally. She even said she told the family we should remain in the child’s life, but they chose otherwise. We continue to pray for the child and hope that one day she will reach out to us. We have made the decision to transfer agencies. Once trust is broken, it is very difficult to continue to work with an agency. Especially one that has told us from the beginning and throughout the last year, that we were the child’s biggest advocates. Do your research before using this agency.