Place Of Hope Works To Break The Cycle Of Abuse And Mend Lives

By Patrick Sherry

Going through the case files, reading about unimaginable youth trauma and abuse, is never easy for the staff at Place of Hope. Yet their commitment to breaking the cycle of abuse through love and compassion is what drives this local nonprofit to help people reclaim their futures.

Throughout Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, Place of Hope runs multiple campuses that provide housing, transitional assistance and care. Over the years, the organization has served more than 450,000 children, youth and families. Its comprehensive, family-based approach to welfare is intended to offer long-lasting healing so those under their care can lead lives of success and dignity.

“If we can shift them out of that survival mode and put them in a place of safety and stability, where they can focus on being a child and focus on their education, we see great success,” said Jamie Bond Ciancio, vice president and chief of staff of advancement at Place of Hope.

Originally, Place of Hope focused on providing residential foster care for children who experience abuse, neglect or abandonment. Over the years, the organization has expanded its efforts to support a wide array of initiatives, including maternity care, youth aging out of foster care, homeless youth, human trafficking prevention and recovery, education, health and wellness, and outreach for at-risk communities. This broad focus on welfare is part of the organization’s mission to break vicious cycles of abuse and instability through family-style care and long-term healing.

“We know that we are shattering later statistics with regard to re-abuse rates or children falling into foster care,” said Charles Bender, founding CEO of Place of Hope. “If we disrupt a homeless family’s scenario… that always has better outcomes for children.

Pastors Tom and Donna Mullins were inspired to create a faith-based, family-driven foster care model after traveling to Romania and Russia in the early 1990s. Seeing the vast difference in care between state-run institutions and church-run homes led them to want to create a place where children and families in their community could be cared for in a stable, loving environment. They established Place of Hope as a nonprofit and began developing their family-style foster care model.

Around the same time, Bender recognized a growing child welfare crisis in Florida. Several high-profile abuse cases during the late 1990s led to policy changes that meant an influx of children were being placed in the foster care system. Bender joined Place of Hope in 1999 to help bring the organization’s mission to life.

With the support of Christ Fellowship Church, Place of Hope opened the organization’s first Family Foster Cottage in Palm Beach Gardens in 2001. Now, the organization operates five campuses that are a haven for children and families who have nowhere else to go.

“We felt that there was a need for us to step in and do the best that we could do, partner with others, and provide a truly holistic environment for young people to live in,” Bender said.

The Sam & Connie Frankino KidSanctuary Campus just east of Wellington serves many in the western communities. Philanthropist Connie Frankino partnered with Place of Hope to fund and build the campus, with the organization operating it. The campus is a neighborhood-style foster care campus, which specializes in providing housing for large sibling groups and children with special needs who are considered hard to place. Those who stay on the site receive structured, family-based care for as long as they need.

Since it opened in 2012, the campus has housed children in its cottages. Ten years later, in 2022, Place of Hope gained full ownership of the Sam & Connie Frankino KidSanctuary Campus as a planned gift. The same year, the organization opened the Angel Crossing Enrichment Center on the site, which offers education and therapeutic programs to help support children’s growth and healing journeys. The campus continued to expand with the opening of a neighborhood-style village for families in need of transitional housing.

“It’s frustrating, and it’s very hard to see things that we’re seeing… with these kids,” Ciancio said. “But if we’re not the ones doing it, who’s going to do it? These kids deserve people who are going to forge their lives and believe in them.”

Every day, children across the five campuses operated by Place of Hope are given a chance to live and experience love and compassion. Regardless of anyone’s history or hardship, the organization’s dedicated staff members are committed to leading those they serve toward a brighter future.

“We can’t reach every child on the planet, that’s for sure,” Bender said. “But for those entrusted to our care… knowing that we’ve got something that can surround them with true care and love and compassion, show them a structured way to get ahead, to make it in life and then to watch it happen — that’s enough to keep me going.”

Bender and Ciancio explained that working with these children can be emotionally difficult. Some under their care have been through traumatic or exploitative situations that are hard to fathom. Many never had any of the simple, foundational experiences most people have as children, like celebrating a birthday or going on a family trip. However, once they come to Place of Hope, children can experience these activities that help them heal from trauma.

Ciancio added that many of the youth they have worked with over the years have returned to work with new children at Place of Hope who may have had similar experiences as them.

“You cannot put into words what it’s like to see these young adults succeed,” she said. “It just brings tears to your eyes. It really is the lifeblood of what we do.”

Place of Hope’s extensive work has garnered national recognition. The organization also maintains a high rating on Charity Navigator. The staff members attribute their accolades to strong financial stewardship, transparency and excellent service. But they believe their work is entirely for the children and families they help, as they are the motivation behind it.

“I came here thinking that I would rescue these kids when they really have rescued us,” Ciancio said.

For more than two decades, Place of Hope has given countless children a chance to rebuild their lives and reach a better future. Bender emphasized that to help those they serve break out of cycles of abuse and poverty, the nonprofit needs help from the community. He added that life is too short not to do something that can make a difference. He encouraged the community to get involved in any way that they can, and any contribution, no matter how small, can help improve the lives of the people they serve.

“In whatever you do, I just believe finding purpose in it, making it matter, and helping and lifting other people in need is a great way to spend life,” Bender said.

To learn more about Place of Hope, or to find out about volunteer or donation opportunities, visit www.placeofhope.com.