A painting that hangs in Denton’s Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home proclaims: “Coming Home: A brighter future for children and family.”

In the painting, home is a sky blue, one-story house with a lime green door.

But for 15 children, home rests on a sprawling 17-acre campus, lush with greenery and rich in history.

For more than 100 years, Cumberland has opened its doors and provided a safe haven for children in need of love and stability.

The residential care program provides housing in three cottages, named Cole, Currie-Long and Heard. Rooms are double occupancy; each child has a roommate and shares a bathroom. They are free to decorate their rooms, and posters reflecting the personalities of the children cover the walls. Youth care workers provide 24-hour supervision in each cottage.

In addition to room and board, the program provides counseling, case management and medical and dental care for the children.

Cumberland accepts children ages 5 to 17 through placement by the state Department of Family and Protective Services. The children have been removed from their permanent homes and placed under care of Child Protective Services. The program’s current residents were removed from their homes because of child abuse or neglect.

Over the last three years, reports of child abuse have increased by 15,000 in North Texas.

“A majority of the cases — about 60 percent — are cases of neglect,” said Marissa Gonzales, a public information officer for the Department of Family and Protective Services.

In Denton County, Child Protective Services completed 2,755 investigations of child abuse or neglect last year; in 2006, the agency completed 2,156 investigations.

Amid a faltering economy and rising unemployment rates, families are struggling to make ends meet. This rough economic climate has many child welfare agencies and experts fearing an increase in child abuse and neglect cases across the nation.

As the number of cases increase, so does the demand for foster care, a system already facing the challenges of high caseloads and diminishing funds.

Caroline Lara, director of advancement at Cumberland, said the organization has felt the effects of the struggling economy.

“The need for services has gone up, which puts stress on the staff and resources, especially when donations decrease,” she said.

In 2008, 38 percent of the organization’s funding came from donations. Since then, donations have decreased by 10 percent.

Another 21 percent of funding comes from grants.

“We write about five to seven grant proposals per year, which is really time-consuming,” Lara said. “Since our advancement department has a staff of one — me — that’s about all I can handle, in addition to all the other fundraising and PR responsibilities for the agency.”

Lara said that about 60 percent to 70 percent of grant proposals submitted are funded, but that funding from private foundations has decreased.

“Many of their endowments were negatively affected by the financial markets,” she said.

Despite the financial strain, morale remains high.

“This is my favorite job,” said Lara, who began working at the agency in 2006. “If I weren’t passionate about what we do, I wouldn’t be here.”

This same aura of professionalism and passion resonates throughout the organization.

“A lot of us take for granted the idea that life is stable for all children, based on our own experiences growing up,” said Cynthia Beard, a volunteer and mentor at Cumberland. “When we see places like CPCH, it can be easy to get into the mindset of feeling sorry for the kids who live there because their circumstances appear so different from the traditional nuclear family model.”

But Beard said the children are provided opportunities that a lot of children who live with their parents will never receive.

They learn how to resolve conflicts, and they are equipped with skills that will enable them to be independent later in life — skills such as budgeting or cooking healthy foods. They have access to tutors and counselors who can assist them when they experience obstacles. They also engage in the same activities that children in traditional family settings enjoy: They take vacations together, they go to the movies, they shop at the mall and are involved in extracurricular activities at their schools.

“I quickly learned that these children did not need anyone’s pity,” Beard said. “Instead, they need the same things that all kids deserve. All children deserve to be loved.”

Beard’s involvement at Cumberland began in 2006 when she volunteered at a summer camp at the children’s home.

“On the last day of camp, I noticed that one of the boys lingered around at the end of the celebration party,” she said. “I could tell he was having a hard time with me leaving.” She promised the boy she would return to visit. A week after camp ended, she contacted the volunteer coordinator and expressed her interest in volunteering at the home.

Since then, Beard has volunteered in various capacities at the home. She now serves as a mentor to a teenage resident. In 2008, Beard began tutoring the teenage girl. Her role as tutor soon evolved into mentor and friend. After contacting the teen’s caseworker, Beard received permission to take her off-campus.

Beard’s favorite memories of those trips include “little things, like watching turtles and ducks at the local pond, listening to music, or just hanging out.”

“Even her reactions to different things can be entertaining, such as her enthusiastic response to my vegetarian cooking,” Beard said. “How many teenagers do you know who would eat eggplant enchiladas?”

Beard has welcomed the teen into her own home, where she lives with her mother. Beard’s mother, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is paralyzed and has been dependent on a ventilator for the past two years.

“[The teen] marches into my mother’s room each week, holds my mother’s hand, and talks about her week,” Beard said.

“She is so comfortable at our house, and that means so much to my mother.”

Beard said that since she became the teen’s mentor, the girl has become more self-confident, inquisitive and self-aware.

“All children deserve the opportunity to grow up in a nurturing, stable environment that prepares them for responsible adulthood,” Beard said. “If there were more places like CPCH, we’d be a lot closer to meeting the needs of our nation’s children.”

CANDACE CLARK is a student at the University of North Texas.

ON THE WEB

Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home: www.cpch.org