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Houseparents Martha and The Alabama Association of Child Care Agencies (AACCA) has presented its 2005 Flora Boyd Award to Martha and Labron Hawk, houseparents at Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes in Dothan. Below: Paul Miller, executive director of Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes, introduces Martha and Labron Hawk before the Flora Boyd Award and a $500 check are presented to the Hawks at the 2005 annual meeting of Alabama Association of Child Care Agencies. (Photo by Bob Murdaugh)
“It’s not the Hawks’ technical abilities as much as it is their heart for caring for children that puts them at the top,” Otts noted. “It’s their unselfish love.” AACCA’s membership represents 27 child care agencies in Alabama. The organization’s Flora Boyd Award is presented annually in memory of a child care worker known for her caring, loving, and always gentle approach to child care, according to Ramona Collins, who chairs the AACCA committee that selected the Hawks for 2005. “What was most impressive to us was that the Hawks have incredibly devoted the past 26 years of their lives to service in child care [with the Baptist Children’s Homes in Troy, Tuscaloosa, and currently Dothan],” Collins said. Her comments came shortly after the Flora Boyd Award and a $500 check were presented to the Hawks at the AACCA Annual Meeting on Jan. 9 in Clanton.
The Hawks’ story features a faithful marriage of 46 years. The couple has endured challenges – even extreme sickness, while serving as a family for hundreds of children detached from their birth homes. “Though we have been married for a long time and have gone through the valley with Labron’s cancer, a day doesn’t go by that we don’t recommit ourselves to our marriage,” Martha said. “We have learned much patience, because with cancer you can’t rush. Before we heard the ‘cancer’ word in October 2000 when Labron was diagnosed, we thought we were dependent on the Lord, and we were. Since then, we’ve learned to be totally dependent on Him.” The Hawks have “always acted on their belief in the importance of keeping firm boundaries while compassionately meeting children’s individualized needs,” wrote Kim McGainey, Children’s Homes group home supervisor in Dothan, in her letter nominating the Hawks for the award. The Hawks have been the houseparents at the Dothan group home of the Children’s Homes since the facility opened in southeastern Alabama in 1998. “They have balanced the business aspect of running the home with all that goes into caring for the children,” McGainey wrote.
The Hawks have an unusually impressive way of staying calm during the “storms” that inevitably come when as many as 10 differing personalities live under the same roof at the Dothan group home, McGainey said. She acknowledged that Martha and Labron don’t allow conflict to go unresolved, and they never take sides when helping children through disagreements. The Hawks recently spent much of a Saturday helping two girls at the Dothan group home to prepare for their parent’s visit. Mrs. Hawk even helped the two sisters to bake a cake. The girls’ eager anticipation was shattered the next day, however, when their parent didn’t show up. “The Hawks could have badmouthed the parent, but instead they spent the entire Sunday afternoon calmly consoling the girls,” McGainey reported. Dr. Louise Green, who served as the Hawks’ trainer and director for several years after they came to the Children’s Homes, wrote that they often have been “very insightful in training sessions and quite helpful to newly employed childcare workers. “As their director, I watched them successfully parent numerous children who, at times, presented difficult behaviors,” Green said. “Mrs. Hawk presented a genuine love and concern while ‘Coach’ often used his dry wit and humor to help the girls through difficult times. They were especially good with four sisters who lived with them for several years. They assisted these girls to make a successful transition to another group home. In 2004, the Hawks attended the high school graduation of one of these sisters.” |
The
award honors the Hawks as “having that extra-special something that makes
them the best in caring for at-risk children,” AACCA Executive Director Mac
Otts said.
Labron
said he didn’t realize how big of an honor the Flora Boyd Award is until
Martha and he arrived at the awards presentation Jan. 9. “It means a lot to
us that fellow child care workers throughout the state would think so highly
of us.”
“Martha and
Labron are tremendously organized, which helps the household run smoothly,
and the children rave about their cooking,” McGainey added. “Before coming
to the Children’s Homes in February 1979, ‘Coach’ Hawk cooked in the U.S.
Army and was well-prepared for the appetites of the children, especially the
teenagers, at the Children’s Homes.”
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