More than a home, a family.
Seamark Ranch is a nurturing home and family system that give children from families in crisis the tools they need for a brighter future. Through a family home model, a specialized residential school and the lessons of life on a working farm community, Seamark Ranch provides the ideal setting for love, stabilization, healing, education and empowerment.
Partnering with Seamark Ranch
Pilot Program
In the early months of 2022, two physicians who have dedicated their life’s work to bettering the quality of life for others through medicine sought to extend their goodwill to the underserved youth of our community. The majority of underserved youth may be in relatively good physical health with insurance carried by the state; however, there are critical impediments to wellness that may not be detectable by a white coat and a stethoscope nor treated and cured with a procedure. Ailments that have negative compounding effects over time permeate every aspect of their lives and relationships with others. Undisputedly, we all have various experiences as impressionable youth that influence our cognitive development. In a child’s mind, the words, “You’ll understand when you’re older,” seem to have little merit or explanation when yearning to understand their unprovoked hardships. The children and youth orphaned within our communities carry unrelatable psychological burdens. Understandably, an increased prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders among orphans stems from a higher frequency of traumatic experiences of abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence.[1] All making this world seem a little less bright.
Junaid and Wassia Family Foundation (JWFF) decided to assist and create opportunities for this underserved population that combats psychological and social disorders commonly developed among truly or socially at-risk children. With the support of private donors, JWFF quickly began its work within the community, under The Compass Project, by offering psychological evaluations to better the lives of children and youth in or at risk of entering the foster care system. This clinical data supports understanding among caregivers, social workers, and potential guardians while providing an outlet for the orphan. This Compass Project’s purpose is to provide a foundation of understanding and provide some direction so that we may optimize our services and resources.
Operating in Jacksonville, Florida we have served four (4) foster homes facilitating 23 orphaned children. The legal guardians of these children requested that 15 children and youth receive a clinical psychological evaluation to better understand behavioral tendencies and perhaps discover undisclosed conflicts that will surely improve their relationships. Among the 15 evaluations, it was found: 60% Major Depressive Disorder; 53% General Anxiety Disorder; 40% Attention Deficit Disorder; 26% Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; 20% evidence or actual risk of sexual abuse; 13% Adjustment Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and; 6% evidence or actual risk of physical abuse, unspecified behavioral and/or emotional disorder. With these reports, the fostering administrators are reevaluating budgetary priorities to focus on much-needed mental health counseling that is specific to the needs of the individual child.
Apart from clinical psychological support, JWFF is looking to expand its services. The goal is to provide academic tutoring, support of student-athletes, and military mentorship in the future to the children of Seamark Ranch.
[1] Dubois-Comtois, K., Bussières, E., Cyr, C., St-Onge, J., Baudry, C., Milot, T., & Labbé, A. (2021). Are children and adolescents in foster care at greater risk of mental health problems than their counterparts? A meta-analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 127, 106100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106100
