Editor’s note: The last names of the children have been withheld to protect their identities. The children are referred by the Department of Family and Children Services.

CEDARTOWN – When one pulls into the Cedartown campus of Murphy-Harpst Children’s Centers, it could almost be mistaken for a small college campus.

But the big signs that say “ALL VISITORS MUST CHECK IN AT THE FRONT DESK” plastered on all the doors of Noble Hall reveal the truth of this place: The children who live there have not had easy lives.

Murphy-Harpst Vice President Emily Saltino knows all too well what her organization is up against: funding cuts, needs for programs to help the children, and staffing issues.

The other battle Saltino typically has to fight is misconceptions about the 54-bed facility.

“It’s located in Cedar­town, but there are children here from all over the state,” she said. “And we’re a residential treatment center serving some of Georgia’s most severely abused children.”

Treatment is the key word for Murphy-Harpst. Saltino said the goal is to help children recover from abuse — that sometimes starts at birth — and help them move to a place where they can heal and forgive their abusers. As victims of child abuse, they come into the center physically, mentally and emotionally scarred.

The success rate of the children who leave the facility and enter into foster care is just as staggering as seeing a child who has just begun their time at Murphy-Harpst.

“It’s amazing that many of the children who come here for the first time, who have been horribly abused, are able to find a loving and caring family,” she said.

A typical stay for a child like 13-year-old Daniel H. is between 18 months and 2 years,. They don’t usually stay for more than four years. Most have been in as many as 20 and up to 40 different facilities and homes before they reach Murphy-Harpst.

Once a child is matched with a foster family, the facility keeps up with their progress until they are 18.

But some children that come to the facility, Saltino said, need to be helped elsewhere.

“If we get to a point where we see we won’t be able to help a child, we send them onto a more restrictive facility,” Saltino said. “Some go onto mental health facilities to live for the rest of their lives.”

At a large ranch-style building at the bottom of a hill, hidden behind the campus chapel, is where Daniel lives with his roommate Tyler A.

Above their door reads a day of the week — Monday — and Tyler explained that the sign marks the day when they do their laundry.

This part of the Murphy-Harpst treatment process — residential living — is designed to help children adjust to living in a family-style environment. Typically the boys are housed two to a room, dorm style.

Life for the children at Murphy-Harpst is regimented — therapy, school, play, and during the summer children are even taught to swim. The school’s therapeutic recreation director, Pam Kramer, said the children and teens learning how to swim were finally getting used to the deep end of the pool.

“Many of these kids have never even been in a swimming pool, so it’s incredible when they start diving into the deep end,” Kramer said.

The children and teens at Murphy-Harpst also have the chance to get out in public. On Friday some Murphy-Harpst residents watched the Rome Braves beat the Charleston Riverdogs.

“They are kind of scared at first when they go to places like that, but then they get comfortable and start having a good time,” Saltino said. “Their faces just light up when they have experiences like this.”

If Murphy-Harpst has one ultimate goal, Saltino said, it is the children can forgive and the cycle of abuse ends.

“Some of our former residents come back and show their children what they went through here,” Saltino said. “And how their experience here has changed their lives.”

How to donate

During July 18 services at the nearly 1,000 United Methodist Churches in the North Georgia Conference, the faithful will be asked to dig a little deeper for a special offering to benefit the Murphy-Harpst Children’s Centers in Cedartown.

A faith-based organization affiliated with the UMC, the home receives referrals from the Department of Family and Children Services for 54 beds.

Vice President Emily Saltino said donations of any size help in keeping the facility running, but there are other ways to help, from becoming a mentor, making a birthday cake or even sending a child a birthday or Christmas card.

For more information, visit the Murphy-Harpst website at www.murphyharpst.org.