By Emily Kate-Ford
Communications Associate
Baptist Children’s Village and Family Ministries
When 10-year-old Cait May walked through the doors of Baptist Children’s Village and Family Ministries (BCV&FM) on December 26, 2013, she didn’t know her life was about to change.
She clutched a small bag — one of the few things she could call her own — but she carried far more than that. She carried instability, fear, and a growing belief that she had become invisible.
For months she had been in CPS care, moving from one foster home to another, never staying long enough to feel safe. She remembers feeling “taken and tossed” by a system overwhelmed and unsure what to do with her. At just ten years old, Cait had learned to stop expecting stability. BCV&FM felt like her last chance. But God had already gone before her.
When Cait stepped into the India Nunnery Campus at Star that December day, something stopped her in her tracks. The living room — warm, bright, and full of life — was covered in Christmas presents. Not leftovers. Not donations thrown together last-minute. These were gifts thoughtfully wrapped, labeled, and waiting for her.
It wasn’t the toys or clothes that mattered most. It was the message behind them: “You are seen.” “You are worth preparing for.” “You matter.”
For a child who had been caught in the chaos of hope, it was the beginning of a new story — one God had been weaving long before she realized it.
Cait’s years at BCV&FM were shaped by simple, consistent acts of love — the kind that quietly mend a child’s heart.
She remembers her houseparents and how one of the housemothers spent time teaching her and the other girls how to curl their hair or apply makeup, not out of obligation but out of love.
There were nights when the kids would drag their mattresses into the living room, pile up blankets, and watch movies together while the campus director made popcorn. They laughed, shared snacks, and created memories that felt like family. “Those small things were really important,” Cait said. “They made us feel like a family.”
Then there were the chores — laundry, cleaning, helping around the house. She laughs now at how much she disliked them at the time, but admits they taught her life skills she still uses today.
One moment that stands out came just a week after she arrived. Staff took her shopping to replace things she had lost along the way. They bought her clothes, toiletries, and something she had never owned before: a real suitcase.
“No trash bags,” Cait recalled. “A suitcase meant I was worth doing things the right way. It gave me back my dignity.”
The most transformative part of Cait’s time at BCV&FM wasn’t the routines or the programs — it was the introduction to something she had never experienced before: faith.
Church was foreign to her at first. She didn’t know the songs. She didn’t understand the sermons. She wasn’t sure she fit in anywhere. But something was different about this church — the way they welcomed the BCV&FM kids, the way they made them feel seen, the way they lived out the Gospel in front of her. “They never made us feel like outsiders,” Cait said. “That church helped me come to know Christ.”
Faith grew slowly but steadily — through discipleship, conversations with staff, prayers spoken over her, and the quiet consistency of adults who lived out the love of Jesus every day. It grew during summers at Lake Forest Ranch, where she eventually met the family who would adopt her — a connection she knows only God could have arranged.
“I wouldn’t be the person I am without the Village,” Cait said. “I literally came to know Christ there.”
By the time she left BCV&FM in 2017, Cait had more than stability — she had a family, a church, and a relationship with Christ that continues to shape her life today.
Today, Cait is thriving. She is grounded in her faith, surrounded by family, and grateful for the foundation that BCV&FM helped build. She carries the lessons she learned there into every part of her life. And she never forgets the people who made it possible.
“To the people who gave,” Cait said, “you didn’t just give money. You gave dignity. You gave hope. You helped me know Christ.”
Her story is a testimony to God’s faithfulness — written through the hands of houseparents, staff, volunteers, donors, and churches who choose to invest in children like Cait.
Originally published in BCV Voice, Fall, 2025
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