Burke Center photo

History of Burke Center for Youth

In 1973, Rosemary Burke had a dream. She knew that she had a knack for helping children that were hard to reach. She had worked with many children who were "wards of the state". She had also spent 15 years working with her own son, who no one seemed to understand, who had something we now call "autism". She found Charles Campise who met qualifications as an administrator, and together they opened a residential treatment center for 15 boys. They noticed that boys responded well to farm life. They had horses, cows, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, dogs, and cats. They then grew to have three locations in the Dripping Springs area serving 35 boys.

In 1990, there were people in the community who asked if they could help the boys. The Burke Center then obtained a license to operate a Child Placing Agency so that they could locate, train, and license people to become foster parents. Many boys graduated from the treatment center into good foster homes.

In the mid 1990's, a psychologist introduced the idea of "Therapeutic Camping" as a treatment model for abused and neglected children. The Burke Center then obtained a license to operate a Therapeutic Camp and called it "Pathfinders". After seeing how effective the "therapeutic camping" model was, they decided to increase the capacity of the therapeutic camp and to focus on that model exclusively and discontinue the residential treatment center.

In 2007 Burke Center for Youth has come full circle. Due to the political climate in Texas, we have changed our license back to a Residential Treatment Center model; however, we continue to maintain our philosophy that boys respond well to being outdoors. We continue to have a treatment program that keeps the children outside engaging in life, learning how to accomplish goals, and how to have healthy relationships.

We continue to grow our foster care program and now have five offices throughout the state, training foster parents and facilitating the care of children who have no permanent home.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is comprised of business and community leaders who are responsible for the governance of Burke Center for Youth. The following individuals presently serve on the Board:

Chair: John P. Burke, Municipal Judge, San Marcos

President, Raymalee Carter, Driftwood

Treasurer: Patrick S. Bullard, Attorney and Builder, Sugar Land

Secretary: Elizabeth Danze-Blood, Professor of Architecture, University of Texas, Austin

Jeanne A. Arnold, Colonel, U.S. Army, Austin

Eileen Lundy, Professor Emeritus, UTSA, Austin

Aart Millecam, Realtor, San Marcos

Cody Reeves, Software Engineer, Dripping Springs

Nicolas Soto, Business Owner, Brownsville

Ruth Sullivan, Educator (retired), Austin

Guadalupe Zamora, M.D., Family Physician, Austin

Founder: Charles Campise, L.M.S.W.,San Marcos, non-voting

Founder, Rosemary Campise, LBSW, San Marcos, non-voting

Standing Committees of the Board include: Development, Public Relations, Quality Assurance and Finance. Each Board member serves on at least one committee.

Staff

Our dedicated staff makes sure that each child receives the services and loving attention to help in recovery. Our staff is especially chosen for their experience and successes in serving youth. In addition to our professional team, our Teacher Counselors, who provide direct care services in the Pathfinder program, receive many pre-service training hours in addition to on-going weekly training sessions. Many of them serve as Boy Scout Troop leaders, are certified lifeguards, certified repelling instructors, and many have taken wilderness training courses. All of them have a caring heart. All staff members are under the full-time supervision of the Program Director and Treatment Director. All agency staff are screened during pre-hire processes that include criminal history background checks, drug testing, and reference checks.