Mustard Seed Communities focuses on caring for abandoned children and adults with disabilities and those who suffer from HIV/AIDS because they are the most defenseless in any community. The objective is to provide a safe and healthy place to live where they receive lifelong care and proper access to medical treatment and therapy. MSC’s purpose is to advance the spiritual, developmental, and physical well-being of these children and adults.

MSC builds homes to accommodate children with disabilities and ensures that they will have a home for life. Mustard Seed continues to maintain and improve the health and well-being of the children and adults in our care and ensures that they receive the best therapies and education available to meet their changing needs. Training is a critical strategic initiative of the organization. MSC staff members continually train in various therapies and caregiving techniques such as positioning, wheelchair seating and repairs, feeding techniques, prescription drugs and their contraindications, and behavioral modification through partnerships with volunteer professionals. Long distance training is conducted for caregivers in basic nursing care. MSC regularly assesses the long-term needs of all residents through the Caring Resource Committee, a permanent committee which reviews every aspect of a resident’s well being and ensures that each resident is placed in a home that provides access to the services they require and where their peers encourage growth and development.

Mustard Seed’s model of care started in Jamaica and has been replicated in four other developing countries. MSC has expertise in providing homes and care that meet our residents needs and hiring and training caregivers that enable them to meet their full potential. More than 1,400 mission volunteers per year train caregivers, provide therapeutic intervention, complete work projects to improve the physical infrastructure of facilities, and develop friendships with residents, expanding the resident’s view of the world.

Mustard Seed Communities conducts regular audits of the homes and care being given against standards that have been established. Adherence to these standards is tracked and indicates if the level of care required is being met. The number and type of critical incidents are tracked and recorded. A critical incident is defined as an illness, accident or death. The number of critical incidents are decreasing as the level of care and therapeutic interventions increases. For example, cases of aspiration pneumonia, a lung infection that develops after you aspirate food, or liquid into your lungs, have decreased as a result of ongoing training in feeding techniques. Participation in education and job training for residents is an important indicator as to whether residents are developing to their full potential. In 2019, 154 were engaged in a formal school setting. Thirty-five residents participated in a work program through which they were given specific job responsibilities and a stipend based on their employment within Mustard seed Communities.

MSC began in 1978 as a home for children with disabilities on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica, providing and has expanded to Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. More than 600 residents worldwide are living in a loving and caring environment that aids in their physical, mental, and spiritual development. There are plans to build new homes in the Caribbean and Africa to meet the need of providing homes for additional children with disabilities who have been abandoned.