A group of parents met at the Unification Theological Seminary in October to discuss the future of special needs Second Generation children.

A breakout session during the 2006 Educators Conference held Oct. 13-15 at UTS, together with a second session held after the conference ended, brought five sets of parents together to discuss how these children might be brought fully into the Unificationist fold. Moderated by Yoshi and Fran Ichijo, particular emphasis was placed on obtaining appropriate matchings and blessings for these special kids.

No formal count has ever been made of how many special-needs Second Generation exist in the American church, though participants made a best-guess estimate of about 100.

Conferees agreed the first difficulty is to define special needs. The best definition appeared to be: Any disability, mental or physical, that will prevent a person from living a fully independent adult life. If a child is likely to need lifelong assistance in order to function in the adult world then he or she is special needs.

Of particular interest is the possibility of blessing these children in marriage, although their ability to lead a full married life, even perhaps raising children, obviously depends on the severity of their condition. That condition can range from profoundly handicapped where a child can expect to spend much of his life in a wheelchair, to mild retardation, where a significant degree of adult functionality appears possible.

Clearly, the first step is to find out how many such children we have in the movement. The Ichijos shared the testimony of Kenji who has been blessed in marriage. Kenji, now 20, was blessed to Sonja Yoder, the special needs daughter of Steve and Susan Yoder. Theirs is a pioneering match, the first and only special needs blessing of which we are aware.

Yoshi and Fran Ichijo reported that Father spoke extensively about the importance of finding matches for the disabled second generation after seeing photos of Kenji and Sonja, and he urged Dr Yang to make an effort to identify all the children in need of such matchings.

That effort is underway. The Ichijos have a list of special needs children which they are eager to expand. Those wishing to add the name of a child can reach Fran at: ichijoy@aol.com. There is also a special needs page on the website of the Blessed Family Association, accessible at www.BlessedFamilies.org. A password for accessing the special needs matching page can be obtained from Fran.

A second step under consideration is to convene a camp in the summer of 2007 for special needs BCs. The camp probably will be held at New Hope Farms, an equestrian facility operated by Lowell and Lesa Ellanson in Port Jervis, N.Y. The parents very much hope that a significant number of fully capable BCs can be found to volunteer a few days to help care for - and also mentor - their disabled brothers and sisters. We are confident that this would be a wonderful experience both for the special needs BCs, who are always happy to make new friends, and also for the mentoring BCs who will have an opportunity to serve a very important cause.

The possibility was raised that fully capable BCs around the nation might consider conducting local fund-raising projects to sponsor a disabled child to attend the proposed camp, since the cost of travel is often daunting to a family already burdened with the costs of caring for a child with disability.

Anyone who feels called to aid this new Special Needs Ministry can contact the Ichijos at ichijoy@aol.com or Eugene and Lynelle Curtin at ecinomaha@yahoo.com.

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