THE ELIZABETH W.

MURPHEY SCHOOL

Agency Overview: The Elizabeth W. Murphey School

James C. Nye, Jr.
Wilmington University

THE ELIZABETH W. MURPHEY SCHOOL

THE ELIZABETH W. MURPHEY SCHOOL

Agency Overview: The Elizabeth W. Murphey School

Mission/History
The Elizabeth W. Murphey School has met the need for group foster care since 1922,
when it was established and incorporated by Sanford Murphey. Mr. Murphey was born and
raised in Dover, Delaware; he grew up to become a successful coal mine owner in Colorado and
wanted to give back to the community in which he was raised. Mr. Murphey, who never married
and had children of his own, decided to devote all of his financial resources to founding a home
for children. He considered it his lifes work. In the mission statement that he wrote in 1922, Mr.
Murphey said that it was his goal for the School to be a place for children who otherwise would
not have a happy childhood, with staff helping them develop into useful adults while being
raised there. Mr. Murphey wrote that he expected the staff working at the Murphey School to be
alive to the responsibility of raising the children in their care.
When naming his group foster home, Mr. Murphey wanted to honor his mothers
memory by naming it after her, and chose to call it a School so that it did not have those
unhappy associations which have so often been connected with orphanages or childrens homes,
and because he considered the raising of children to be a twenty-four-hour-a-day educational
process. Mr. Murphey further wrote that [t]he purpose of the School, therefore, is nothing less
than a plan to meet, insofar as possible, the needs of every child in its care to the end that these
children will be well fortified to meet the problems of life in whatever manner they may present
themselves. The Board of Directors still refers to his original mission statement and his original
incorporation notes when making decisions about the management and direction of the School.
The eligibility criteria for children to live at the Murphey School back then were very
simple: Parents who could not take care of their children due to poverty or other life situations

THE ELIZABETH W. MURPHEY SCHOOL

would bring the children to the Murphey School, and Sanford Murphey would take over
guardianship of the children. Though guardianship was transferred directly to Mr. Murphey for
educational and medical decision-making purposes, parents and family members could still visit
the children and children could go visit their families, when it was possible. The services that the
Murphey School provided became even more important once the Great Depression hit, and many
families were unable to provide for their children. Financial hardships and the deaths of parents
were the most common reasons for children to come to live at the Murphey School in its early
years. Once the modern system of foster care was established, the criteria for placement at the
Murphey School changed. Families could no longer bring their children directly to the Murphey
School for placement; they had to contact the Division of Family Services and let the Division go
through their process of finding a foster placement.
Demographics/Population
All youth who are placed at the Murphey School now are referred by the Division of
Family Services (DFS), an arm of the Delaware Department of Services to Children, Youth, and
their Families (DSCYF). According to the AdoptUSKids website, there are over six hundred
children currently in Delawares foster care system; the Murphey School usually houses thirty to
thirty-five children at any given time during the year. The capacity is forty children, but the
number of children in care at the Murphey School at any given time is dependent on referrals
from DFS and the availability of space the Murphey School has for the age and gender children
referred (cottages are separated by gender and age group; there is a cottage for younger boys, a
cottage for younger girls, a cottage for older boys, and a cottage for older girls). The Murphey
School accepts children into care who are ages 8 to 18 (though exceptions have been made for

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sibling groups where there is a child younger than that). Currently there are 16 girls and 16 boys
who live at the Murphey School, ages 9 to 18.
Policies/Procedures
The intake process at Murphey School includes an initial referral from the childs DFS
worker, an interview with the Executive Director, a tour of the School, and finally the intake
itself, when the child comes to live at the Murphey School. The Executive Director determines
whether the placement is a proper fit for the child, considering their needs first. Secondly, the
safety and well-being of the other children is considered: Does the child have any previous
behaviors or criminal charges that could compromise the safety of the other children? The safety
and well-being of the staff is considered as well. Typically, children referred for placement at the
Murphey School do not have serious criminal charges. If the child is deemed appropriate, they go
on a tour of the cottage where they would live. Usually a houseparent will show the child and
their worker around the house and the campus grounds. If that goes well, the Director of
Programming will contact the DFS worker to schedule the intake. There is a lot of paperwork
that must be completed, and also documents that must be provided by the DFS worker, such as
copies of the birth certificate, social security card, report cards, psychological assessments,
placement summary, and a narrative of the childs history.
Once the child is placed, the Murphey School provides not only basic needs such
as housing, food and clothing for the youth in care, but also provides important services such as
tutoring, transportation, family reunification counseling, educational advocacy, and life skills
training, as well as representation at judicial foster care reviews, IEP meetings, and other
treatment team meetings.

THE ELIZABETH W. MURPHEY SCHOOL

Structure
The Executive Director answers to the Board of Directors; the Director of Programming
and the Director of Personnel answer directly to the Executive Director; the Cottage Managers
answer to the Director of Personnel and the Director of Programming; and the Houseparents
answer to the Cottage Managers. Below is an organizational chart.

Board of Directors
(President, Vice-President,
Treasurer and Members)

Executive Director/Secretary to the Board

ILP Program
Manager

ILP Program
Case Managers

ILP Mentors

Director of
Programming

Director of
Personnel

Direct Care
Supervisors

Direct Care Personnel

Interns &
Volunteers

Governance

Bookkeeper,
Secretary, &
Nurses

Family
Reunificatio
n Specialist
Maintenance
Supervisor

Maintenance
Employees,
Food Service
Manager

THE ELIZABETH W. MURPHEY SCHOOL

The Murphey School is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. The Executive

Director serves as the Secretary to the Board, and reports at the monthly Board meetings. The
endowment that Mr. Murphey left to the School is managed by a bank in Colorado;
representatives from the bank visit annually and meet with the Board to report on loses and gains
in investments.
Funding
The main source of funding for the Murphey School is the per diem received from DFS
for all of the youth placed. The other main source of funding is grant awards. The Executive
Director is constantly writing grants for various projects or programs at the School. His recent
focus has been on replacing the outdated and damaged slate roofs of the the buildings; he was
able to raise over $550,000 for roof replacements, which will cover six out of the nine building
on campus. It is rare to receive a grant that can go into the general fund grant monies are
usually earmarked for a specific program (for example, tutoring) or major construction or repair,
like the roofs. The Murphey School also receives some funding in the form of monthly interest
payments from investments.
Relationship To Other Agencies
In addition to the Division of Family Services (DFS), many of the youth in foster care
also have involvement with the other two arms of DSCYF: Prevention and Behavioral Health
Services (PBH) and Youth Rehabilitative Services (YRS). The purpose of PBH is to ensure that
the childs mental health treatment needs are met, while YRS serves as youth probation when
youth in care accrue criminal charges. PBH connects the child and their family (or foster family)
with therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals and monitors
the childs progress to ensure they are receiving the proper mental health treatment. YRS works

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with the court system, PBH, DFS, and the family (or foster family) to monitor the childs
behavior in the community and support positive changes. The best results for children in foster
care are found when a team of professionals from DFS, PBH, and YRS work together with the
childs foster family (or group home staff), and other individuals important in the childs life, to
develop a treatment plan together.
Strengths, Trends, and Challenges
When placing children in out-of-home care, Division of Family Services workers first
attempt to place children with family members. If there are no family members available or
willing to care for the children, the workers will even search out appropriate family friends to
attempt placement. If those efforts fail, the workers will then search out appropriate foster
homes, based on the needs of the child. It is more often than not that group homes are a final
consideration for placement options by DFS workers. Unfortunately, group homes have received
negative publicity on a national level due to children being mistreated at poorly-managed homes
with under-trained staff. All group homes are unfairly lumped into the same category as those
incompetent homes, and all group homes are then seen in a negative light, or a last resort at
best. It is unfair and incorrect to discount group homes as a viable and nurturing placement for
children in foster care. In the journal Child Welfare, Vice President of The Duke Endowment
Rhett N. Mabry wrote, Residential group care, when done well, is one of the strongest links in
the foster care system (2010). Indeed, when done well, group care is a viable and appropriate
option for children living in the foster care system, and should be seen by family service workers
as a valuable resource for children who need this type of care. Group home staff take on many
responsibilities that traditional foster homes do not, such as transportation to appointments, so
group home placement also helps overtaxed family service workers.

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To change the public opinion of what group care means and to turn around the
misconception that group homes are a last resort for children, it is essential that group home
administrations insist on a high professional level of staff training. In a study of group homes in
New York documented in Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal, Freundlich,
Avery & Padgett found that the youth's sense of safety was strongly linked to staff quality,
including staff ability to relate effectively to youth and to maintain control of congregate care
environments (2007). The children in care need to feel that the adults in charge have control of
the home and keep them safe. In addition, children need predictable daily routines, so structured
schedules, clear rules and following established procedures are part of creating the safe
environment the children desire.
Interns Role
Interns at the Murphey School are given responsibilities that range from administrative
work to working directly with the children in care, depending on the requirements of the
internships at different schools and different educational levels. My responsibilities skew more
toward the administrative side. I have been given projects that are important to the agency,
usually done by the Director, such as grant writing.

References
Commentary on Residential Group Care. (2010). Child Welfare, 89(2), 15-20.

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Freundlich, M., Avery, R. J., & Padgett, D. (2007). Care or Scare: The Safety of Youth in
Congregate Care in New York City. Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal,
31(2), 173-186.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://adoptuskids.org/for-families/state-adoption-and-foster-careinformation/delaware
(n.d.). Retrieved from www.murpheyschool.org

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