And so the Quest Began…

Dream House Founder and CEO Laura Moore learned staggering answers that challenged the status quo for medically fragile children in Georgia. 

During the summer of 2001, working with her employer Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Laura analyzed data for 17 pediatric inpatients, from local area hospitals, with lengths of stay greater than six months. Why were these children institutionalized instead of living at home?

The Numbers Didn't Add Up...

Laura compared gross charges with net revenue for each child in the study. Charges totaled more than $20 million, yet net revenue was only $8.6 million. Potential revenue loss was over $11 million.  No plan existed to address this unprecedented situation. Millions of dollars wasted, on what? These children were still institutionalized, apparently with no place to go.

The children in this study represented scores of others Laura, herself, had cared for over the years. These children suffered - lonely, scared and emotionally barren. The staff working with these innocent children felt hopeless in the face of their empty existence, hopeless futures, delicate health. Turnover was consistenly high. A losing proposition from every angle.

Laura visualized a different kind of life for medically fragile children. Read more of the Dream House story...

Pursuing the Dream…

In the following months, Laura founded The Dream House for Kids, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing resources necessary to get medically fragile children out of institutions, save them from neglectful and abusive situations and give them the home, family and future they so desperately needed to live.

The mission evolved to better address its expanded focus to create community support and partnerships. In December 2002, the organization name officially changed to Dream House for Medically Fragile Children, Inc.