US EditionMinnesota Woman Gives 16 Special Needs Children a Home
Shelly Burman runs a 5-acre homestead where 16 adopted special-needs children receive care and participate in farm work funded partly by Medicaid waiver and Social Security benefits.
- Shelly Burman and her paid staff raise 16 special-needs children at Haven Homestead in Austin, Minnesota, as shown in photographs from the homestead.
- Having adopted 18 children, Burman says God directed her to mother them, with many from Ukraine and overseas orphanages, including a hazardous trip to Crimea, funded by Medicaid waiver programs and Social Security Disability benefits.
- Burman highlights daily chores, with Nolan caring for pigs and Reagan managing a rabbitry to produce fertilizer for sale.
- Burman says her household faced repeated investigations, estimating no fewer than 20 by Child Protective Services and other state agencies with zero findings, and she sought support from a chaplain amid grief over two deceased adopted children.
- She would adopt more if social workers allowed it, and Burman has begun speaking publicly to show families like hers exist beyond society’s view, with accessible house modifications and a goals-and-expectations model at Haven Homestead.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Duluth News Tribune
Minnesota woman gives 16 special needs children a home
AUSTIN, Minn. — Shelly Burman has always had an abiding passion for the underdog. In her case, it found expression in adopting children with special needs. And not just a couple — enough to fill the starting line-ups of two baseball teams. Finding herself in the presence of a child who had been neglected, abandoned, suffering or written off, Burman found it impossible to say no. All told, the Austin, Minnesota, woman has adopted 18 children, all…
Shelly's passion: One woman's mission to give 16 special needs children a home
AUSTIN, Minn. — Shelly Burman of Austin always knew she would one day adopt children with special needs. Yet, it is one thing to have such a desire, and it is quite another to build a family of adopted children that would fill the starting lineup of a baseball team — twice. All told, the Austin woman has adopted 18 children, all of them with special needs. Finding herself in the presence of a child who has been neglected, abandoned, or abused, B…
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