Barrow Center becomes first therapeutic childcare center to open in southern Virginia

HENRY COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - The Barrow Center is officially open in Henry County, making it the first therapeutic childcare center in Southern Virginia and only the third in the state.

The Barrow Center opened its doors Monday at Freedom Baptist Church.

Sierra Barrow started the special needs daycare after seeing her sister-in-law struggle with finding resources for her daughter with cerebral palsy.

“She is fully wheelchair-bound, and has never been able to receive childcare, just because she is more on the severe and profound spectrum of needs,” said Barrow, founder of the Barrow Center. “Jobs can only be so lenient, when trying to work with a schedule. So, most the time parents just aren’t able to work at all. Then, that contributes to lower income. So, not only will it benefit the families in the community in getting them out of that poverty level, it will also get them back to work.”

The Barrow Center will be a strong benefit to the children as well, providing special education each day to strengthen reading, math, and sensory and motor skills.

They accept all children regardless of the severity of need or medical fragility.

“I’m a registered nurse, so feeding tubes, traches, whatever, we are capable and want to provide intensive care for all children. We have a lot of developmentally delayed children here and kids are diagnosed every day. So, I think every I think every town, every city has this possibility, but it’s scary for people to to take on an unknown territory,” explained Barrow.

They also work with local therapists to provide in house physical, behavioral, and speech therapy.

“That keeps the parents from having to miss work for those appointments. It reduces travel time. Transportation is a factor and a barrier for a lot of families. So it really relieves a lot of those needs to be able to have those while they’re here,” added Barrow.

They are currently hiring and still accepting childcare registration forms.

Copyright 2023 WDBJ. All rights reserved.