"Where will my child live when I'm gone?"

In 1993, a parent of an adult with a developmental disability in Virginia asked her United Methodist pastor a very simple question: "Where will my child live when I'm gone?" That question exposed the real and urgent need for residential services for people with a developmental disability in Virginia. As a result of that question, the Virginia United Methodist Conference Commission on Ministry to Persons with Handicapping Conditions (now the Commission on Disabilities) began researching the possibility of developing residential services for adults with a developmental disability. Heart Havens was born out of those studies, and the very first Heart Havens home (our Macleigh-Holland home) opened in Virginia Beach in 1999. Though we now operate independently from the Virginia United Methodist Conference, the Christian principles of our founding are very much in place.