By joining special-needs children with abused and neglected animals, Jamie Wallace-Griner developed a cure for despair — and a formula for hope and healing beyond the imagination.
“Safe In Austin is a rescue: rescue animals rescuing children. But, basically, it’s just a family,” Jamie explains in a video.
It is an extended family that started at home following the diagnosis of Jamie and her husband, David’s son, Jackson, with autism. An exhaustive internet search for Autism Service Dogs brought Jamie to Angel, a “discounted” service dog rejected by the family for whom she was trained. Angel, a retriever mix, has since offered Jackson safe haven for his thoughts and fears and the gift of unconditional acceptance which have in turn empowered him to become “the high-functioning boy he is today.”
Jackson’s transformation and his parents’ gratitude sparked a mission. In 2014, the family bought a ramshackle ranch out in Leander, Texas. Over time, weeds were whacked and structures renovated to prepare for the animals no one else wanted — and those children who felt alone in their physical or emotional challenges.
Gretel, the pony, is blind in her right eye. Her brother, Hansel, is missing his left eye. Together, they serve as loving ambassadors for the many blind children visiting the grounds. Peter, the 250-pound potbellied pig, offers a belly big as the Texas panhandle for snuggling and snout kisses that could make one give up bacon forever. Goats gallop about the slo-mo tortoises. Bunnies hop beneath three-legged cats prowling atop a wooden fence. Dogs with forelegs only race around on roller wheel chariots supporting their back ends.
“Our rescues are grateful and happy, and they all have a story to tell,” Jamie writes on the Safe at Austin website. “Kids and young adults that come from trauma can relate to the past of these animals and find hope in the future for both of them. At-risk youth see an example of forgiveness and connection they have never felt before and slowly their hearts start to soften! Special needs children find comfort and encouragement when learning about the special needs of many of our animals and learning how we all belong to each other no matter our differences.”
Just ask the adopted twin girls who visited Safe In Austin last year. Having spent six years in the foster care system, neither felt understood by their peers. That all changed when the pair met and shared beak kisses with Pebo, Jamie’s rescued McCaw, who was seized from a drug house.
“No one really gets how I feel,” one girl said, “But, when I come here, Pebo knows what I’m feeling. I get him and he gets me.”
“We were glad to meet some animals who were like us,” her sister said. “They were scared to move around.”
Animals and children in general share a strong bond yielding benefits widely recognized by mental health professionals. Apparently, that bond is magnified when both share traumatic histories.
“When children with special needs come here and see animals with special needs, they learn that they can trust, hope and heal in ways that you sometimes just can’t achieve with traditional therapeutic means,” said Dr. Dina O’Brien, pediatric psychologist. O’Brien reported the she’s referred 50 children to Safe In Austin over the past year.
Jamie and David remain undaunted in the face of budget shortfalls in the presence of a long to-do list: “We have a LONG way to go, we have no money left, and we have never been happier!”
Such is the attitude of those who see the whole in what appears broken.