Playing in the Special Kids Golf Tournament directly helps provide therapy for children with complex medical needs right here in the Greater Chattanooga, North Georgia and Cleveland areas.
Help us make sure no child has to wait on life changing therapy!
Being a CORF certifies that Special Kids is a medical facility that provides outpatient diagnostic, therapeutic, and restorative services at a single fixed location for the rehabilitation of injury, disability, or sickness. This care is commonly known as outpatient rehabilitation care. Referring physicians to Special Kids must draw up treatment plans and review them at least every 60 days.
To maintain our CORF certification, Special Kids is surveyed and reviewed on a regular basis:
From that first September morning in 1998 to this very day, Special Kids mission is to serve Jesus Christ by caring for his children. We are now serving children in Chattanooga, North Georgia, and Cleveland—bridging the gap in access to pediatric therapy.
Our story began with one family, one calling, and one special kid and a mission to serve Jesus Christ by caring for his children.
Carrie Goodwin was working as a nurse in an outpatient facility and saw children with special needs turned away when their families could not pay. They were told, "You get what you pay for, and that's the real world." Not long after Carrie's father, Dick Kleinau, came to his wife with a vision, "Angie, I want to do something for the Lord." Carrie's passion and Dick's vision came together when Carrie came home from work crying and Dick’s simply replied, “Honey, let’s do something about it.”
The pieces of the puzzle began to come together for the Kleinau family. Carrie had seen the need, Dick had felt the Lord's calling, and their whole family had been touched by one special kid-Cody.
Cody was Dick’s grandson and Carrie’s nephew who had been born a few years earlier with a rare genetic disease called Ataxia Telangiectasia or AT. The final puzzle piece for Special Kids was already in their lives- “Cody may need a place like that someday,” Dick said.
Together, Carrie and Dick envisioned a place where special needs and medically fragile children would be embraced with Christian love and healing arms. And most importantly, they agreed it wasn't their ministry, but Jesus Christ's. "It's going to be Christ-centered. It's going to be for God," Dick said.
Dick and The Christy Houston Foundation in Rutherford County put forth the funds that enabled Special Kids to open it’s doors September 5, 1998.
6221 Shallowford Road Suite 101 Chattanooga, TN 37421
(423) 591-7600
Monday - Friday
7:15am - 5:30pm
Come see firsthand how Special Kids provides life-changing care and support for children with special needs. Whether you’re a parent exploring services or an organization interested in partnering with us, this visit is the perfect way to see the impact you can be part of. Book a tour to experience our mission in action.
