Youth Shelters Are Needed

A small group of local government officials heard Tuesday about a compelling need to provide shelter for youth who fall between the cracks in the existing child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Juvenile Court Judge Philip B. Spivey narrated a presentation preceding the City Council’s regular meeting outlining an effort to provide youth shelters—or “transitional facilities”—for youths age 5 to 17 who for various reasons have “no place like home.”

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Eight counties were to participate in a consortium to provide such facilities though one, Oconee, may not participate, the judge said.

In Jasper the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and Family Connection are supporting the effort. Other participating counties include Greene, Morgan, Newton, Putnam, Rock-dale and Walton. Similar groups have been formed elsewhere in the state.

Children to be served would be those who must leave home situations made untenable by things like family violence, drug or alcohol abuse, or who run away or commit non-violent offenses. Increasingly state and federal agencies are requiring counties to take responsibility for such children, Judge Spivey said.

The consortium proposes establishment of two shelters, one for boys and one for girls, at locations that would be no more than 60 miles from any participating counties. They would be designed to temporarily provide “safe, warm and inviting home-like shelter.” Each would have 12 beds and would accommodate residents for up to 30 days, with 15-day extensions possible.

The computer slide presentation cited numerous recent real-life cases where children could not be placed in existing facilities and for whom foster care was not available. Janice Roberts, service supervisor in the local DFCS office, told about a 14-year-old girl who was refused accommodation 87 times by facilities or homes within a 200 mile radius.

The girl nearly had to spend Christmas day with a caseworker in the DFCS office before a waiver was obtained for her to stay in a foster home, Ms. Roberts said. Foster care increasingly is proving inadequate to meet demand, Judge Spivey noted, and there have been a number if situations where children have had to spend nights in DFCS offices.
No specific locations have been proposed for the shelters, the judge said, and the consortium is relying on participating counties to provide the facilities. Once a shelter is up and running funds for operations should not be hard to come by from existing sources.

Local DFCS director Nancy Pettigrew and Family Connection director Tracy Trovillo participated in the presentation. Monticello Mayor pro tem Otis Clark welcomed the group. Others attending included county commissioners Carl Pennamon and Greg Wyatt, city councilman Bryan Standifer, city manager Walter Smith, and city clerk Susan Roper. Other council members arrived as time for their 7:30 p.m. meeting approached.