On their own, on the streets: Huge gaps in social services leaveunaccompanied youths fending for themselves

On their own, on the streets
Huge gaps in Clackamas County's social services leave unaccompanied
youths fending for themselves

http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/pr...670.xml&coll=7

Thursday, September 06, 2007
JESSICA RIFFEL
The Oregonian

S ome nights, Sarah Kazmar didn't know where she and her baby were going
to sleep. She kept his rattles and toys in a box to carry between stays
at her aunt and uncle's Canby home and her friends' houses.

Kazmar, then 19, was tired of "couch surfing" -- being homeless but not
on the streets. She wanted a stable home for her son, Tommy, but she
didn't have enough money for an apartment. When she was let go from her
live-in nanny job, she had $500.

"I just didn't know how to start out," she said. "I didn't know where to
go."

Kazmar is among more than 100 Clackamas County teens who are homeless,
according to reports from two of 10 Clackamas County school districts.
In the Lake Oswego and West Linn-Wilsonville school districts, officials
reported a total of 34 homeless students last year. In addition, at
least 73 homeless children and teens are not in the care of the adults
responsible for them, according to a Clackamas County homeless count in
January.

The so-called unaccompanied youths may be couch surfing or living in the
woods. Some have run away from home or have been kicked out; some have
left foster homes. Clackamas County doesn't have an emergency shelter
for them, despite recognition that they are vulnerable.

"It's horrible," said Andrea Cosby, director of housing for Springwater,
which provides transitional housing for unaccompanied youths. "We have
huge gaps in Clackamas County."

But the county could soon receive about $66,000 from the state to help
homeless and runaway youths. The money would come from $1 million the
Legislature set aside for the next two years for programs for such youth
throughout the state.

The Oregon Commission on Children and Families and its local districts
will decide this fall the exact amount each county receives and what it
will be used for.

The money would not be enough to build an emergency shelter in Clackamas
County, but it could help homeless agencies expand their services to
include teens, said Tom Barrett, who works with the local Commission on
Children and Families. He said the commission will soon ask for
proposals from agencies interested in using the money.

Vera Stoulil, director of program services for Boys & Girls Aid, said an
emergency shelter for Clackamas County teens could be running with a
day's notice because foster homes are ready and transportation is
available to take teens to the organization's Washington County shelter.

"We're hopeful," she said. "But it's really out of our hands."

The nearest teen shelter is in downtown Portland -- a place many
Clackamas County teens won't go because it is away from their friends,
homeless advocates say.

To get services in Clackamas County, unaccompanied youths have to have
another problem. If they commit a crime, they can go to a detention
center or be shuttled to the Washington County shelter. A teen younger
than 18 who is a victim of domestic violence and has a child can seek
help from Clackamas Women's Services. If a teen is being abused by a
parent, the Department of Human Services can help.

But for now, other unaccompanied teens in the county have only
Springwater, run by the nonprofit Inn Home for Boys.

Springwater provides transitional housing for homeless youths ages 16
through 21 who aren't with adults. The program houses the youths in
apartments throughout the county, as well as in a small house in
Milwaukie, and can serve as many as 18 people at a time.

Young people who come to Springwater must be on a path toward living on
their own. They're taught life skills, such as cooking and budgeting, so
they'll be ready to support themselves.

Some homeless teens come to Springwater for a quick stay and aren't
ready for transitional housing, Cosby, the housing director, said. But
she doesn't turn them away.

"That's what we're here for," she said. "To serve homeless youth."

These teens often leave in a few days, which causes problems for
Springwater. To retain its funding from the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, it is required to have 65 percent of its clients
move into permanent housing when they leave Springwater.

Inside Springwater's blue bungalow in Milwaukie, the only evidence of
the four teens staying in the two bedrooms are book bags, CD players,
photos and a skateboard. The teens must leave the house during the day
because there isn't a staff member to monitor them until late afternoon.
Cosby said she hopes they're spending the day working, going to school
or applying for jobs.

Sarah Kazmar has been meeting with a Springwater caseworker and
receiving help with her rent for about a year, and she'll be on her own
in a month. She's been able to save money, and she hopes to go to school
to become a nurse.

"I already had goals," she said. "I was just in a hard place. They were
able to get me on my feet. I needed that push."

To conduct Clackamas County's homeless count, volunteers talked to
school districts' homeless liaisons, visited shelters and walked through
homeless camps.

Only two teens were found living alone on the streets, but Lynne
Deshler, coordinator of the count, thinks more do so in the summer.

Homeless advocates say the number of unaccompanied youths counted is
probably extremely low. They say the teens are hard to find and are
often afraid that, if adults find out they are homeless, the state
Department of Human Services will take them to a faraway foster home.
Some also are afraid because unaccompanied youths are often targets of
adults who want to draw them into drugs, prostitution and other crimes.

January's count was the first time Clackamas County officials tried to
quantify the population of unaccompanied youth. The federal Department
of Housing requires the county to count its homeless population every
two years, but previously officials counted only adults and families.

Clackamas County Social Services added unaccompanied youths to its count
at the urging of the League of Women Voters.

"They don't have an adult, guardian or parent who can request services
for them or sign permission slips," said Sue Trotter, a participant in
the League of Women Voters' study about Oregon's homeless youths.
"They're really on their own."

Clackamas County once did have a emergency shelter for homeless and
runaway youths, but it closed three years ago because of lack of state
and federal funding.

The shelter, run by Boys & Girls Aid, started in the 1970s and served
young people 12 through 18, said its executive director, Mike Balter. It
didn't have a building in Clackamas County, so the shelter was based on
a foster-home model. Staff members screened the youths and placed them
in a home for as little as one night or as long as 90 days.

But in the late 1990s, state and federal agencies redirected their focus
to younger kids, and money to help teens was cut drastically, Balter
said. That led to the shelter's closure in 2004.




CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.


CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...


BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...