For about year and a half, the Homeless Teen Task Force has been trying to establish a network to support children and teens in crisis.
A way to do that may be coming from nearby Johnson County.
On Sept. 13, the task force met to talk with Dawn LaPlante and Judith Olds, who work with Youth Connections in Johnson County. They discussed setting up Safe Place designations and host homes in Brown County.
Safe Place is a nationwide network of youth-friendly businesses, hotels, schools, fire stations, libraries and other public buildings where children and teens can go when they have a problem. They’re marked with diamond-shaped, yellow Safe Place signs.
Beyond giving children a safe place to go, the program trains volunteers to quickly connect children with a designated person who can talk to them and get help for their problem.
Another component of the plan is to start a host homes program, where young people can stay while they are in crisis or don’t have a place to go.
LaPlante is the Safe Place/host home program coordinator for Youth Connections. “They have to have a shelter component to have a Safe Place program, because if you do have a teen or youth that’s in need, you have to put them somewhere,” she said.
Youth Connections is the provider for Safe Place in Johnson and Morgan counties, and it’s willing to take on Brown County, too. This would require a memorandum of understanding between Youth Connections and key players in the county, like the sheriff, the school superintendent and others.
Olds, the executive director of Youth Connections, said the federal government is not willing to pay for shelters and would rather that youth go into host homes. She said it’s almost impossible to get a shelter funded unless it is done privately.
A lack of federal funding is one reason the youth shelter in Johnson County closed, she said.
In a host home, the resident volunteers to take a young person in for a short time, from one night to 21 days.
If the crisis is not over in 21 days, a referral for independent living — if the young person is old enough — or for that young person to get a job may be made. Sometimes, the Department of Child Services is contacted after that time period.
Children involved in the host home program could be as young as 7.
“Sometimes we will get referrals from DCS where there’s not quite enough evidence to really open a case, but Mom and Dad need a break or the kids may need a break,” Olds said. “They will contact us, and we’ll maybe do a respite weekend.”
At the end of 21 days, Youth Connections also can look into finding relatives who could take the child in.
Host homes receive a $50 stipend, LaPlante said.
To become a host home requires training and multiple background checks, from the FBI to the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles. A lot of the training can be completed online, LaPlante said.
A house inspection also is required. “As long as you have a bed for this child, you are good to go. Some of these kids don’t have beds,” LaPlante said.
LaPlante said another aim of the Safe Place and host home programs is to get kids connected with services, like counseling through Centerstone.
There’s also a 24/7 crisis hotline, which LaPlante and Olds answer.
Olds spoke about the time she picked up the phone at 11:30 on a Sunday night and on the other end was a sobbing teen who wouldn’t answer her questions.
“I could tell from her cry she wasn’t an older teenager, so I was really frustrated because I didn’t know what to do to help her. I finally asked her, ‘What I can do to help you?’” Olds said.
“She says, ‘My mom won’t buy me a new dress for the dance and I really want one.’ I was really glad that was all of the problems that we had with this young lady. So, we talked, and what’s neat about the program is that she didn’t care that it was 11:30 on a Sunday night; she needed someone to talk to then. And you know what? Youth Connections was there.”
LaPlante said she regularly exchanges texts with a girl who is having difficulties adjusting to an absentee father who is re-entering her life, or fighting with her mother.
“I’m there to listen. I’m not there to judge either side. I say, ‘You gotta work with Dad; you gotta work with Mom,’” LaPlante said.
“That’s part of Safe Place. We’re trying to help them get through a crisis. It could be as little as the new dress to they don’t have a place to sleep. … We’re here to make sure that their crisis is taken care of.”
But they can’t do it alone, especially if the program comes to Brown County.
Along with looking for host homes, Youth Connections will be looking for volunteers to take Safe Place phone calls in Brown County, and to go to the Safe Place site and stay there until LaPlante arrives.
“We really would like to have action within 30 minutes,” she said.
Those volunteers would go through training to learn to listen to the child or teen and not to judge or counsel them. “You’re there to keep balance and get general information,” LaPlante said.
The ultimate goal would be to hire a person to work part-time and manage the Safe Place/host home program here, Olds said.
Ideally, Safe Place designations would go to businesses that are open 24 hours a day. For Brown County, Youth Connections would like to establish four to five host homes and multiple Safe Places.
Olds said Brown County will have to provide some funding for the program. A large amount of Youth Connections funding comes from a federal grant distributed by the Indiana Youth Services Association, along with smaller grants from other organizations, like Walmart.
Olds said the biggest expense will be startup funding, including mileage reimbursement for her and LaPlante to visit the county to get sites running, interview host homes, and speak with school principals and counselors and other groups about Safe Place. Olds and LaPlante said they would share the Youth Connections budget and training requirements with the Homeless Teen Task Force.
“It’s ISYA’s goal to have a Safe Place (program) in every county. It’s what we need,” LaPlante said.
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Do you have a spare bed and want to open your home to a young person in crisis for up to 21 days?
Contact Safe Place/Host Home Program Coordinator Dawn LaPLante at 317-738-3273 or email her at [email protected].
Training and a home inspection will be required.
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Young people in crisis can call the Safe Place helpline at 1-866-738-5437. It is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The alternate number, for calls or texting, is 317-727-2571.
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Safe Place website: nationalsafeplace.org
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