Salvation Army Shelter Turns family away for stupid rule

[doggie]

So somehow 12 to 15 year old boys are pedo bait? just another reason not to like the salvation army.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/watch-p ... -them-away

Unable to convince a Salvation Army shelter to take in a Tennessee family on a sub-freezing night because of the age of one of their children, responding police officers pooled their own money and provided the family with shelter and groceries, reports WMC.

Tim Lejeune, his wife and three children — a daughter, 16, and sons 15, and 5 — are homeless and currently living out of their car in Johnson City, parking overnight in Walmart parking lots. Facing a bitter cold night, with the temperature dropping to 18 degrees, Lejeune took his family to the Johnson City Salvation Army shelter after seeing the white flag flying indicating a cold night and shelter available.

Upon arriving at the shelter, the family was told they couldn’t stay because their son is fifteen, and current Salvation Army policy does not allow them to host boys between the ages of 12 to 16.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry, your son, y’all can’t stay here, because of his age,’†Lejeune said. “I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’â€

“They said he’s too old to stay on the women’s side, because of the women running around in their pajamas and they said he’s too young to stay on the men’s side in case some pervert wants to do ….. whatever,†Lejeune added.

The family met with Johnson City police officers who tried to persuade the Salvation Army to take the family in, but to no avail.

Unwilling to let the family sleep in their car that night, the officers pooled their own money, as well as money donated by 911 dispatchers, and took the family to the Johnson Inn. According to authorities, the clerk at the motel, seeing what the policemen were doing, comped the room for the family for the night. The police officers then took the money and bought the family dinner, groceries, leaving them with the leftover cash.

Johnson City Police Maj. Garry Younger said, “I’m very proud that we employ people with that fortitude that care about the citizens.â€

Police identified the officers as AD McElroy, Justin Jenkins, Toma Sparks and Robert McCurry.

Salvation Army Captain Michael Cox said the organization has a longtime policy that prohibits boys ages 12 to 16 from staying at the shelter and says it has only been enforced once before.

[Lillybee]

The only homeless shelter in my town has the same rules. When I worked for Social Services, I had a client who had a 12 year old son, she got around that rule by dressing him in girl's clothes and gave him a girl's name.

[Miranda]

Ridiculous policy! Why is it okay to let 12 to 16 year old boys starve and freeze out on the streets?

[Mama Mia]

That's an incredibly common policy with homeless shelters. I'd say more common than not. It's very sad, and hardly restricted to the Salvation Army. Teen age boys are seen as some combination of dangerous and disposable in many areas of life.

[Jana814]

How sad. I didn't realize the Salvation Army had that policy.

[doggie]

Well I guess they are male so uncontrollable but also jail bait because they are male children. what a screwed up view of males. thank you duggers.

[Mama Mia]

How sad. I didn't realize the Salvation Army had that policy.

You shouldn't take this one particular Salvation Army shelter having this policy to mean ALL Salvation Army operated shelters are operated this way.

A large number of Emergency Shelters exclude teen age boys. A large number also exclude single fathers. Those include shelters run by government entities, private charities and religious groups.

Some shelters are truly " Family" shelters and allow teen boys, or single fathers. Theses tend to be shelters that offer a private room for each family group. Salvation Army local organizations are just as likely to operate these as any other group.

It really is a big problem for homeless families.Add to that the issue that it's very hard for families with teen boys to find rentals and it can be really rough.

And just saw the post blaming the Duggar's...ummm....what? Again, this isn't due to some religious belief system, it is, unfortunately, a very common operational policy for shelters run by a wide variety of organizations.

[artdecades]

How about you kick out the perverts who would prey on young boys instead of kicking out the young boys.

[Antimony]

I know teen boys have a rep for being total horn dogs but I also think trying to get out of the cold would weigh bigger on their mind than strangers in god forbid, pajamas.

I see no problem with letting these boys stay with their mothers and honestly if this is such a problem, why not create a teen boy area?

I worked at a Domestic Violence shelter that was for families and teen boys were welcome. They're still children and assuming they're going to do wrong/be coruppted before they even get a chance is so fucked.

There has to be a better way.

[Mama Mia]

I know teen boys have a rep for being total horn dogs but I also think trying to get out of the cold would weigh bigger on their mind than strangers in god forbid, pajamas.

I see no problem with letting these boys stay with their mothers and honestly if this is such a problem, why not create a teen boy area?

I worked at a Domestic Violence shelter that was for families and teen boys were welcome. They're still children and assuming they're going to do wrong/be coruppted before they even get a chance is so fucked.

There has to be a better way.

That's great your shelter welcomed teen boys. I've seen some really heartbreaking situations when a mom needs to choose between leaving a violent situation with her girls and younger children - but leaving older boys behind...or staying with all of them. Excluding teen boys also reinforces the idea that all males are predators - and no females are. Neither of which is, of course, correct.

The best shelters have private rooms for each family -- whatever the family makeup is. Safer and much less stressful. But of course it's much more expensive to offer a room to a family than to have a bunch of cots in a communal room. And shelter funding tends to be very limited.

[Antimony]

That's great your shelter welcomed teen boys. I've seen some really heartbreaking situations when a mom needs to choose between leaving a violent situation with her girls and younger children - but leaving older boys behind...or staying with all of them. Excluding teen boys also reinforces the idea that all males are predators - and no females are. Neither of which is, of course, correct.

The best shelters have private rooms for each family -- whatever the family makeup is. Safer and much less stressful. But of course it's much more expensive to offer a room to a family than to have a bunch of cots in a communal room. And shelter funding tends to be very limited.

Each family had a room, so that is probably why it was possible, I guess. Or twould families in a room if they were small families. I think it held only 24 people.

The only people we did not accept were grown men and for male victims we bought (cheap, I'm sure) hotel rooms. They eventually started a transitional housing program which helps a lot.

I only remember that they had teen boys there cause I met one while I was decorating for Christmas. I was a teen girl at the time. He was cute, at the time, but polite and nice and we talked about a toy penguin I think.

[DGayle]

They say that teen boys could trigger women who've been abused. But the solution shouldn't be to tell those boys, who are already going through hell themselves, that they should just go freeze to death. Look, I've been abused, and if I was triggered, I'd force myself to suck it up for a kid doesn't have to DIE. Between dealing with a trigger or dealing with potential death, it's clear which should get priority.

Shelter-runner need to think long and hard about how they're hurting people and sending the message that boys can rot. Horrid message to send kids who already feel low.

[julie paradox]

and of course they're going to be perfectly safe from paedophiles out on the streets...

[Rebelwife]

In this case, it makes even less sense. In shelters with separate men's and women's sides, I can see the issue with teenage boys who might be uncomfortable (or make others uncomfortable) on the women's side but aren't old enough to be alone on the men's side*. However, in this case the FATHER was there too; presumably he would have been with his son?

*I'm not saying they should be kicked out of the shelter, of course, just that there might have to be a 3rd option.

[chaotic life]

In areas not large enough to have options in shelters, teen boys are a very difficult situation. It's as much a liability issue if you let them in but don't keep them safe as any concern that the boys will do something.

I did a lot of shelter work before I had kids and part of that work was getting educated by the paid staff about issues. So, San Fransisco has dozens of options, including family shelters where each family gets a room with a door. But, Johnson City, TN has one option last time I was there. They could have traveled 20 minutes over to Kingsport, but that would cost gas money and leave the kids unable to get to school the next day. There are areas of this country where a family has to wait upwards of a year to get into housing assistance programs and while some cities put people in those programs up in cheap hotels, others leave them homeless.

There needs to be better solutions, but it's not unique to the Salvation Army.

[toejamflipflop]

Its a disgrace that any family in this country of ours should not have a home to live in and food to eat. I blame this on corporate greed which has bought representatives that we put in office in Washington D.C. Americans need to stand up and take back our country from these money hungry scumbags.

[BrownieMomma]

It really does seem like some kind of alternative arrangements could be made for boys that age, especially since this kid's father with present but then again, maybe the shelter had no real way to verify that was actually the father.

Molestation should not be occurring in shelters, is that naive of me to think that? :( Is it really that difficult to provide a safe shelter?

I wish all those people rioting about Ferguson would pause a moment to reflect on that it was COPS who put up their own money to shelter this family. But this family is probably not the politically correct color for that to count or matter, the stereotypes of cop-haters shall remain as is.

[August]

There are areas of this country where a family has to wait upwards of a year to get into housing assistance programs and while some cities put people in those programs up in cheap hotels, others leave them homeless.

The people in those areas are very fortunate not to live in one of the places where it takes years to get on a years long waiting list for housing assistance, like Seattle, Austin, Denver, Baltimore and Boulder

The Housing Choice (Section 8) Voucher waitlist is currently closed to new applicants. Seattle Housing Authority has contacted all 4,000 households from the waitlist created in 2008. We have now begun to contact households on the new waitlist created in 2013. Currently, we have contacted households through lottery number ‘1916'. We anticipate that we will continue contacting approximately 50 households monthly. We will update this information each month. For information by phone about our Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) waitlist, call our waitlist list hotline at 206-239-1674.

Baltimore

The Housing Authority's waiting list for the Section 8 vouchers was last open in 2003. The agency has nearly worked its way through that list.

[danvillebelle]

Good for the officers and the motel owner for stepping up to the plate.

I would like to take this moment to brag on one of our local missions/homeless shelters and a new service they offer as an extension of their women's shelter. They built six small cottages, that are designated to hold single mothers with children (any age) who have escaped domestic violence situations or are currently homeless. Local businesses sponsored each cottage to cover the building costs. They are built just across from the main shelter, and there is a nice new playground and courtyard in-between. They are even decorated for the holidays with lights and greenery, thanks to a local church.

I think it is a fabulous model that should be a standard for shelters. It's not that much more expensive than building another dorm-type room and more bathrooms onto an existing shelter, local businesses thought it was a great idea and were eager to sponsor, and the psychological benefits of a family being able to stay together in a private space while they recover and regroup is just invaluable, IMO.

[Mama Mia]

There are well over a million homeless children in the U.S. At any given time. And that's just under the federal government definition of " homeless" which is very, very strict and, at the same time, hugely under-reported. It's a huge problem. Homeless teen boys are at particular risk and often what started as a family losing their home can turn into the teen boy being, for all practical purposes, left permanently to his own devices as young as 13 or 14.

Floating between friends couches, sleeping in a car, camping in the woods, back to a friends. The family may eventually find housing-- but two problems can come up 1) the landlords may not accept teen boys ( obviously they can't legally say that), so the family will eventually secure housing but not include the boy and intend to just sneak him in. So he spends part time with friends and never really integrates back into the family. Or 2) The family obtains housing-- but the teen is so used to living on the streets that he completely rejects any attempts to make him go to school, stay off drugs, follow rules etc.

So a lot of these boys end up basically becoming street kids who turn into street criminals at a very young age. And sometimes it starts with something as simple as a job loss in an otherwise fairly stable family. It's really sad.

Of course not all situations turn out that way, but it's certainly not uncommon.

[trailmix2014]

That poor family. :( I'm glad the police and the motel stepped up and helped.

I'm not sure how the shelters here work. But I do know that the section 8 is no longer accepting people onto their waiting list, and the low-income apartments have a 3 year waiting list. I've been on it for 2.

[JillyO]

I wish all those people rioting about Ferguson would pause a moment to reflect on that it was COPS who put up their own money to shelter this family. But this family is probably not the politically correct color for that to count or matter, the stereotypes of cop-haters shall remain as is.

I'm not even going to try to explain to you how f---ed up that comment is...

[BrownieMomma]

I'm not even going to try to explain to you how f---ed up that comment is...

Because you can't. Because it's not.

Go ahead. Tell me how I'm wrong.

See, here's the thing. You can't refute the argument, so you just attack the person. This makes you no different than most of the people you profess to hate. Good job.

I'll wait. Let's see your scintillating point and counterpoint.

[doggie]

See, here's the thing. You can't refute the argument, so you just attack the person. This makes you no different than most of the people you profess to hate. Good job.

I'll wait. Let's see your scintillating point and counterpoint.

no one thinks every cop is a racist. that's just stupid. But what has this got to do with a cop killing unarmed people?

[milkncookies76]

Because you can't. Because it's not.

Go ahead. Tell me how I'm wrong.

See, here's the thing. You can't refute the argument, so you just attack the person. This makes you no different than most of the people you profess to hate. Good job.

I'll wait. Let's see your scintillating point and counterpoint.

Wait, so um, just because of this one instance of police doing something good, people should stop being angry about the countless examples of racial profiling and police brutality? Huh?