Reflections on Being a Runaway

Recently, I have been working with the staff at Bill Wilson Center to assess why kids walk away from our residential program. We provide housing, counseling, and support services to nearly 400 youth each year in our 20-bed facility.

Over 80% of our kids are reunited with their families. However, 10% of our residents leave without permission at least once during their stay with us. Most of the youth return after a couple of hours. Others stay away a few days before returning. Some, those who never wanted to come to our place, don’t return, but we do follow-up with parents to check if the youth has gone back home.

I spoke with one 14-year-old youth who has walked away from us four times. I asked him what would make him stay, and he said he didn’t know. He said he was used to the freedom on the street and struggled with our structured program, so we modified our rules so he could have more freedom. He did say he likes it at Bill Wilson Center because we always take him back. With our “no fail” philosophy we work with these runaways until they are ready to stay.

An evaluation of our walk-aways showed that many left after school. Not surprising, these kids wanted to see friends after school, not stay at BWC for an afternoon filled with workshops and counseling. Others leave after arguing with other kids in the program.

We are looking at the data and implementing new support services to prevent some of these walk-aways. We are a program that works with chronic runaways, so we know we will always have kids who will run from us. We will be there when they need us, and we will do what it takes to figure out how we make the connection with these kids.

Waimea Canyon Trail from Kukui Trail Update

On December 9, 2012 I revisited Waimea Canyon Trail via Kukui Trail.  Below is a writeup I did last year when I completed a one-way hike down the canyon to the town of Waimea.  Not much is available on this hike so I decided to post it since the information is still valid.   The big difference for this hike was the water level of Waimea River.  Last year I was crossing knee-hike  to thigh-high water that was murky red.  Although the water was warm, the 14 crossings were challenging.  I now know, from talking to an experienced Waimea Canyon hike leader, that the river only runs deep red when it is high, and should be crossed at these times by folks who have done these types of crossings before.  It is  probably not a good idea to do the hike under these conditions alone.

However, a year later the hiking conditions were totally different.  The hike down Kukui Trail was easy because it was dry, therefore, not as slippery when wet like last year.  However, it still drop 2,000 in 2.5 mile so it is steep in part and can be tricky.  When I reached Waimea River I was stunned with how low it was.  I had brought my Teva sandals in my daypack anticipated the river crossings, but the water was so low I could easily hop across rocks without getting my feet wet.  If I had hiked the Waimea Canyon Trail down to Waimea this time, the hike would have been moderate rather than strenuous.

Crossing the river last year 14 times when the river was high was tiring.  I had my car this time at the Kukui Trailhead so I hiked up Waimea Canyon instead of down.  I am taking an educated guess, that if you go down river when the water is very low you will not need to cross back and forth so much.  Please comment on my blog if you hike down the canyon.  I did discover why the river was so low —  up river the water was being diverted into a large drain/dam.  I have no idea if this is going to permanently impact the water level in Waimea River; however, locals in the town of Waimea did make comments about someone diverted the water and fish were now dying.  Who knows for sure.  Corn has now replaced the sugarcane crop.  Perhaps it is taking more water from the river on the dry side of Kauai.

Writup on Waimea Canyon Trail to town of Waimea:

On November 4, 2010, I hiked from Kukui Trail in Waimea Canyon to the town of Waimea.  I started at 8 am from the Trailhead which is located between mile marker 8 and 9 on highway 550.  The 2.5 mile hike down was uneventful, but a little slippery with mud, loose dirt and rocks.  Look for trail and stay off the cuts to switchbacks.  Once you reach trail marker 1.75 the trail enters the forest.  The trail was easy to follow but in spring could be overgrown.

At the bottom was a backpacking camp with a pit toilet.  The site was covered with cherry plums on the ground and smelled like rotting fruit. I walked straight down to the river and was dismayed to see how high the river looked.  however, this was not the trail. I backtracked and found a sign that had Waimea Canyon Trail down the road to the right.  Soon the first river crossing appears.  It took me some time to figure the best place to cross.  The entire trail down Waimea Canyon is mostly a soft, red dirt road.  However, there are 14 river crossings as the trail goes from side to side.  After a mile and six river crossings I came to a power station and found a man working would told me that there were 14 river crossings in total.  Also the river only gets slightly larger with most of the water coming from deep in the park and not from side streams.  So, no need to worry about that — just worry about the storms upstream that may cause flash flooding.  Watch on the river crossings to see if the water is getting higher.  I am not sure the total distance from the backpacking camp to the beginning of the paved road to Waimea but someone scratched 9.5 in the sign so I am using that.  There is one long section that climbs a bit on the left side of the canyon so feel free to put the hiking boots back on.  The road follows the ditch for quite a while and then the road cuts up hill after crossing a metal bridge.  Continue straight on a foot trail that follows the ditch.  it will join back up to the road in a half mile.  

Soon the road takes a turn back down to the river.  The road is made of rock on this part as it drops 200 feet back down to cross the river again.  just when I was getting use to dry hiking.  A note on the river crossings –  the water is brown from the red dirt and hard to see the bottom so step carefully.  A hiking pole is really helpful.  Do not lift your foot up before you are sure the other is securely planted.  Look at the crossing to see where the vehicles are crossing so you can cross at the shallow part.  Not always easy to see, especially when the river runs red.

San Jose Inside

I have started writing for the San Jose Weekly Metro online site, San Jose Inside.  Many of the topics that I have written about on my blog can now be found at the San Jose Inside website at: http://www.sanjoseinside.com/.

My most recent article can be viewed here: Juvenile Hall Only Creates More Convicts.  This post looks at a report recently published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation – “No Place for Kids – The Case for Reducing
Juvenile Incarceration”.

Please feel free to comment on the blogs and provide your opinions!

Ending Youth Homelessness in Ten Years

I just returned from the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference in Washington DC. To my surprise, I learned that the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) has rewritten their Strategic Plan to include a target for homeless youth.

Opening Doors, The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, released in June 2010, set target goals for ending chronic and veteran homelessness in five years, and family, child, and youth homelessness in ten.  Youth homelessness is defined as unaccompanied minors (under age 18) who are not living in a stable situation.

Many homeless youth hop from couch to couch, living with friends until they need to move on, making homeless youth an extremely difficult group to quantify. No one really knows for certain how many homeless youth there are in the United States.  There is a move underway to add $3 million to the Federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act appropriation this year to do a national count.  With talks at the federal level to reduce the deficit, it is unlikely the increased funding will be approved, but my fingers are crossed.

I am not sure we will end youth homelessness in ten years, but I like the goal.  I am all for big, audacious goals to aim for when working with homeless youth.  Bill Wilson Center’s vision is to prevent poverty by connecting youth to needed services and support by early adulthood.   We need to continue prevention services so more youth can stay home and work out problems with their families.  For homeless street youth, we need accessible services that are flexible with a “no fail” approach.  We are constantly evaluating our programs to determine what works best for youth.   Join me in ending youth homelessness in Santa Clara County!

I Miss Being a Foster Parent but my job as CEO keeps me busy…

Every once in a while I get a call from someone from the Santa Clara County Probation Department asking if we have a foster home available for a particularly difficult kid or situation. Of course, as CEO of Bill Wilson Center, I only get phone calls for the more “complicated” youngster. The typical kids in need of a foster home get referred to a case manager, and then complete an assessment and intake. When I get a call for a child who needs an immediate placement, I know there is always something more going on.

These are the kids that remind me of when I was a foster parent many years ago. I had a 13-year-old girl placed with me that no one wanted — she was drug addicted, out-of-control, and a constant runaway. Just my kind of kid! She lived off and on with me for years, even after she was no longer my “official” foster child. I loved her very much.

Bill Wilson Center foster parents are special, especially the parents who take in the more difficult kids. Our foster parents come in all shapes and sizes — some are empty nesters who are ready to parent another teenager, while others are two-parent families who have a spare bedroom and would prefer helping out a teenager to renting the room for more income. Our foster parents providing intensive foster care placements receive $1,800-$2,400 a month, tax-free to foster a youth.

Our greatest need is for foster parents who will shelter teens on a short-term basis, usually for six to nine months. During that time the youth and foster parents get an array of services, usually working toward reuniting the young person with his/her family. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that you had a part in bringing a family back together!

I have plenty to do as CEO of Bill Wilson Center!  And as a single parent of a great 16-year-old, I don’t have the time needed to be a foster parent right now. However, when I retire years from now, I will look at becoming a foster parent again.

PS: If you would love to explore becoming a foster parent with us, email inquiries@billwilsoncenter.org or call 888-922-KIDS (5437).

Back to Blogging — Future Topics

I have been missing in action since September, but I am back in the saddle and looking for fresh ideas for blogging.  Even though I haven’t been writing, I have been mulling over a few issues, especially as they relate to juvenile justice. 

Sorry to the folks who have written to me in response to past blogs that I have not yet posted — I plan to put them up shortly and let others see the different perspectives.  The blogs that seem to attract the most attention are the ones regarding the former Children’s Shelter.  Some past residents have good memories about the shelter; I want to share their opinions.

As CEO of Bill Wilson Center, I have also been worrying about our community’s priorities as public funds decrease in these hard economic times.  Often the first funding cuts are aimed at nonprofits that contract with cities and counties, because the priority is to save jobs in the public sector.  This doesn’t make sense to me because nonprofits can oftentimes deliver services for lower costs and we are often closer to the communities that need our help.  While a Santa Clara County probation officer or social worker costs around $150,000/year with benefits, we can hire two or three counselors for the same amount — more services should be contracted out not less!

The Chair of the Board of Supervisors, Dave Cortese, declared 2011 the Year of the Child.  He wants all kids 13 and under out of juvenile hall and diverted to community resources like Bill Wilson Center.  We have developed specialized services, including Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for these kids.  I will introduce some of the challenges we face starting up the program in future blog posts.

Lastly, I want to say goodbye to my mom, who passed away February 17th.  I spent the last six months arranging her care and being her advocate through the medical minefield of Medicare.  As my mom slipped further and further into the depths of dementia, she kept her sense of humor and love of family.  I will miss her, but I know that I carry her best and worst traits with me.

Bill Wilson Center Goes Solar

Thanks to Silicon Valley Power (SVP), Bill Wilson Center is receiving a free solar power system at our main office and shelter on the Alameda.  SVP’s Neighborhood Solar Program took a poll and asked City of Santa Clara residents to vote on a nonprofit in the community to benefit from a solar power system – Bill Wilson Center was the top choice!

After many months of planning for the project, the solar power installation is almost complete.  It is a tricky job because the seventeen year old roof tiles had to first be removed and then composite tiles put under the solar panels.  The panels are being hoisted up two stories and placed on the southern side of the roof.  The solar system will save us thousands of dollars that will now go toward services for our shelter kids.

In addition, thanks to a generous grant from the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, we will be rehabilitating the aging kitchen and bathrooms in our youth shelter.  Even the exterior of the building will be repainted a new color.  We are still deciding on the right color of paint, but Bill Wilson Center will no longer be pink!  The main office, which also houses our shelter was built in 1993 and serves over four hundred kids in the residential program each year.  It is time for some major upgrades. 

Here’s a quick photo of the installation in progress, we will keep posting pictures on our website and Bill Wilson Center Facebook page as the projects progress.

Click on the image for more photos

Shelley’s Success

In early August I was sitting in the Shelter Director’s office of the Bill Wilson Center when a teenage girl came bouncing into the room shouting, “I got it!  I got my high school diploma today!”  Shelley had finished summer school and managed to graduate on-time – which I later learned was no easy task. 

Shelley was dropped off at Bill Wilson Center’s youth shelter in early January by Santa Clara Police.  She had been in a fight with her mother, who wanted her out of the house.  Shelley was sullen, shy, and kept her head down, covered by her hooded sweatshirt.  We soon learned that Shelley was almost 18 and had moved from home to home with her mom and younger sister. 

Once Shelley trusted us enough to peel back her hood, we saw a girl with matted hair and burn marks on her neck and back.  Her mom punished her by burning her with cigarettes.  This was just the beginning of another sad story we hear everyday at Bill Wilson Center.  We called Child Protective Services and reported the abuse.  Not only was Shelley physically abused, her mom often locked her in her room after school and did not let her out of the house.  If her mom was upset, she kept Shelley home from school.  She had missed so much school she was on the verge of failing her senior year unless we did something quick. 

My staff kicked services into high gear to help Shelley achieve her biggest goal – to graduate on time.  We met with personnel from Santa Clara Unified School District who were miracle-workers and told her that they would collect all her credits from the numerous schools she attended, and if she didn’t miss any classes, they would help her graduate.  Next, Social Services responded quickly to our request to find a foster home for Shelley before she turned 18 and was left with no resources.  They expedited the court process and right before she turned 18, Shelley was made a dependent of the court, granting her extra time in a foster home.  Social Services found Shelley a super single foster mom who knew just the kind of support she needed.

In the four months Shelley was with us, she received counseling to deal with the abuse she had experienced and my staff also worked on her appearance.  This girl had never been taught how to care for herself.  They took her to a beauty salon where she got a haircut and learned how to care for her curly hair so it wouldn’t get matted.  Next they showed her how to put on makeup and cover up some of the burn marks on her neck that caused her to feel self-conscious.  Shelley was beaming with her new look!  The last transformation was taking her shopping for some new clothes. With the help of some of our funders she got a new wardrobe and we got her out of her hoodies…at least some of the time!

While at the shelter, Shelley also learned how to do household chores and get along with other kids, which was something she never had to do.  She was encouraged to take the bus home from school so she could learn how to become more independent.  After being placed in her foster home, her foster mom drove her to school everyday and brought her to Bill Wilson Center to continue in aftercare counseling services.  However, on this day in August, Shelley wanted to take the bus over to Bill Wilson Center to show us the diploma she had earned and celebrate with the staff that helped her turn things around.

It is so gratifying to see everything fall into place for Shelley.  Thank you to Santa Clara Unified School District for advocating for Shelley and to Santa Clara County Social Services for agreeing to put Shelley in foster care even when she was almost 18.  Thank you to a special foster mom who is keeping Shelley beyond high school.  And, finally, thank you to an incredible staff who work miracles everyday!

Racial Disparities in Sentencing for Felonies

I never thought it would happen – yesterday Congress voted for a law to decrease the sentencing disparities for crack cocaine possession compared to powder cocaine possession. 

In 1986, during the new “tough on crime” era, people convicted of a first time offense of possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine received a mandatory five-year sentence, while a person had to possess 500 grams of powder cocaine to receive a similar sentence.  80% of the people convicted under the crack cocaine law have been African American, which led some to argue that the war on drugs was largely a racial one since crack cocaine was more prevalent among the black community and power cocaine was more popular among whites.  The harsh laws were in response to news reports of “crack babies” and crack cocaine being more addictive than the powdered form.  The research now shows that these stories are more myth than fact.  Although the revised law does not totally reduce the penalties, it has taken a step in the right direction for ending sentencing disparities.

I have been working on disproportionate minority confinement in the juvenile justice system for the past 20 years.  Yesterday I met with many of my peers to discuss how the “Zero Tolerance Law” in California schools has created the new disparity among minority youth who are sent to juvenile hall for what used to be dealt with in the principal’s office.  More minority youth are sent to juvenile hall because of Zero Tolerance.  Our number one priority is to modify the law.  At the time I felt discouraged.  What a huge undertaking!  But perhaps it is possible if President Obama takes the lead like he did on the crack cocaine issue.  I can dream, right?

I am also reading The New Jim Crow, which is a thought provoking book that argues that mass incarceration of African American men is the new racial caste system replacing Jim Crow laws.  A while back The New York Times reported on two studies of Atlanta and other cities on the high number (up to 2/3rds of African American men in some neighborhoods) of African American men convicted of a felony who could not vote.  Convicted felons are often denied housing, employment, and other benefits.  The author writes, ”Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance of race in America.  Indeed, a primary function of any racial caste system is to define the meaning of race in its time.  Slavery defined what it meat to be black (a slave), and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen).  Today, mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black mean, are criminals.  That is what it means to be black.”   (The New Jim Crow, Micelle Alexander, The New Press, 2010, p. 192.)

It’s encouraging to see that Congress is recognizing the disparities in drug possession penalties and is addressing it.  As long as we keep questioning the status quo and work toward social justice for all, we can make a difference.

My Mom Finds A New Home

I knew it would happen sooner or later.  My aging mother, who suffers from dementia, would need to leave her home.  In the busiest time of the year for Bill Wilson Center, my mother had a stroke and was rushed to the hospital.  As her designated care-giver, I needed to make some quick decisions.

Although I am experienced at working with youth, I have no experience working with seniors.  Within a few days, I had to find and approve a skilled nursing facility for her rehabilitation.  I was referred to a hospital discharge social worker who I never saw.  I looked at two nursing homes that my mom’s managed care would approve and quickly chose one based on the feel of the place more than anything.  Medicare rates nursing homes, but I was told not to rely on that altogether and to do my own research.

Physically, my mother recovered quickly.  Unfortunately, her dementia made her a “wander risk”, and she ended up in the parking lot one day.  Like some of our kids at the Bill Wilson Center youth shelter, she wanted to get out and go somewhere, anywhere.  I got a call the next day from staff at the nursing home saying that my mother needed to be removed immediately.  They were not going to be responsible for someone who wandered.  She was a safety risk.  My only option was to pay for someone to sit with her in the nursing home to make sure she didn’t wander, while I spent the next two days researching alternate assisted living and nursing homes.  I complained that at Bill Wilson Center we just added extra staff to watch our runaways and we paid for it, not the parents!  Of course, this was a profit-making health corporation and they were not going to be responsible for the added cost.

I quickly found that most nursing homes and assisted living programs were not equipped to handle my mother’s wandering within her limited budget.  The few programs designed for Alzheimer’s were very expensive.  I was surprised.  As a temporary measure I moved my mom into my home with a daycare program and added help so I could continue working and provide the 24-hour care she now needed.  I needed more time to make the right choice for my mother.

Through my local network, (thank you Facebook!), I found a woman who helped find a place for my mom in Santa Clara County.  I had to find a place that was affordable and could handle her “wandering.”  She is now living in an assisted living home with 20 other seniors.  For the first week my mom was rejecting her roommate and once ended up in the wrong bedroom in the middle of the night.  A week later, I got a call at 3 am and learned she had fallen but was back in bed and doing ok.  I visit frequently and my mom seems happy.  Like me, she is adjusting to her new reality.

I am sharing this experience because many of my peers are dealing with similar situations.  I am enjoying having my mother closer to me so I can visit more, but I worry about her long-term care.  I am surprised there aren’t more options for seniors like my mom.  Maybe Bill Wilson Center needs to open up a group home for runaway seniors.