Providing A Safe Haven For Children

By Jan Howard

Children who are removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect are able to receive a loving, nurturing environment and a safe haven through a new Department of Children and Family (DCF) initiative, the Safe Home Program.

The local Safe Home, located in Danbury, provides 24-hour, seven day-a-week residential care on a year-round basis for abused and neglected children between the ages of 3 and 12.

The focus of the home is to provide a loving, nurturing, and safe environment for the children until permanent placement can be found. The program provides emergency shelter up to 45 days.

 Family and Children’s Aid in Danbury will operate the $600,000 program, the first to open in DCF’s northwest region.

In addition to residential care, the Safe Home Program offers a comprehensive clinical evaluation of children and sibling groups who are experiencing an initial out-of-home placement.

DCF intends to open 16 of these safe homes throughout the state. In Fairfield County, other homes are located in Bridgeport and Greenwich.

 The goal is to give the children a safe place until DCF staff members can assess the children’s situations and make arrangements for long-term care.

The Safe Home Program services all area towns. “It’s been a fabulous thing,” said Rita Thal, chairman of Family and Children’s Aid, Danbury Auxiliary.

Odessa Peterson of Brookfield, the auxiliary’s vice chairman, has been a volunteer with them for 28 years. Ricci’s Salon in Newtown, where Ms Peterson is salon coordinator, recently held a Cut-a-Thon that raised $840 for the operation of the Safe Home Program.

The Safe Home was made possible through generous contributions from local businesses and individuals. About 53 organizations and many individuals contributed to the refurbishment of the Safe Home, through the donation of materials, furniture, cash, and labor.

While the state-funded program takes care of the rent and day-to-day operation of the home, there were no funds allotted for start-up for the house. Agency representatives turned to the community for help with repairs to the house and for furnishings.

Community support has been tremendous, according to Kevin McNellis, the agency’s chief financial officer, and Robin McGlynn, the business manager.

“The house was in grave need of repairs,” Mr McNellis said. “The community support was absolutely unbelievable. In 90 days we opened the program and received $150,000.

“Every time we went to the vendors, they said, ‘We’ll do it for these children,’” he said.

ABC News broadcaster Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, co-author with Mr Jennings of  The Century, were guest speakers at a fundraising breakfast in December that raised $40,000 for the Safe Home Program.

A bonding package is pending at the state level for an additional home for children who have been in multiple placements, Mr McNellis said.

GE Capital Commercial Equipment Financing is a sponsor of the Danbury home. Its 110 employees donated all the appliances and new carpeting as well as a week of labor and materials. Bob’s Discount Furniture donated all the furniture, Mr McNellis said. “Bob Kaufmann said, ‘Pick out anything you want.’ He kind of adopted our program.”

The owner of Mr Electric, Marc Audette, donated about $10,000 worth of electrical work.

The Safe Home opened in December. “The state has contracted for one in each region,” Mr McNellis said. “It is a new concept the commissioner came up with, the ER of foster care. It is a partnership between the state and the community.”

The Safe Home Program offers 45 intensive services for the children, including medical, dental, legal, and full-time psychiatric coverage. “These are things it used to rely on foster parents for,” Mr McNellis explained. “This will relieve pressures on the foster care network.”

The community support has helped provide the home with a higher employee/child ratio, he noted. The home has between two and five workers at all times, which include a nurse, program director, shift coordinator, and child care workers, plus security.

“We can add more services because of the volunteers,” Mr McNellis said.

While there is a possibility that children cared for by the Safe Home can go back to their biological parents, the majority of them go to foster care, he said.

Forty children have lived in the house since it opened. The house can accommodate eight children at any one time.

An excerpt from a recent letter to Mr McNellis points out the importance of the Safe Home Program.

The writer notes: “I wish there had been safe houses and foster homes when I was growing up. The State Police were at our house from time to time. These same police officers told me they could never be there when I needed help. They also showed me several tricks in defending myself.

“Most children in those days were either left at home or put in the orphanage, in North Haven.

“I’ve since thanked our Heavenly Father for those state troopers. Their tricks in fighting, plus other tricks I’ve picked up since, have saved my life many times.”

Mr McNellis said statistics show that 279 children in the Danbury area are removed from their homes for abuse and neglect. Counseling services are offered through the agency for as long as the children need them, Ms McGlynn said. “Our therapists are on call 24 hours a day.”

“The principle is to keep the children together and help with placement,” Mr McNellis said. “We continue our follow-up with the kids after they are placed. They never lose touch with us. We gather all the kids who have been here back for an event.”

The first placement is so important, he said. The home, he noted, “gives the kids a chance. We’re creating an atmosphere where the kids come in during a difficult time, and you see them start to smile. Some of them have never had a home like this.

“Forty-five days is a snapshot of what life can be like,” he added. “We welcome them into our lives.”

“We become a second home for the kids,” Ms McGlynn said. “We tell them good things. We spend time with them, bake with them. Our goal was to make the house a home for children.”

The house is special, and truly a home. It is child friendly. It is also handicapped accessible, and safe, with an alarm system.

The warmth and caring of the staff is felt as an onlooker watches as they interact with current resident children. One little girl gives a warm, welcoming hug to a stranger and shows her the Easter basket and books and a coloring book she has received. She gladly accepts the role of tour guide offered by Mr McNellis and Ms McGlynn to show her new friend through the house.

A playroom on the first floor is stocked with games and toys for all ages, as well as a TV. A formal living room offers a place for prospective foster parents and children to meet. From the kitchen, a visitor gets a peek at the children’s play area in the back yard that includes a playhouse and playground ship, with slides and swings. Union Savings Bank donated the playground, which was created during Hurricane Floyd.

In the dining room, a member of the staff helps a young boy with his homework at the table. Upstairs, a boy naps in one of the bedrooms.

The second-floor bedrooms are bright and cheerful with fresh paint on the walls and colorful spreads on the beds. In a small room off a main bedroom, a mural on the wall features sunflowers, vines, and wildflowers, complete with bees. Animals and cartoon characters adorn another wall.

The bedrooms are hot on this warm May afternoon. The windows are open, but no breeze stirs through the rooms. “We need to raise money for air conditioning,” Mr McNellis said. Having an air conditioning system will also aid in the effort to keep the home a safe and secure environment, he said.

The history of Family and Children’s Aid dates back to the vision of one Victorian woman, who brought to the public’s attention the deplorable living conditions of children dependent on public charity, as well as the practice of removing poor children from their families’ care.

In the 1800s, neglected and destitute children were often “sold out” for housework, indentured as apprentices until the age of 18, or sent to what were known as almshouses.

It was Virginia T. Smith who sponsored the bill making it illegal for dependent children to be placed in almshouses and led the way toward foster care and preventive services. Assistance was brought directly to families to alleviate suffering.

In 1892 she founded Connecticut Children’s Aid Society (CCA), which in 1896 was incorporated as the first statewide agency for the care of dependent children. By 1926 CCA’s Fairfield District Branch opened at 30 West Street in Danbury, with two children under its care.

During the mid-1930s, Federal Aid to Dependent Children significantly reduced the number of children requiring foster placement because of financial need. In the following years, CCA developed additional programs for families experiencing distress, so that whenever possible they might remain intact.

CCA combined services with the Hartford Orphan Asylum in 1950 and became known as the statewide, private, non-sectarian Children’s Services of Connecticut. In 1973, Family and Children’s Aid, Inc., came into being as it is known today.

Family and Children’s Aid, located at 75 West Street, Danbury, is a United Way and DCF supported agency. Other area offices are located at 71 West Street in Danbury, 158 Danbury Road in Ridgefield, and 56 Danbury Road in New Milford. There are also offices in Winsted and Waterbury.

The executive director of the agency is Dr Irving Jennings.

Mr McNellis said the agency is the “largest social services provider in this area.” Other services it offers are Child Guidance Clinic, Latino Counseling Service, Mobile Emergency Psychiatric Service, Attention Deficit Disorder Clinic, Home-Based Parent Counseling Program, Child and Adolescent Respite Program, Family Service, and Home Care Service. Also offered are Chore Service for elderly individuals, Visitation Support Program, Extended Day Treatment Program, Juvenile Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Services (TREAT), Positive Futures, Therapeutic Nursery School, Husky Plus Behavioral, Program for HIV Affected and Infected Children, Substance Abuse Evaluation and Treatment, and Foster Care.

 Volunteers are always needed to work with the children or to help in some way. To volunteer or to contribute toward an air conditioning system for the Safe Home, contact Mr McNellis at Family and Children’s Aid, 75 West Street, Danbury, CT 06810, or call 748-5689.