Youth shelters struggle with changes in service

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The closing of Attention Home in Cheyenne left a gap in youth crisis shelter services in the capital city that community leaders are trying to fill.

"Everybody's been burning up the phone lines for the past few weeks," said Tony Lewis, director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services.

Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen, he said, is facilitating discussions with several potential providers and is expected to have a plan soon, along with other members of the community juvenile services board.

Like Attention Home, some youth crisis shelter providers around Wyoming are struggling to cope with fewer clients and fewer dollars from the state as the result of a movement to keep children in their own homes wherever possible.

Lewis said he's been spending much of his time in Basin and Rock Springs, among other cities, to find out what types of juvenile services those communities want and "if it fits with our strings of money."

Attention Home was established about 34 years ago but recently fell victim to what other providers described as "the perfect storm."

The facility was beset with fewer placements, inadequate state reimbursements and a lack of additional sources of financial support.

When it closed recently, the home had only four or five children in the group home and 18 in foster care. Historically, more than 200 children went through the facility every year.

Lewis said very dedicated people work in these institutions.

"But the best practice in social work is keeping kids close and working with the parents so they can keep them in the home," he added.

The department's out-of-home placements, Lewis said, decreased from 1,300 to 1,100 over the past year. At the same time, there has been a gradual development of community alternatives.

"We are not kicking kids out on the street," Lewis said.

The movement is in keeping with a state law on community juvenile services. But Lewis said the communities and their leaders are driving the reduced placements as much as the state law.

The law commonly known as the Community Juvenile Services Act was amended by the 2004 Legislature to require the Department of Family Services to prepare a plan to address the needs of children and families with emphasis on support and preservation of families.