Giving hope: Children's Hope in Levelland helps abused youth

by Amelia Gonzales, co-associate editor

Through guidance and support of the community, Children’s Hope of Levelland, provides opportunity, hope, and assurance for children that have been oppressed from a normal childhood due to the trauma of sexual and physical abuse.

The home houses 20 children at a time, with the children ranging in age from 5 to 17 years old. Children’s Hope has been the safe haven for more than 100 children. Each day the home gets application after application of children requesting a place to temporarily call home, along with a place that they are able to get help in understanding, accepting, and learning from the post-traumatic stress that they have had to deal with throughout their lives.

James Alrich, executive director of Children’s Hope, says that when reviewing the applications, the directors of the home must decide who has suffered through the most abuse. These are the children who most people tend to turn their heads away from, the ones who are most affected by the abuse, and the most difficult to be placed, according to Alrich.

“The children that other agencies turn away are the ones that we take,” says Alrich. “Basically those are the children others tend to throw away.”

The typical amount of time that it takes for a child to complete the program lasts anywhere from 12 to 18 months, depending on the amount of restricted care needed for each child.  They are placed into daily living groups, working on social skills and manners.

Sonia Garza, program director, says that the children also get go to places such as hockey games, the movies, the museum, and basketball games. They also participate in journaling and therapeutic group work

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Many times when the children first arrive at the home it is almost impossible to take the children to a sit down restaurant, according to Garza. After lessons in manners and how to sit and act at a restaurant, they are eventually able to enjoy going to some of the same places other children their age get to go. 

“After working with the children for some time on manners and how to behave in public, I have received compliments from many about how these children are some of the best-behaved children that they have ever seen,” says Garza.

When the children first arrive at the home, they go through what is known as a honeymoon period, during which the children go through medication changes as well having to deal with adults they have grown to distrust. After the honeymoon stage is over, the children begin to converse about the abuse that they have experienced. The deeper they get into their story about what has happened to them, the more they begin to deteriate and become violent.

“This downward spiral behavior is what our staff tries build back up in order to successfully place the children in good facilities once they are no longer at the home,” says Melissa Wood, clinical director.

 In 2006, the home was able to have a 100-percent completion rate and have children placed into less restricted environments such as a group home or a foster home.

Wood says that currently there are seven children who attend public schools, and 13 who go through the educational program at the home. All the children follow a vigorous schedule that includes daily living chores, basic hygiene, physical education, and intense counseling that helps bring the children to trust adults and the courage to build relationships with others their own age.

Depending on the CPS caseworker, parental visitation varies for each child. If the parent is safe enough to talk to the children, they are able to spend time with their child. Sadly, many of the children do not have parental visitation, and the child’s identity has to be hidden in order to protect them from the danger that placed them there in the first place.

 Michael Nevarez, campus director, has a team of 23, along with extra mentors. This team focuses on finding the anger issues and then working with the children to try to clear these issues and find resolutions that will dissipate the intensity of the anger.

“My team rotates three different shifts, which include morning, evening, and overnight shifts, in order to provide 24-hour care,” says Nevarez.

Many of the children are as old as 11 years old and still have problems wetting the bed. This team also provides counseling when the children have problems in school or simply have a bad day. They are able to counsel the kids back to where they need to be, helping them understand exactly what went wrong and how to fix it.

Garza, says that each day, though different, follows an extremely set and tight schedule. There are at least three adults available to supervise each child at all times. All of the programming that the home provides works toward building up the children’s trust and communication with adults all over again. When the different teams collaborate, they try to work on daily living skills that should have been taught to them by their parents, such as table manners and basic hygiene.

Some of the other programs available to the children deal specifically with the abuse that they have endured. Their programs focus on how to build up their self-esteem as well as learning how to trust adults again through counseling and writing in journals. Because of all trauma involved in their time lives, many of the children are behind as much as two years in education. Garza says her team as well as the educational team help catch them up to the grade level at which they are supposed to be.

Alrich, says that volunteers are always welcome at the home. These volunteers serve as mentors. Because the home does not advertise, word of mouth serves as the only form of knowledge given to the outside community.

 

Because many people in the community are unable to volunteer their time, many do offer to bring necessities that are needed in the home, since the home is a non-profit agency. The cost to keep each child a day is roughly around $200 a day, and the state reimburses nearly half of that amount. Some of the most needed items include African American hair products, hygiene products, toilet paper and other hair products. Sports equipment, such as well as baseballs, basketballs, volleyballs, and bats are needed as well. School supplies needed as paper, pens, pencils, crayons, and markers.

 “We have been fortunate enough to have the community of Levelland help in order for us to oversee the success of 100 troubled children,” says Alrich. “Without them, there would be no way, no way we could have done this alone.”

Anybody willing to volunteer can call (806) 897-9735, or any donations may be sent to 1313 W. Washington Street in Levelland.