If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. --~--~- runaway house II i A Youth-Run Service Project I. I NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH . runaway house A Ywth·Run Serv1ce Ftoj2ct \ by Dodie Butler, Runaway House and Group Foster Home Counselor with Joe Reiner, New Education Project Coordinator and Bill Treanor, SAJA Coordinator A Report Prepared for the National Institute o'f Mental Health Center for Studies of Child and Family Mental Health, 5600 Fishers lane Rockville, Maryland 20852 FOREWORD This rep?rt wa~ prepared by the staff of Special Approaches In JuvenIle Asslstanc~, under Contract No, NIH 71-584 with Runaway House! A Youth-Run Service Project is In addition to serving as an example of a youth-run for of Child and Family Mental Health, t~e.~enter ~tudjes presented as an example of an initiative which may project, this report may also aid communities in DIVISion of Special Mental Health Programs, National Institute be of interest to people concerned with counter­ establishing their oWn service delivery systems. Many of Mental Health culture service projects. Very often youth decide to parents would be willing to pool their efforts to lido their own thing"; nonetheless, they are fre­ develop services of help for their children if they quently enmeshed ina maze of bUreaucratic require­ knew how. ments and standards, special legal statutes, and some­ times seemingly restrictive professionalism; The report is presented here as submitted by the authors, with no attempt made to influence its Without endorsing this or any other specific mode! of content, thrust, or style to conform to conventional a service project to meet a pressing human need, we standards, practices, or attitudes. Therein lies its recognize that the experience in setting up and freshness and jf we tune in to the experiencEI of operating a Runaway House as described here con­ 'these young people, we may have something of value tains 'elements which can be shared and which may to learn. This then, while it neither reflects an assist other young people in their quest for non­ endorsement nor a position of the National Institute trac\itional, nonprofessional routes to self-help. of Mental Health, is Runaway House: Report of a Youth·Run Service Project. In the field of human• services, we are aware that limited manpower resources call for creative and innovative alternatives to traditional solutions, and that these alternatives have frequently met with suc­ cess among the young. Research on such techniques, however nonconformist they may appear to be, may FLORENCE H. STOVER well yield helpful and useful clues to some of the Coordinator, most dynamic styles of service for and. among 20~h Child Mental Health Activities Century youth. National Institute of Mental Health DHEW Publication No.(ADM)74-44 Printed 1974 FQr.$lllo lw J,hQ SUp;lrlntcndQl1( ot DI)CUlnents, U.S. Government Printing Olll.eo W,., I to F • .....1 ng n, D.C. ~~ t ~ I: ii rj iii yt it 'I 'I I I\ it CHAPTER I. SAJA-A COMMUNITY OF together to become involved in this group). The "super­ 1 YOUTH PROJECTS staff." I;lbout '24 people, m!lke all the decisions that I j affect the whole organization-division of money among " projeots, initlation of new projects, special pl,lrchases, ,! On paper, Special Approaches in Juvenile Assistance CONTENTS I (SAJA), is a nonprofit corporation d()dicated to et~.,-"'nd ~ave Input on decisions abo lit mnjor changes Within individual projects. Smaller prolect collectives "developing and impl(lmenting new approaches' to the make decr~{ons specific to the tndlvld~lalllrolects. Two problems thi1t face many adolescents today, providino admi.nistrative workers handle fund-raislno, pubffc free or low-cost sl'lrvices to adolescp.nts and their fE\milies Foroword Page rEllatlons, a lot of agency contact, and attend the smaller ~n tile Washington metropolitan !lrefl" ... and " . I/being III collective meetings to tie the whole th:l1g together. Chapter I. In the vllngllard of c:;ommunity mental health ••• by SAJA-A Community of Youth Projects offering prog"amfi and services .•. lacking in programs of • ~ t ~ ,. ,. t .. or ft. .. • .. • • " ~ traditional social service agencil'ls •... " SAJA was Chaptar II. Tile Office Runaway HOUSOl Advocate of Reality incorporatl'ld in November 1969 to estaolish nonprofit 9 corporate status for the Runaway HOlISe shelterl Chapter II I. Group: Foster Homes The two SAJA administrators work out af the SA~A .. ,. ,. • , • " • It •• " • counseling program and for any other projects that " .. t .... ,. • t .. l' " , " " ~ , ... 39 office through which flows much of the organization's avolved as the people tn the organization ~aw needs Chapter IV. F d' contact with the community, wIth job appllcant$, With un lng-with a P.S. on Scroungino •..••..•.•. ari~ing in the community. Since that time, SAJA has ~ • • .. " ,. t .. .. of t 66 fundino sources, etc. The office fields lot of outliide grown to include the RunawaY House, two Qroup foster a Ch!)pter V. Struggles of Colleotivism contact, channels information to the projects, interviews , .. .. .. II , .. t. .. • t • .. • , t , , .. , • • • t , homes a free job-finding co-op, a summer employment ~ 61 l job applicants, and I<eeps SAJl\'s bool(s. Warldng In and ... program for nf:liohborhood young people, a free high school. It also extends nonprofit status to associated put of the office, the twC/ adminl$trative worl(ers coordinate the various proJects. 68 programs: a day care center, a free school information As the organization grew, from Runaway Hal/sa and clearinghouse, and & free law $chool. Although the one group home at the end of 1969 to Its pres!1nt size by articles of incorporation are signed (according to law) by the fall of 1971, administrative worl< lnyolved In running people called "directors," SAJA is run col(ectively by SAJA grew tenfold, The office was set UP to more the people within these various projects. efficiently manage the administrative worl< generated by When we, its members, talk about SAJA we are talking each of the proj(Jcts-work that could, if necessary, be about a group of people~a large, counter-cultural taken care of by the workers In each project. We tried to collecti'Je, which inclUdes tile project workers and the cope with getting routine paperwork done by hiring young paople involved In the oroup homes and the free various secretaries to mam.\\lc tlw office. However, high school. !;ach week we meet in a large d(Jclsjon­ straight sacretarl!!1 work is terribly alil1n&tino , perhaps making collective of all the project workers, which we doubly 50 in an organization dedicated to giving people unabashedly call !'superstaff" (the kids are getting, it sati$fyinQ worl~ situations. Therefore, we had a high turnover rate among secretaries. aUPERSTAFF As the org<)nlzation gr(Jw, the prolect worker~ became all SAJA wprko,s, less and less In touch with the total picture of SAJA. People's authority hangups got In ,the way and they saw the administrators as different from them, not only in JOB co,opr RUNAWAY HOUSE HOME REPAIR co-or fUnction but in ranl<. People didn't soc that tho office COL,LECTIVE COLLIlCTlVE '--___~..-I\ was not an entity unto itself" but existed only because of' the work generated by the projects themselves. \ \ In trying to cut down on this alienation, we have IiH TWO GROUP HOME \ FRfllSCHOOL COLLECTIVES \ COLL\:CTIVE decided to sacrifice some of our efficiency. Everyone'in n ',\ I / L--.__ ~-,---l ,\ I I the organization now works in the office 1 day each ! \ \ I I ... _~_.l_L..l~J__ , month so that everyone will understand better how the I I , OFFICE I office fits into things and how It belongs to them, Tho I (Two admlnlslreliV8 I and I workers) I routine work is generated by aI/ the projects the L _________ ~_i decisions made in the offrce affect everyone. Now all the BAJA workcu liru frwolvod rnboth (lspncts. Of coursil tclophono contact with his parents to onsuro thom of hIs thl$ mean. that thi! Job$ of thlluctuullltfmlnl$trDtors brc sl\Joty. Although wu gJVlJ whatever support W(l fael Is houso rules, to bo In on time (midnight durIng the week and hou$e problems and to matntafn cohodon among tho more diffIcult bIJCIlu5athoru " riO OM In tho off/co 011 of nocQssory, tho runuwuy himself Is rO$ponslblu 'to chooso and 2\00 a.m., 011 woekonds), and to be workinO on their grollp of pooplo In oach house. ThoS(i m()otlngs aro the tlmo. Although we /lro 5tlll wro$tllng wIth problom$ hls own course of nctlon. personnl problems, KIds havo a tendoncy to live up to lIwmdod by a volunteer psyahlutl'lc COI1Sultunt who or tontlnulty, IQJit moulIglls t lIJ1d ,otton thAt don't !Jot MO$t kld$ ~lsUillly $tay ilt Runawoy Housa from 3 tal 0 whatever QXpectotlons they are gIven. Wo uxpoct kids to gIves tM hallS!} restdonts foodbllck on whut hli SOQ$ going answer cd, wo fool that ttla lou of offlcluncy Is worth It duys-thollgh sorno wtth very dlfflcllit sltu~ltlons h!lv!) tokt) rosponsiblo cura of thomsQlvas. ThllY usually do. on. Eneh hOll~o hM nnothor volunteor consultnnt who (und liS pooplo gllln mor(j oXPol~lonc(), thlng$ should run stuyod for months. Runaway H<.'Iuso ulso oOtil ali a youth Ildvot;lIcy center. worl<_ with tho stoff on tho porsonnl ptobloms that urlse moYo ~moothlv} bOCDUS(I 'thllt I. i) fUl'tnct (I)(t(ms!on of Wo koop InformatIon Ilbout 1'001'10 sfllyino In Runaway We provldo Information ubQut. fomlly counsollng sorvlces from working in such (I selt/nu.