In the end, *Chloe was safe at home. In the beginning, we feared she couldn’t be saved.
“Why don’t you just stop pretending you care?” *Chloe screamed; her voice raw with anger as she turned her back on her parents yet again. After searching for weeks, they had found 16-year-old Chloe wandering the streets, but the relief of finding her was short-lived.
“I don’t love you, and you don’t love me,” she spat.
There are over 2,000 homeless teens in our community who need the support of donors like you to understand that they can make a positive change.
After weeks on the run, when her parents finally convinced her to come to the youth shelter for intake, the counselor, despite over a decade of experience helping teens, couldn’t help but wonder if saving her was even possible.
The intake counselor wasn’t sure if he could even talk Chloe into enrolling at the youth shelter. There was no light in her eyes. She was physically alive, but it was like she was already dead inside. She even called the people whom she had been with on the streets, “bodies”.
She sat slumped in her chair, clothes tattered and dirty, with her arms crossed over her body. She wouldn’t make eye contact with the counselor or her parents. Bruises, scars, and poor hygiene – the result of the battles she’d fought on the streets, abuse of drugs, prostitution and whatever it took to survive without shelter and adult guidance – marred her body.
Nearly 40% of homeless teens become victims of physical or sexual violence; and approximately 28% engage in ‘survival sex’ which puts them at risk of human trafficking. About 75% of homeless youth report using substances as a coping mechanism due to the stress and trauma of living on the streets.
Chloe had so much disdain for her parents that she only called them by their first names, *Lela and *John.
The anguish and disbelief her parents felt as they faced the harsh reality of what had become of their once-precious baby girl was suffocating.
After hours of coaxing, convincing, and pleading with Chloe, she reluctantly agreed to voluntarily stay at the Youth Shelter. But even her yes was without emotion, attachment, or real commitment to change.
Last year our Youth Shelter provided nearly 3,000 bed nights and wrap around services like food, shelter, tutoring, transportation to and from school, individual and family counseling, and community resources to help youth get back on track.
Chloe’s first weeks in the Youth Shelter were marked by a deep depression. The hour-by-hour schedule and behavior rules felt meaningless to her. She did what she had to do, but she was like a robot – devoid of any emotions. In her mind, there was no future worth striving for.
She didn’t care about making progress or earning more house privileges. She couldn’t muster the will to want anything better for herself. And that apathy spilled over into individual and family counseling sessions. She couldn’t express herself beyond the words, “I’m fine.” And when her parents told her how much they loved her and wanted things to be better, she could only respond with a cold lifeless stare.
It was weeks of the same. Slowly she began to interact more with her counselors. And then one day, she went on a field trip organized by the shelter staff to the Bishop Planetarium. And something magical happened. When she returned from the trip, she was more talkative than normal. “Did you know there are billions of galaxies in the universe?!” she exclaimed.
She talked about how the darkness of the galaxies in the universe were like the depression she had been experiencing. But then when a star bursts forth out of the galaxy it shines a light on what was once a deep black hole.
It didn’t take long to realize Chloe wasn’t talking about a galaxy, but about her own life and how she had felt.
Nearly 50% of homeless youth experience severe mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
From that day forward, with the help of her parents, counselors, and all the support and resources the Youth Shelter could provide, Chloe started coming to life.
She started to care about earning privileges in the house and progressed from a residential Level 1 status all the way to Masters Level. She was so proud that she was now a mentor to new teens coming into the program.
Chloe made so much behavioral progress and worked hard in individual and family counseling to acquire new tools for communication and to find self-worth. She worked hard to establish new bonds with her parents and were now calling them mom and dad and not by their first names. She couldn’t give eye contact before, but now she was teaching other teens in the program how to do it.
It’s reported that 65% of homeless youth drop out of high school, significantly limiting their future prospects for success and increasing the likelihood of long-term homelessness.
Chloe eventually transitioned out of the Youth Shelter program and went back to live with her parents. This time she was armed with communication tools and after care resources, and a plan to continue going to school. Weeks later after transitioning back home, she still had the biggest smile on her face.
Today Chloe’s parents are feeling hopeful that she will become what they dreamed of when they brought her home as a baby from the hospital years ago. And, they are adamant that were it not for the services they received at the Youth Shelter, they would have lost Chloe forever. They know, as do our counselors and so many others who have received services from SCC’s programs, that given the chance – change is possible.
*Names in stories have been changed and stock images have been used to protect the privacy of our families.