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Show I ' it m -. . ;. - . - . , . ; DEEP IN THE White River decline shaft, Corey Grua points out how the ceiling is reinforced. The decline is nearly a half a mile long and was at the point of turning back and below itself last week. Youth in trouble Shelter care home to juveniles By Steve Christensen Eipen Atsiitont Editor Editor's note: This is the second in a three part series dealing with juvenile detention and shelter care. This arti-tle arti-tle will emphasize the procedures and processes of children taken to the Uintah Uin-tah Basin Youth Center for shelter tare. Shelter care at the Uintah Basin Youth Center is initiated by law enforcement en-forcement officers or by the division of Family Services. Children are taken to the Youth Center when they ha ve no place to go, or when they are in danger from someone in their environment. The Uintah Basin Youth Center is under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. The Juvenile Court System in the United States exists because peo-, peo-, pie believe children have special legal considerations. Not only is the premise widely accepted that juvenile offenders of the law should be dealt with differently than adults, but that they also have special needs and rights. The scenario is often the same, a child is brought to the Youth Center because he has been neglected or abused. He has done nothing wrong, and yet, he is the one in trouble. In trouble because he has been taken away from his parents. Court Referee Tom Freestone gets a little glassy eyed and looks away for a moment, "Too many times their parents are all they've got." And now their parents, too, have been taken from them. By law children have the right to a hearing within 48 hours of when they arrive at the Youth Center, but Mr. Freestone does his best to have the hearing even sooner than that. He says it is the intention of the court to keep families together whenever possible, not seperate them. But, now they are seperated, and it is the responsibility of the court to protect pro-tect the child, whether he is ever returned to his parents or not. The initial shelter care hearing is to determine whether there was justification justifica-tion to initially bring the child to the Youth Center, and if there is justification justifica-tion to keep the child there. In initial hearing no evidence is taken. It is held somewhat mlormally, and the situation situa-tion is discussed. People present at the hearing include parents, the court referee, an officer of the court, representatives of family services, law enforcement officers who may be involved in picking up the child, Bob Allen, director of the Youth Center, and counsel for the parents, if desired. The court, in this situation, has no right to appoint counsel, since there has been no charge of crime. Throughout the entire process, the child remains the most important factor. fac-tor. The child has the right to refuse to talk with anyone, including his parents and the court will defend that right. Much of what the child says will be used to determine whether or not he is released to his parents or to remain re-main in shelter care. In the end, the court referee makes the decision whether the child should remain in shelter care. The parents have the right to appeal any decision of the court referee. Continued on page 2 Shelter care... Continued from page 1 It is not the only situation where hearings are held. If a child is placed in a foster home by the court, and for some reason it doesn't work out, the child can be readmitted to the Youth Center. A hearing then determines what the next move of the court will be. If any child is detained in shelter care there may be another hearing when conditions change or when other options avail. Life in the Youth Center for children is good, but it isn't home. House parents Bob and Bonnie Allen do what they can to make the children feel comfortable, but the situation is very stressful for the children. It could hardly be otherwise under the conditions. condi-tions. There are two bedrooms in the Youth Center for shelter care children, each has two beds. There have been times when seven children have been in shelter care at the same time. Bob says they make do the best they can. They have rollaway beds, and there is a TV room which can be used as another bedroom. Some days every meal seems like Thanksgiving dinner. With seven shelter care children, a couple in detention, plus Bob and Bonnie and their four children, it isn't unusual for Bonnie to prepare meals for 15. The children have duties around the home, including cleaning their own rooms and helping clean up after dinner. din-ner. Bob says they usually have no problems with the kids being willing to help. He said a little respect on his family's part goes a long way in gaining gain-ing respect of the children. Most of the children in shelter care are not in detention. There are house rules and regulations concerning where they can go and when they must be back, but they are basically free to lead as normal a life as this kind of a situation can allow. Bob says most of the kids are great about being back to the Youth Center by the prescribed time. He said most of them are so happy hap-py to be treated nice, they go out of their way to be kind. Of course there are the exceptions. Any time there is a group of kids they will vary greatly. Some you must keep tighter reigns on than others. Some are just basically con artists. But Bob says after having six kids of his own, that's just the way kids differ from each other. Occasionally a child will have court restrictions placed on him in shelter care. Bob said a couple of times they have had a girl in detention, and then the detention facility has become overcrowded. over-crowded. Instead of double bunking the boys, which is not a good situation in detention, the girl, by order of the court, has been transferred to shelter care, and placed under house arrest. House arrest means the only time the child can leave the premises is if one of the facility coordinators or someone from family services is with her. Bob says he has yet to have a child abuse that privilege. He said usually they are so happy to be out of detention that they are more than happy to obey the house rules. The entire Youth Center is meant only for temporary housing of children. Shelter care is arranged only on-ly until the juvenile court has made a decision to care for the child in a more permanent situation. That permanent situation may come by sending the child back home, to a youth group home, or perhaps to a foster home. Bob says their purpose in the whole thing is protect the child, physically and mentally until such time as the court orders him somewhere else. But as sure as one leaves, another comes in, and the ever revolving door revolves once more. |