Linn County youth shelter closes

Until one night in the mid-1970s, it was anyone's guess where troubled Linn County youth would spend the night. Then a 13-year-old sexual abuse victim ended up in jail.

“A matron took over, and they put her in a female cell,” Janet Webster recalled recently. “And she was petrified.”

Webster's late husband David Webster, then a sheriff's sergeant, began making calls. He placed the girl with the family of a local pastor, but her plight stayed with him. He kept pushing the issue, and the county's youth shelter opened in 1975 for youth 12 to 18 who needed a safe, secure place.

An indirect casualty of the 2008 flood, the Linn County Youth Shelter ended its run Saturday, when two local non-profit agencies took over its duties.

After the flood wrecked the shelter at 220 10th St. NW, shelter services were moved to the county's juvenile detention center at 800 Walford Rd. SW, south of The Eastern Iowa Airport, until a permanent solution could be found.

County commissioners decided not to rebuild the 10th Street building, freeing $781,409 in Federal Emergency Management Agency money for other projects.

The detention center could spare only seven beds, half the shelter's usual capacity, so additional youth were placed at shelters operated by non-profits Four Oaks and Foundation 2 - the agencies now taking over the program. Foundation 2 will supply nine beds at its southwest Cedar Rapids shelter, with Four Oaks providing additional capacity as needed at its shelters in Iowa City and Independence.

“We want to try and keep kids close to their community connections and their families,” said Jeff Lindeman, the county's youth services director.

The temporary center and Foundation 2 housed 301 youth in the year ending last July 1, with demand peaking at 16 beds.

“It was a little difficult at first, but we worked it out,” facility coordinator Jeff Werning said of the arrangement. The county had to scramble to meet state standards - shelters are required to be unlocked - and staff spends much of its time hauling youth to school, counseling, and other appointments.

“Shelter is a community-based program, and we're not in much of a community out here,” Werning said.

The non-profit agencies will receive the state's $92.36-per-day payment for each youth, with the county providing another $46. Most shelter stays are for a week or two, Lindeman said, although some have run a month or more. Children younger than 12 are placed in foster homes.

The move will eliminate the shelter's $575,492 annual budget and the three non-union positions on its 10-member staff. A study by Lindeman's staff estimates the county will pay just over $100,000 a year to the agencies, for a net savings of $474,000.

Lindeman said the non-profits' new role amounts to an expansion of their work under Child Welfare Emergency Services (CWES), a pilot program launched in November 2008. CWES provides a one-call combination of crisis response, family therapy, and shelter services around the clock to local police and other agencies.

“Only a few” Iowa counties still provide their own shelters, according to George Belitsos, CEO and founder of Ames-based Youth and Shelter Services who closely follows trends around the country. “Polk, Black Hawk, and Linn are about it.”

“I really think the county-run shelters are having difficulty because they're more expensive,” said Belitsos. “The non-profits are struggling themselves, but I think the county government-run shelters are gradually phasing out.”

“That makes sense and is worthy of exploration,” said Werning, whose job is being eliminated. “I am concerned about the number of shelter care beds and the availability.”

As a manager, Werning's job will be eliminated with the shelter.

“We're exploring our options elsewhere,” he said.

Webster is glad the shelter is leaving the detention center.

“They do a great job out there, but the detention center is still a jail,” she said. “I hope they get them into a homelike setting. Am I bitter about it? not one bit. It served the purpose it was built for.”