When children are removed from their homes due to life-threatening abuse or neglect, they need a stable temporary home and skilled care so they can begin healing. Since 1984, the Austin Children’s Shelter (ACS) has provided a safe haven and emergency shelter for children of every age, from birth to 17 years old, giving them an opportunity to one day thrive in a permanent family setting.

For many years, the demand for ACS’ services has exceeded the organization’s resources. With a total of 30 beds available, ACS was often forced to turn away as many children as it served. Lack of space was not the only constraint: ACS frequently had to deny entry because a child required more intensive counseling and longer-term care than ACS was equipped to provide.

ACS is about to eliminate many of those constraints. With support from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and other donors, ACS broke ground in February, 2008 on a new facility. This new facility will allow the shelter to reach beyond emergency care and provide longer-term care for youths who cannot immediately succeed in a foster home. When completed in 2009, the new campus will feature five residential cottages and three support buildings, accommodating up to 78 children at a time. This will represent a 93 percent increase in the number of abandoned, abused and neglected children that ACS can care for each year.

Many of the children who arrive at ACS have very acute needs: Some are highly aggressive, some are run-aways, and others have attempted suicide. Caring for these children requires a sophisticated level of care and a smaller ratio between care-giver and child. In this new facility ACS will be equipped to handle those children, without sacrificing the safety of others in their care.

S.A.F.E.

ACS provides for the basic needs of the children in its care through the S.A.F.E. program, which stands for Shelter, Apparel, Food and Environment. These needs include accommodations in a homelike facility and 24-hour supervised care, balanced meals, healthy snacks and nutritional supplements appropriate for each age as well as clothing and personal care items for each child.

Lesson Learned: Maintain Bonds of Family and School

Over the course of 24 years, the administrators and professional staff at ACS have learned some valuable lessons about how to reduce the emotional trauma and pave the way to recovery for child victims of abuse, violence and neglect. One critical factor is the ability to keep siblings together in the same facility so they can maintain familial ties. It is also important for children to continue attending the same school, instead of forcing them to relocate to a new district during an already difficult and traumatic time.

At its new facility, ACS will have the resources it needs to help children maintain these crucial bonds of family, school and community.

Outlook

Austin Children’s Shelter strives to lay a foundation of hope for a better future and the planned additional space and expanded services are crucial to that mission. Each day, ACS continues to help the children already in its care.