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Foster home should get more time to settle in

Lee Scharrer, director of a social services organization that opened a group home for foster children in Oldsmar a week ago, made a promise and he is determined to keep it.

He told neighbors the Shore Drive group home would not disrupt their neighborhood, but he thinks it was a disruption Tuesday night, so he has decided to close it.

Scharrer needs to ask himself if that is the best decision for the children.

What happened Tuesday night was pretty simple. A 15-year-old foster girl living in the home wanted to do something and was told "no" by one of the four staffers on duty. She got upset and walked out. Another teen in the home went with her. Parents of teenagers will find it easy to imagine this scenario.

However, these children are in the state's temporary care, so the home is required to call police if any child leaves without permission. The staff at the home called authorities to report two runaways.

Runaways are not uncommon at group foster homes, for two reasons. If the child leaves the property, even to cool off after a disagreement, he or she is automatically classified as a runaway. And life is tough for foster kids, who have been removed from their families by the state and placed in unfamiliar surroundings, where they must live under new rules and perhaps under unaccustomed supervision. Some don't like it and leave.

What was truly unusual about the situation in Oldsmar Tuesday night was the degree of response from law enforcement. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office sent 13 patrol cars - 13! - a helicopter and a trained dog to search for the teens. The dark, quiet Shore Drive neighborhood was suddenly under siege, with the helicopter shining its powerful beam down into residents' yards, deputies combing the area, and neighbors with flashlights searching behind bushes. Some neighbors wondered what awful thing had happened to justify such a mighty and lengthy response by law enforcement.

It is not clear why the Sheriff's Office sent so many units to look for two teenagers who had done nothing wrong except leave their home and were not a danger to the community. A Sheriff's Office spokesman said the teens were considered endangered because they were on medication (privacy issues prevent officials from sharing more details), but one has to wonder if the agency's response is the same for every runaway teen in Pinellas who takes medicine.

Gift of Life, the private organization that opened the group home, also operates a larger home for foster children in St. Petersburg, and that home has frequently reported runaways. But Scharrer, Gift of Life's executive director, said he had never experienced the kind of law enforcement "commotion" he saw in Oldsmar.

So Scharrer has vowed to close the home as soon as he can find other places for the six foster children who had just moved there.

That won't be easy. Pinellas County has far more foster children than it has homes for them, and it is especially difficult to find places for teenagers. The six teens who had just settled into the newly renovated home in Oldsmar could wind up anywhere, even in bigger group homes where there is less of a family atmosphere and not as much opportunity for personal attention.

Some Oldsmar residents had opposed having a group home for six foster children in their neighborhood. Even after it opened, some had not given up the fight. But others had embraced the home and its residents and stood ready to reach out to the children who would live there. Living in a well-supervised group home that is part of a loving community still represents the best hope for these teens.

Should two runaways, who were found safe and sound about 5 miles away Tuesday night, shut down that opportunity? Perhaps Scharrer should meet with the sheriff and Oldsmar officials about future responses and give this home a little more time to fit in.

[Last modified December 2, 2005, 01:14:18]