Safe places help
Helping young people in crisis, city and school officials met with Kody Ford, street outreach coordinator with Youth Bridge Tuesday morning.
Ford met with Mayor Jackie Crabtree, Fire Department deputy fire chief Jack Wassman, Police Capt. Chris Olson and school social worker Amanda Childs to begin the conversation of providing safe places in Pea Ridge for young people who need assistance.
Ford said Youth Bridge had received a grant to help the homeless and sexually exploited.
“We want to get people on the same page,” Ford said, explaining that he is working with communities through both Benton and Washington counties. “We want to connect law enforcement with service providers and open lines of communication.”
Wassman, who also works fulltime with the Rogers Fire Department, said Rogers fire stations had received designation of safe places years ago and that updated training would be beneficial.
Ford said Harps is a designated safe place and there is a poster explaining the protocol to employees.
He said an employee of a safe place should first call Youth Bridge who will go to the youth in need, assess the situation and take the youth to an emergency shelter if needed. Depending on the youth’s age, the hotline might be contacted.
“Ultimately, we want to get kids back with their families,” Ford said, acknowledging that if it’s an abusive situation, there are other agencies that would be contacted to assist.
“It’s really just an urgent, rapid response. The kid sees the sign and knows it’s safe,” he said.
National Safe Place is a national organization, Ford said, explaining that Youth Bridge is the local provider of safe places.
Childs said she was aware of many situations in which the youths may threaten to run away, but may just need a place to cool off before returning home.
Olson said the police receive multiple calls from parents needing help with their teenage children.
“Even when parents call saying they can’t get along and want them out, we can’t take them,” he said. “We don’t know what to do with them. They don’t know what
to do with themselves.”
He said a safe place is a good idea.
Childs said there are many situations in which grandparents are trying to be the parents and because of the generation gap, they really struggle with pre-teens and teens who know how to “push their buttons.”
“I think parents and grandparents are scared. They don’t want to abandon the children,” Childs said. “They need help.” Olson agreed. “Sometimes we get called to the same house three, four times in a night. It’s a revolving door. What do we do? We can’t keep spending all our resources on this one kid,” Olson said, agreeing that if there were a spot where the youths could go and the parents knew they would be safe, it would help.
Ford said they provide transportation.
He said the first phase of meeting the needs of the youth is mapping where they “hang out” and he also has street packs with essentials such as water, granola bars, tuna, gloves and a hat for youths who don’t have a stable situation or are homeless.
Ford said Youth Bridge is in need of volunteers and anyone interested could contact him at kford@youthbridge.com or call 479-575-9471.
All agreed training in proper protocols and community involvement would be beneficial.
Childs said there are some youths in Pea Ridge who are at very high risk of being trafficked.
“This could really be beneficial,” she said. “We need to get these families wrapped into the services they need.”
“It’s amazing what some of our youth and parents are going through,” Crabtree noted, saying City Hall could also be a designated safe place.