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HEARTS WITH A MISSION Program provides stable homes for youth Shelter's new program pairs stable families with youth at risk for homelessness Comment By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 28, 2014 at 2:00 AM By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 28, 2014 at 2:00 AM --> Four rules for parents and youth: Parents • Must go through application process, including background check and three letters of recommendation  ... » Read more X Four rules for parents and youth: Parents • Must go through application process, including background check and three letters of recommendation  • No history of violent crime or crime against minors and no past accusation of crime against minors • Must be 100 percent transparent about all past court convictions • Must complete training for crisis prevention/intervention Youth  • Cannot be considered a danger to themselves • Cannot be considered a danger to others • If under 18, biological parents must formally allow youth to stay with host family • Youth must follow rules established by host family » Social News Fay Wiley insists there's nothing special about her but a willing heart. "I just said yes," she says. But to a 14-year-old Medford girl named Tianna Edwards, Wiley and her husband, Randy, are a safe haven from a troubled home life. The Wileys are the first to sign up for a new program in which families are recruited to provide a safe, stable environment for youth whose own home lives are plagued by drugs, alcohol, abuse or other troubles. The program is organized by Hearts With a Mission, a temporary shelter for youth in Medford. "Anybody could say yes," says Fay Wiley, whose mother battled alcoholism during Wiley's youth, making home a tough place to grow up at times.  "You can't make your parents get well; you can't will them to get well. The parent has to come to a point and decide they want to become what their kids need them to be," she says.  Tianna had been seeking refuge from her biological mother's chaotic home at Hearts With a Mission since 2013. But three weeks ago, she found a new life with the Wileys, with whom she lives full-time. Before Tianna learned about Hearts With a Mission's host-family program, the thought of having to leave the shelter made her feel helpless and depressed, she says. Youth can stay up to 72 hours at the shelter without parental consent, and up to 120 days with consent.  “I didn't really know where I was going to end up, but I really didn't want to go home," Tianna says. "It was really bad for me there.” Tianna plans to change her legal first name to Holly because she has changed as a person over the past year and feels the name suits her better, she says. Because Tianna is a minor, her mother had to agree to give the Wileys temporary custody but can revoke it at anytime, according to the program's policies. Providing Tianna with a successful home environment will give her biological mother time to get her life together to a point where she can offer the type of love and support her daughter needs, says Kevin Lamson, executive director and founder of Hearts With a Mission. “I want to stay with (Wiley) until my mom can figure out a way to get better," Tianna says. "I would want to live with (my mother) if she was better.” Tianna declined to elaborate on her biological mother's troubles. She says she's now doing well as a freshman at Armadillo Technical Institute, a public charter school in Phoenix, where her favorite subjects are rock 'n' roll history and math.  “I got the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and the courage to change the things I can. ... I need to do what I need to do to help myself,” she says. Wiley says the host-family program is designed to give at-risk kids a leg up before their lives deteriorate into homelessness, a problem that plagues hundreds, if not thousands, of students in Jackson County every year. Between 2004 and 2013, the Medford School District's homeless student population has fluctuated between a low of 962 in 2004 and a high of 1,341 in 2010, according to data provided by the Oregon Department of Education. In 2011, when 1,235 homeless students were counted,  Medford had the third most homeless students out of any district in the state, data show.  "(The program) is about helping before kids get to the point where they are homeless or get to the point where there is abuse. ... It's what we should have been doing all along," Wiley says. "These are not bad kids, they've just been dealt some bad situations and they're doing the best that they can." Wiley, who owns a home cleaning company in Medford, says  having Tianna around helps bring some of the joy back into her home that dissipated when her son grew up and moved out. Based off a tried-and-true model called Safe Families for Children, developed by Illinois-based Lydia Home Association, the host-family program signifies "the next step" for Hearts With a Mission and serving at-risk youth in Jackson County, Lamson says. Not only does the program provide youth with a long-term support option when their stay at Hearts With a Mission comes to an end, it's also a viable route for youth who have never been to the shelter but are seeking temporary respite from their families, Lamson says. It might be a few days or a few years, he says, depending on however long it takes before a child can return to a safe and functional family environment at home. According to 2012 numbers released by Lydia Home Association about the performance of Safe Families for Children in Illinois, where it has been implemented since 2005, more than 90 percent of all children who took part made a successful return to their biological parents or relatives. The average stay with a host family was about 40 days, but as short as one day and as long as over a year. Hearts With a Mission hopes eventually to have 50 to 100 host families dedicated to taking in youth for a variety of stay periods. Organizers say their goals are to prevent child abuse, keep kids out of the state’s foster care system, stabilize troubled families and ultimately reunite kids with their biological parents, Lamson says. Local churches and other volunteers are signed up to help host families with transportation, food, clothing and other needs, he says. Hearts With a Mission is actively recruiting host families and volunteers for the program, and has more youth on the waiting list than it can serve, says Sharon Rush, program director. Rush estimates that about 30 percent of the 458 youth Hearts With a Mission has served since it was established in December 2009 could be enrolled in the new program.  In 2010, the Oregon State Legislature passed a bill allowing private organizations such as Hearts With a Mission to provide volunteer respite care for children looking to escape troublesome family environments. Senate Bill 991 trimmed some state regulatory measures to allow for the service and tacked on requirements for the screening of volunteer host families. Hearts With a Mission was awarded a $50,000, three-year grant from Oregon Department of Human Services in August to expand its shelter services, which it is doing in part by developing this host-home program. The organization teamed up with Medford-based Maslow Project for the grant proposal, and both organizations are working to identify youth and recruit families. Hearts With a Mission, which is only the second organization in Oregon recognized as an implementing agency of the Safe Families for Children program, hopes its work will take pressure off the Oregon DHS-operated foster care program, Lamson says. “It’s not that they’re doing a bad job. … Foster care serves a very important purpose,” Lamson says. “We’re providing service at a different stage … where (DHS) can’t provide help.” For more information about Hearts With a Mission's host-family program, call 541-646-7385. Reach reporter Sam Wheeler at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/swhlr. By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Sam Wheeler Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 28, 2014 at 2:00 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. 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