interviews

Teens in crisis are often neglected, which led me to interview Andrea Baumgartner, a social worker with The Monongalia County Youth Services Center to try and learn what she is doing to help. The center acts as a crisis center to troubled teens, providing a temporary home for up to 90 days. It is basically a house with 5 bedrooms that can house up to 8 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17. Kids who are awaiting placement in a foster home or have been kicked out of their foster home, or are simply having family problems of a serious nature are eligible for the center. They also provide beds for emergency respite cases for up to one week. These emergency cases can include any situation where the police may be involved. Any time a teen's life is endangered, either by someone else or by themselves, it is included here. It is evident that the agency wishes to provide a family atmosphere for the teens during their stay. They do everything together including meals, work, and entertainment activities. Andrea Baumgartner, the social worker, with whom I visited, told me that they "want to provide an atmosphere for the teens that teaches them what a family really looks like."

Andrea Baumgartner is a youth service worker with the Mon county youth services center. Her professional responsibilities at the agency include supervision, supportive counseling, every day activities, emotion processing, and mentor roles. An average day for Baumgartner begins at 4:00 p.m. she works the 4-midnight shift at the house. When she gets to work she immediately starts dinner for the kids. After sitting down like a family and having a meal together, everyone does their chores around the house. They do this to help teach responsibility and hard work. Following the chores they share an evening activity together which could be going to a football game, watching a movie, or going bowling. After the evening activity, they get ready for bed, and lights out is at 11:00 p.m. She does bed checks every 15 minutes to make sure everyone is still in their beds until midnight, when someone comes to relieve her. She told me that her main role however is that of mentor to the youth. They look up to her as she does “things that their parents, at times, should be doing themselves.”

Many of the kids come to the crisis shelter because of getting kicked out of their foster homes. When I asked what reasons there were for getting kicked out, I was told that dropping out of school and drug abuse were the most frequent reasons for early departure. The teens must attend school while at the shelter, either by a home school teacher, or public school.

For reasons of secrecy, I was unable to actually visit the shelter. Even though I knew that it would somewhat hinder my ability to properly describe the day to day activities of the agency, I was intrigued nonetheless. Sitting down with Baumgartner, however, was still rewarding. She shared with me her vision for social work. She told me that even though she doesn't always see it, she knows she's helping those that she comes in contact with at the shelter. When she sees improvement in a particular area in someone's life she knows that she chose the right career path. This work fulfills her in a way that only helping people overcome struggles can. A particular boy
who struggles with anger, and with whom she had a physical altercation with, has grown “120 percent” during his tenure there. She says that it is rewarding to see that she has made a positive impact on someone’s life.

There are many social problems tied to the work of this agency. This is a crisis shelter, that accepts teens that are experiencing a myriad of difficulties in life. Drug abuse, dropping out of school, and domestic violence are all crucial to this shelter's existence. That is to say, if these problems didn't exist in the world, shelter's like these likely wouldn't stay open (which is supposed to be a good thing, is it not?).

Domestic violence is an interesting aspect here, because it doesn’t always consist of the parent abusing the child. There is one scenario that Baumgartner told me about, where they had a teen come to them because the police had been called several times in response to domestic violence calls from the parents, because he was hitting the foster mom. As far as domestic violence is concerned, our culture almost always views this in terms of the husband/boyfriend beating his wife/girlfriend or children. We do not see the other possibilities of battered husbands or battered parents. The may be the statistical minority in domestic violence, but they do occur. We must be sensitive to these situations and know that they exist, and not immediately think that the husband is crying wolf or being a baby.

I was also informed that dropping out of school led to being kicked out of their foster home, and hence the needs for shelters like these. It proves how important education is in the lives of young people, and the great emphasis parents and grown people put on getting one. I don’t believe you can put the blame entirely on the teen for dropping out. There are many influences that play a role in this thought process for someone. Sometimes in rural areas, there can be a sense of hopelessness as it regards leaving home. I am from a rather large city, but my whole family is from rural areas of Tennessee and this idea is very prevalent there. The thought permeates through the culture that “higher education is generally unattainable, so why even finish high school? What would be the point?” What efforts are being made by school boards and teachers to educate in such a way that our young people, in rural areas especially, are being steered away from this negative concept?

The first way that I could participate in the treatment of the teens at the shelter if I were in Baumgartner’s position would be, like her, to be a mentor, and on a very small individualistic level listen to their needs, and try to be involved with their life. The shelter only holds up to eight people, so there would probably be ample opportunities to be in one on one situations where one could listen and give important feedback about the direction in which their lives are going, and if their decisions play a big role in that journey and destination. More than any other age group, teenagers need and desire acceptance and appreciation by peers and elders. It would go a long way to their development if they had an older person in their life playing the role of big brother or big sister; someone who simply cares about them and wants to be around them.

From a mezzo standpoint it would be a good idea, especially if there are teens that are there for the same infractions, to have a group time where they can hear about the experiences and frustrations of the other people in the house. They may find that they are not the only ones with their particular problem or struggle, and find acceptance there with their peers. This could help further the cause of recovery for them if they know that they are not going through this alone.

On the macro level, the social worker could look at ways to get the community involved with the lives of teenagers in general, to possibly prevent future runaways and drug addictions from happening. Community centers and resources in high schools to fund programs that fight depression that the students could access would be ways to fight this problem on the larger scale. Preventative measures may be the best way because teenagers can be difficult to read sometimes, so it is not always possible to see the warning signs before tragedies take place. So getting to them first may be the most logical and effective method from a macro standpoint.

Talking to her only enhanced my desire, yet again, to be a social worker. Some of the stories he told scared me at times, like the boy who shoved her down the hall one day. It makes me question myself, because I have never been in that situation, and I am not quite sure how I would handle it. So, I do have some nervousness inside when I think about being in people's lives in an intimate way such as this, but it is that very thought that has brought me here in the first place. I am in the social work program because I want to be in people's lives, helping them in any way possible. I am not sure if working with teenagers is the best fit for me, but that does not hinder me from seeing the need for social workers in this area.