Domestic Violence Shelters for Children Close

In an effort to reduce the financial budget for the State of RI, the Department of Children and Families has opted to close two children's shelters in Portsmouth and Pawtucket. The shelters served as emergency lodging for children who needed to be moved from abusive homes. RI State Senator Pichardo fears that the closing will place these children at greater risk, and take the option of removal from their homes off the table.

The full article follows below.



RI state Sen. says closing shelters would put kids at risk
Lynn Arditi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Rhode Island Sen. Juan M. Pichardo is raising concerns about the state Department of Children and Families' recent decision to close three emergency children's shelters, including one in Providence, by Jan. 15.

The planned closings are expected to save the DCYF $1 million during the fiscal year that begins July 1st.

"In these difficult times, I understand the need for state agencies to cut costs,'' Sen. Pichardo, D-Providence, said in a statement, "but not when those cuts place our state's most vulnerable population at great risk.''

Pichardo, who serves as chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, said that one of the three shelters -- Washington Park shelter in Providence -- serves about 75 children in a year, with about 8 children at the shelter at a time.

The two other children's shelters scheduled to close are Boys Town New England in Portsmouth, and Blackstone Children's Center in Pawtucket. Together, the three children's shelters provide emergency housing for about 200 children a year who are in the custody of the DCYF.

"I know the Washington Park shelter is oftentimes the only hope for high-risk children who have suffered extremely traumatic experiences,'' Pichardo said.

Washington Park children's shelter opened in 1979 as the first licensed children's shelter for abused children in Rhode Island. The shelter serves about 75 children a year, from newborns to 12 year olds, who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected.

The planned closing comes as the DCYF has been working to reduce the number of children placed in residential care in favor of services in their own homes or placing them with relatives or families who can care for them permanently, Patricia Martinez, the DCYF's executive director, said last week.

"While that sounds like a noble plan,'' Pichardo said, "in many cases, it is not in the child's best interest to go right back into a home where there were problems to begin with.''

Family members and foster parents, he said, generally are not trained to deal with children who have suffered traumas. "That is why it is so important that we keep these emergency shelters, with professionals trained to work with these sensitive situations, available to our children,'' Pichardo said.
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