Yesterday was a good day. We got a new intake who i got to hang out with pretty much the whole day and 3 kids graduated from the program. The graduation was really important for me because i got to see that this program actually works and that God IS at work in these kids. I also found out that the song “How to save a life”  by The Fray was written about the Shelterwood program. Shelterwood used to have a campus in Denver and one of the band members was heavily involved in praying for that campus.

Last night i had night duty, which is supposed to be midnight to 6:30 but since this morning was a saturday the kids didn’t have to wake up till 8:30 and no one relieved me so i stayed up till 8:30 Doing room checks every 15 mins till about 3am when i did it every 30 mins. I woke up after lunch to my roommates discussing how two “littles” didn’t just runaway but more had a get away. They stole a freakin van and are apparently heading to Las Vegas. This was troubling in and of itself but i was more upset that i was pretty close with one of these kids and while he seemed to have exhibited thrill seeking behavior in the past he seemed to be doing much better. He couldn’t sleep last night and so he came out into the hall and we talked for a little while, which i perceived as him opening up but in hindsight he was probably just scoping things out. I happened to posting up right next to his room because ironically the new kid adjacent to him was a flight risk so he was on 24 hour check. This basically means you run normal night watch but instead of posting up in the living room where you can see down both halls you post up right outside that kids room with the door open an monitor him and the other hall simultaneously. If i hadn’t been posted outside his door then i bet they probably would have run last night because even though they would have set off the alarm i can chase them but i can’t restrain them unless they are harming themselves (cutting) or others (fighting). If i would have known where they were going if i could have beat them to the vans and stood in the way i could have restrained one of them if they tried to move me but thats literally all i could do. And at night  all of the staff would have been asleep but me and so our response time in terms of calling the cops etc would have been greatly diminished.

Apparently i heard through the grape vine that they are done at Shelterwood because this is  grand theft auto and they will be charged as adults in Missouri and will probably go to jail, which, say what you like about Shelterwood is a hundred times worse. Im honestly really really sad because these kids totally screwed up their whole future with one stupid choice. I don’t know if its worse if they get caught and go to jail or if they actually get away and live their lives. Either way this sucks.

Love yall,

Brian F