There are two resident counselors on duty 24/7 providing direct care, overseeing the chores done, medication is distributed, making sure the kids get to their appointments. Family House also employs two case managers so each teen is assigned to a case manager who tries to meet with both kid and family regularly. There is also a Monday through Friday kitchen manager to cook, and weekends the kids eat pre-prepared meals.
Providing a routine
Kimmer Gifford is the Kingston City School District’s homeless student liaison coordinator. The definition for the school’s sake of a homeless student as established by state guidelines is that the child is either living in a shelter, hotel, temporary housing, someone who is not their parent or guardian, or “doubled-up”; meaning living with another family. Gifford said she has 178 homeless students right now, and will have accumulated even more by the end of the school year. Thirty-four of her students have been or are currently housed at Family House.
In Gifford’s view, Family House is often one of the only places many of the kids have ever lived that institute rules and structure. “A lot of these kids are not getting what they would get in a healthy household,” explained Gifford. “A lot of the kids in there just need the structure and routines; getting a kid up in the morning, three meals a day, having appropriate clothes, stuff like that.”
Gifford said kids living in motels most typically complain about the difficulty to study in their environment and that they have no quiet space. “My biggest concern is meals; part of healthy development is healthy food. I think the biggest problem is there are no actual kitchens, just a sink, microwave. Some of the rooms have a dorm-sized fridge.”
Gifford said the homeless student population is a curious phenomenon in Kingston, because these students are largely unknown and invisible to the outside world as “homeless.”
“I think we don’t see the outlying hotels and shelters and this subculture that’s in this city, the recidivism rate is increasing,” said Gifford, who opined that there is a stigma attached to being poor because so many live so close to it, that fear closes the mind. Gifford said that most of the families with whom she works are good people, many of whom work hard and fell into a bad cycle. “People are being priced-out. Once you get into this [state of being] homeless the idea of getting back to baseline, it seems impossible.”
Family House is in desperate need of a new vehicle and raised a little less than half of the $6,000 they were looking for to get a van to help transport kids. They also need twin-bed sheets, towels, clothing, gift cards and bedding.
