Covenant House opens new St. Louis shelter for teenagers

ST. LOUIS -- In one of the photographs hanging in a conference room at a new Covenant House shelter for teens in St. Louis, a young woman stands in the burned-out remnants of a vacant house where she used to sleep. It's a little hard to make out, but written across her T-shirt is one ironic word: "Spoiled."

Covenant House Missouri opened a shelter in north St. Louis last week to help serve homeless youth, providing the first beds in the city specifically for teens in crisis who are not in state foster care.

"We had been turning away close to 300 kids a year because we didn't have space for them," said Sue Wagener, executive director for Covenant House Missouri.

The organization says the homeless teen population throughout Missouri is estimated at about 12,500, with about 1,250 in the St. Louis region. However, the youth often go unnoticed, perhaps sleeping in cars, under bridges or "sofa surfing" -- bouncing between relatives, friends or others when they need a place to stay.

Covenant House International, based in New York City, provides services for homeless youth at more than 20 centers in the United States and in foreign countries.

The organization has had a presence in Missouri since 1998, when a mobile street outreach effort began. In 1999, a center opened to provide job training, GED classes, health care and counseling to young people at risk between the ages of 16 to 21.

Two transitional living residences, with eight beds for young men and eight for young women, opened in 2001 in south St. Louis, but those houses have closed with the opening of the new facility. Covenant House employees also noted another agency in town provides transitional living beds for teens.

At the new Center for Youth on the city's north side, there are 36 beds -- 20 are considered "crisis" beds for teens, 16 are "transitional living" beds and there's capacity for another four of those beds. It's a roughly $4.2 million project, funded with public contributions and private donations.

On a tour of the new facility, director of advocacy and communications Kristi Sobbe, introduces just about everyone working at the center, from a chef frying catfish and making chef salads in the kitchen to staff who help teens with their education, counseling and job skills. The facility is staffed around the clock.

The center has a contemporary look -- with bright patterned carpet, splashes of muted green paint -- combined with rooms designed for practicality, from offices to a laundry. Boys and girls stay on entirely separate halls from each other and can visit in common areas, like the cafeteria.

Teens in the "crisis" beds share a room, but in the transitional living upstairs, there are two-bedroom suites. In one suite, two girls have their own bedroom but share a kitchen and bathroom with her suitemate.

They can stay in a "crisis" bed for 45 days, and in a transitional living bed for two years. Teens are encouraged to get jobs and must save 60 percent of their income, which is returned to them when they leave, in the hopes it can help them as they set out as adults.

Covenant House has an open-door policy, which means it never turns away a young person provided they are willing to live by the organization's rules.

Sierra Farmer, 17, of south St. Louis County, and Staci Haynes, 18, of north St. Louis, have both been staying at Covenant House in recent days.

Both girls, who say they have not ever stayed on the streets, say they had not been getting along with their mothers at home. They believe they can move forward with their education by staying at the new facility. They're struggling with the rules -- especially the 7 p.m. curfew for those staying in the "crisis" beds for the first 45 days. But, they also say they believe the staff wants to help them and their families, and isn't judging them.

"People have come in from being nothing, and they help them get on the right track," Farmer said.

Covenant House ultimately wants teens to do so well they don't need Covenant House.

"Our overall goal is to get kids back home or in a permanent living situation," Wagener said.

Bill Siedhoff, director of the city's Department of Human Services, said it's hard to get an accurate count on teens who need services and shelter and sometimes to get assistance to them, because they may move house to house.

"I do believe it's an underserved population," he said. He said the new center will serve "as an important additional resource."