by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Duval County children who are in the foster care system will have a chance for a head start at adulthood when they check in to 45 housing units at New Life Village.
The new facility will provide transitional housing as well as individual counseling and job training for young men and women ages 16-21. Construction funding for the project is being provided by a $750,000 grant from the State Dept. of Children & Families (DCF).
DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth presented the check to Nancy Dreicer, DCF’s Northeast Regional Director and Ken Weiss, president of the board of the Youth Crisis Center, the agency that will supervise the program.
Butterworth said DCF is awarding grants totaling $5 million and Duval County’s grant is the largest in the state.
Children who enter the foster care system are victims of abuse and neglect, said Dreicer, who praised Duval County’s efforts and results in placing children in foster homes then added, “But children age out of the system lacking the guidance and support they need to succeed.
“We must build a bridge from their difficult childhood to a better adulthood.”
Weiss said many children who leave the foster care system at 18 years of age have not learned even the most basic skills that are required for independent living and he believes New Life Village can help change that situation.
“The Youth Crisis Center has been helping kids for more than 30 years,” said Weiss. “But this is a new concept. We’re going to give them skills for life and the workplace.”
The ceremony was part of a day-long meeting of the Florida Task Force on Child Protection, a group Butterworth has charged with revamping the state’s foster care system beginning with its most fundamental elements.
“If we have to remove a child from his or her family, we have to be sure we know we can keep them safe. Our mission is to develop ways to avoid placing children in foster care at all,” said Barry Krischer, State Attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and chair of the Task Force.
“We have an amazing opportunity to potentially change our flawed system rather than continue trying to improve the existing system that we know doesn’t work.”