Generations opens doors for troubled youth
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The facility is located on Crisp Springs Road in the Centertown community. It is called Generations of Centertown and will house up to eight boys who are referred there by the Department of Children’s Services, the home’s executive director Mark Clark said.
The home is designed to provide a stable living environment to adolescent boys ages 12 to 17 who are experiencing a significant amount of stress in their lives – whether it be due to situations like discipline or behavior disorders, or even due to an undesirable family situation like drug or alcohol addiction. Clark said the ideal goal is reuniting families.
“Our goal is to help them be placed either in foster homes or back with their families. Every child is going to be different and we’re going to take them on a case-to-case basis,” Clark said.
“And one of the things we do when they come in is to have a meeting with them and if there is a family available, we’ll have a meeting with the family and all parties involved who are going to try to help these kids get back on their feet and get to a place where they can live in a family environment. DCS’s goal is always to get the children to where they’re in the most family-like environment they can have.”
Gaither, who owns several nursing homes and residential centers for the mentally ill in the area, said the move is an effort designed to reach another aspect of the population.
“It’s just an expansion of our services and to further fulfill our mission of Generations – covering the ages,” he said from outside the home, which is called the Kristopher Wayne House in honor of Gaither’s grandson.
Local officials were invited to an open house Tuesday, where Gaither said the eight-bed house, complete with a kitchen, living room, baths and offices, is ready for occupants to live there once the referral process begins.
He noted current plans are to employ 12 at the facility. Plans are to be able to provide addiction counseling services, alternative education services as well as life skills, tutoring and employment skills services.
According to Jennifer Morgan, a resource manager for DCS in the Upper Cumberland region, local housing for children in state custody is needed.
“We often have to place outside our region. Some of them are in Chattanooga or Knoxville and places like that, so this will enable our region to keep our children in need of this type and level of care in their own home region and it would facilitate faster reunification with their families,” she said.
She said while the home has received licensing to provide these services for the state, contracts have yet to be agreed upon, but the department anticipates a contract in the future.
“I think the expectation is that once we get through that process, the need is there and the expectation is we will be contracting with them,” she added.