A Lutheran shelter for
children SHUTTERSTOCK By Jo Ann Dollard J
ust a 10-minute train ride from Manhattan, the Lutheran Home for Children in Jersey City, N.J., is a safe and welcoming place for teens who have known
some of the worst that life has to off er. Next door to St. Paul Lutheran, the home (also
known as St. Paul’s Home) once served as the church’s parsonage. Today the Arts and Craſt s building is an emergency shelter for up to eight children aged 13 to 17 who have experienced abuse, neglect, exploitation and homelessness. Some may be victims of human traffi ck- ing or prostitution. T e shelter is made possible through a partnership between the congregation and Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey (LSMNJ), which oper- ates the home. Here youth fi nd a protective, structured place to live while they await placement in a foster home or while
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www.thelutheran.org
parents or caregivers pull their lives together (which can include seeking substance abuse treatment). It’s an unusual program, said assistant manager Sherri
Graham. State caseworkers, she explained, “can’t get a placement in the middle of the night [except here].” T ey are placed in the home by the Department of
Child Protection and Permanency, which funds and licenses the program. Its caseworkers take the youth on home visits and pick them up when it’s time to leave. T e maximum stay is 30 days. T e pain these children carry is evident. “Lately we’ve
[seen] children who are depressed, bipolar and [who cut themselves],” Graham said. Some are already in therapy and continue meeting with a therapist at the home. “T e [kids] we have now—they’re very dependent on
us,” she said. “We are like mother fi gures to them.” Some of the young people open up—particularly those new to the child welfare system—while others are hard-
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