Residents have issues with home for unwed mothers

Posted 3/13/14

Give it a chance and then decide if there are problems.

That, essentially, was the offer Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) made Tuesday when neighbors turned out to protest a plan to …

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Residents have issues with home for unwed mothers

Posted

Give it a chance and then decide if there are problems.

That, essentially, was the offer Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) made Tuesday when neighbors turned out to protest a plan to use the former Rep. Paul Sherlock home at 6 Northampton St. as a home for four unwed teen mothers and their children. CCAP was seeking board approval to house six mothers at the location.

With the prospect of a heated hearing before the Zoning Board of Review, CCAP attorney K. Joseph Shekarchi asked the residents to gather in the hallway outside City Council Chambers. He said CCAP was prepared to postpone its petition to increase the number of tenants in the house for four months because, under current zoning, no variance is required to house four tenants; the house would start operations in about two months. After four months, CCAP would return to the zoning board with its request, but neighbors would have had the opportunity to evaluate operations and base their reactions on reality. As the petition was postponed, CCAP would be required to notify neighbors of the next hearing.

For some, the gesture was not enough and too late.

Next-door neighbor Amy Miller told the gathering if CCAP was sincere in its efforts to be good neighbors, it would have outlined plans long before scheduling the hearing that was followed up with a letter on March 6.

“I feel that this was sung under the rug,” she said.

Miller’s concern, and that of a couple of other immediate neighbors, is that they would be subjected to the crying of six babies and undesirable comings and goings of strangers attracted by the house.

Ward 2 Councilman Thomas Chadronet said a number of residents voiced concerns that the young mothers would be a bad influence on the neighborhood, with boyfriends coming and going at different times and with the young women walking the streets to reach area markets and smoking.

CCAP Executive Director Joanne McGunagle appealed to neighbors to be accepting of the young mothers, to visit their Cranston home where they have four mothers and to call Cranston police and ask if there have been any complaints.

“The last thing we want to do is to be bad neighbors … for you to feel unsafe in your home. Give us four moths to show these girls are not criminals,” she said. She urged the neighbors “to get to know and embrace these girls.”

It wasn’t an idea many neighbors were going to take to heart yet.

According to the March 6 letter to neighbors, the home will be fully staffed 24 hours a day, year-round, with a staff member awake during the overnight shift.

“The girls don’t have cars; we provide transportation for their access to health and dental care, job readiness training, food shopping and child care. We help them with social and life skills that foster independence,” reads the letter.

The CCAP program is licensed by the Department of Children, Youth and Family and has operated in Cranston since 1998 and for two years on Lake Street in Warwick. The program is highly structured. Mothers are required to leave the program when they reach 18½ years old. Some have been as young as 13. The youngest currently registered is 16.

Participants must be enrolled in an educational program or be working and children must be enrolled in off-premises daycare while they are away from the house. They have a 10 p.m. curfew and there are rules regarding visitors and how long they can visit. They cannot consume alcohol or use illegal drugs at any time.

Shekarchi termed CCAP’s willingness to continue the petition “a gift,” although some neighbors questioned whether they could get an accurate picture in the two months the facility would be operational before the agency appealed to the board again. Shekarchi turned down the suggestion that CCAP give the neighbors six months.

“It hurts the program too much,” he said.

“Hopefully, the fears will go away,” Shekarchi said.

He went on to say he recognizes there will be some people who won’t change their minds, but he asked everyone to act in good faith.

The appeal resonated with William Roberge, who had been following the discussion.

“I think it’s a good idea,” he said of the delay. And to make it clear a program for unwed mothers was going to operate from the house regardless, saying, “They are there no matter what.”

Comments

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  • gwsjr75

    The strangest part of this article is the referenced complaint that the young women might be "walking the streets to reach area markets." In a world where many of us drive too much, eat too much, and exercise too little, it is odd to critize someone for walking the [public] streets to reach a market.

    Thursday, March 13, 2014 Report this

  • DBotelho

    Where are the parents of these underage unwed mothers? Why can't they be responsible for their own irresponsible teenagers? Why must the burden always fall on the taxpayers? I see nothing but trouble coming from this. It was a sneaky move by CCAP.

    Friday, March 14, 2014 Report this

  • DukeMan

    If you can't feed the baby, don't have a baby

    Friday, March 14, 2014 Report this

  • FASTFREDWARD4

    Smoking when is it going to end. What are people going to say when pot comes in the picture.

    Saturday, March 15, 2014 Report this

  • Scal1024

    Glad to know ignorance is still very much alive and well in this city! Not every single mother is trying to rob the system. You have no idea what somebody else's situation is to just judge them in such a pathetic way. I'm sure many of you are very comfortable in the life that you are living but these girls and their kids are not. Yes people take advantage of the system, and those people infuriate me...but there has to be some sort of safety net for people in society. Somebody above asked "where are her parents?"...who knows? Maybe they don't speak, maybe they have passed on, maybe they are in jail...but to label all of these girls as freeloaders is way off-base.

    Wednesday, March 19, 2014 Report this

  • starmote

    First, to GShuster: I totally agree and would like to add that "walking the street" seems to suggest another thought about the possible new neighbors that's extremely unfair.

    Working as A GED instructor in Providence for four years with teen mothers I found them to be good people, as good as they knew how to be to their children, but needing some support and new views outside their windows as they learn to live with a child, just like any young mother. True, they may be young women with experiences and backgrounds very different from ours, and I'm hearing some of you say that you'll be uncomfortable and unsure of what that will be like.

    You people in that neighborhood have something really good to offer to others by the examples you display in your own lives, something that might be of value to others without you doing anything except what you already do every day - live. Do you believe your values are important? Can they be threatened if you feel secure inside yourselves? Can 4 or even 6 new neighbors be that much to fear, especially with the levels of staffing and supervision and expectations of following certain rules that they will have?

    I hear you when you worry about what else "they" might bring in. But I have worked in many types of group homes, too, and even the most difficult ones (which house court-placed children) had very little impact on their neighbors. I really think that if you put forward the best in yourselves, you will be able to minimize and also work out whatever you might think could come your way.

    Last comment: Angry about irresponsible parents, and money spent on "someone else's problems?" These girls' parents are water under the bridge now, but why blame or deny the children for their parents' ways? Please give yourselves and these girls an opportunity.

    Wednesday, March 19, 2014 Report this

  • patientman

    NIMBY, that's all folks!

    Wednesday, March 19, 2014 Report this

  • jtaxassoc

    Vouchers for education, as in religious education, military protocol in providing these type services and conservative leadership is the solution. When you consider the enormous Cadillac of benefits these repeated irresponsible individuals receive is it any wonder, these situations grow every year. Community base housing including maintaining every aspect of the facility, cafeteria eating, day care, education, job training in addition to drug testing, and whatever else is the solution. The stupidity and ignorance that underline this article is truly a reflection of most Rhode Islanders who continue to vote in the same tax and spend liberal politicians etc., Peter A. Filippi III

    Saturday, March 22, 2014 Report this