Home sweet home

Folding the switchblade back into his palm, senior Tony Offut stared calmly at his cousin's torn and bloody face as the blare of a distant siren filled the street.

Until September 2005, Offut lived with his aunt in North Carolina. One night in November, a heated argument broke out between him and his younger cousin. After his cousin threatened to kill him, Offut decided to strike first, slashing him three times across the face. When the police arrived, Offut was arrested. He was later convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to three months in prison.

In court, a judge accepted a plea bargain, releasing Offut on parole. But after the attack, none of his family in North Carolina wanted to take him in. His parole officer sent him to Maryland to live at the Community Connections group home last May. Offut's life is now drastically different from his violent past. He is one of several Blazers living in group homes — safe, stable environments where they have an opportunity to restart their lives.

A home away from home

At Community Connections, the government pays for financial necessities, including food, academic fees and even college tuition, meaning Offut can concentrate on his education and his future. Aware that he is still on parole and that he is being closely monitored, Offut has chosen to take advantage of the second chance he has been given and follow the rules of the program. "I have 15 years of prison if I don't," he explains. "Wouldn't you want to do right?"

Junior Lexi Whiteley was also offered the opportunity to turn her life around through a similar program. Last April, Whiteley was put on probation for kicking a hole in the wall of her home. While on probation, she received a tobacco citation and, a few months later, was charged with second-degree assault against her mother. After sneaking out of the house, she was put under house arrest –– an order she later violated. In September, she took her mother to court for child abuse. In the resulting custody battle, the Department of Social Services placed Whiteley at the Helen Smith Girls' Home (HSGH) in Takoma Park.

It's been only three weeks since she entered the group home and, for the first time, she is surrounded by other girls with problems like hers. HSGH houses eight girls, a few of whom, like Whiteley, are Blazers. Whiteley and her housemates say the structured program and routine of the home have helped them to overcome the problems of their pasts.

HSGH is a subdivision of Hearts and Homes for Youth (HHY), a private non-profit agency serving troubled youth in Maryland. The organization is founded on the belief that children benefit more from home-like residential programs than from the impersonal setting of a state institution. Today, HHY offers long-term group homes for youth in need of therapy, structure and support.

Though they all live under the same roof, each of the eight girls in the group home has her own past and problems, says senior Yolanda Chambers, also a resident of HSGH. "Every girl that is here is here for a different reason," she says.

Chambers has been in the foster care system since she was four months old. Unlike the other girls, she is a second-time resident of HSGH. When she was 12, Social Services sent her to live in HSGH, where she lived until she was transferred to a new foster family three years later. Last month, she made the decision to return in order to focus on her education.

A blueprint for success

When Chambers left HSGH at age 15, she initially retained the organizational skills that she had learned. "The group home gave me structure, even when I left it," she says. But as she settled into life with her new foster family, she lost focus. She spent more time having fun than doing schoolwork. Chambers began skipping school to spend the day with friends. "I would probably go to school, but not every day," she says. Though she loved her new freedom, she knew it was coming at the expense of her future.

Knowing that she needed help to graduate, Chambers chose to return to HSGH. "I wanted to finish high school," she says. Although she thinks that she could graduate without the help of HSGH, "things probably wouldn't have run as smoothly," she says.

Like Chambers, Whiteley struggled in school before she arrived at HSGH. Thanks to the structured environment at HSGH, Whiteley has brought up her grades. She says her responsibilities at the home, like keeping her room clean, have helped her become more organized in every area of her life.

When she arrived at the home for the first time, Chambers was surprised by the regimented schedule. Every morning, the girls wake up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for school. They leave the home by 6:40 a.m. to walk to the school bus stop. After school ends, the girls must return to the home by 2:30 p.m. They have leisure time until 5 p.m., after which they have dinner. Every girl then has chores at 6 p.m., followed by study hour at 7 p.m.

Michelle Sewelle, director of residential services for HHY, explains that the rigid schedule of the group home provides stability for its residents. Since many of these children come from homes where they could not rely on their families for food, care or emotional support, the girls benefit from a constant, stable environment. "They don't have to guess when they're eating or if they're eating," she says. "The kids know what to expect."

Chambers explains that each girl who enters the home starts as a Level 1 resident. To advance to a higher level, the girls have to show maturity and self-sacrifice. "It's more like out-stepping your boundaries and helping other residents," says Chambers.

As the girls move up a level, they gain more freedom. As Level 2 residents, for example, Chambers and Whiteley cannot engage in any outside activities without a staff member present. At Level 5, however, the girls can leave the premises of HSGH alone, as long as they return by state curfew.

On weekends, the schedule is more flexible, and the girls can receive visitors. Though Whiteley's family and boyfriend have visited her at the home, Chambers's foster family has not. She no longer has contact with them.

In contrast to the traditional group home structure at HSGH, Offut lives in an independent-living program along with three other teenage boys. In his program, there are no levels or schedules –– just a 10 p.m. curfew for all the boys. His only other requirement is that he has to contact his parole officer once a month. He enjoys being able to make his own decisions –– the only downside, he says, is being separated from his family.

Healing the emotional scars

The stability of the group home has helped Whiteley emotionally as well. When she first arrived at HSGH, like other girls at the home, she was withdrawn and dejected. But after she settled in, she began to open up and build friendships with the other girls in the home. "Once you get to know someone and trust them, then everything seems to get a little better. You feel more comfortable around everyone," Whiteley says.

Like Whiteley, Offut wasn't thrilled to be living in a group home at first, but he eventually grew accustomed to his new life. Although he says the program lacks some of the comforts of home, like the close family environment he is used to, he appreciates the many different benefits of the program. "It helps people to get back on their feet in life," he says.

Chambers has matured emotionally since she returned to the home. She says that hearing her housemates' stories, she gained a new appreciation for the advantages she's had –– she says her childhood was nowhere near as traumatic as some of the other girls'.

She admires their perseverance and has even learned from watching them cope. "Regardless if you know it now or later on in life, you'll learn something from them. You didn't have it half as bad as them," she says.

Both Chambers and Whiteley say they will use the lessons they have learned at HSGH to guide them even after they leave the home. With the support of her family and boyfriend, Whiteley is determined to leave her past behind.

Without a real family to call her own, Chambers can only look inward for motivation. "You're here, so you need to make the best of it," she says. "You can leave this program in a positive or [negative] way." She understands that she alone holds the key to her fate.