Most of the children who appear before Third District Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Valdez have not done anything wrong. Two-thirds of them are in court because they've been abused or neglected.
Homeless, neglected or abused children are "messengers from the future," because if something doesn't change the course of their lives, they will be back. When that happens, the topic will be crime, according to Valdez."Today's dependent child is tomorrow's delinquent kid. . . . We have to take care of this problem now. It's not going to go away."
Several area agencies have banded together to try to chart a new course for homeless children. Tuesday, they kicked off KidStart, which will combine the resources of those agencies with strong case management to help families in crisis who have young children. The agencies include United Way of the Great Salt Lake Area, which brought the groups together under the auspices of its Success by 6 program, Catholic Community Services (which operates participants Marillac House and the Weigand Resource Center), Salt Lake Community Action Program's Head Start, Travelers Aid Society, the 4th Street Clinic and the Homeless Children's Foundation (which runs Our House child care center).
"The best things have always happened when people have been willing to come together," said Jeanne Jardine, chairwoman of the KidStart Advisory Committee.
The Salt Lake program received $76,000 from the Better Homes and Gardens Foundation in Boston, which made only three such grants. United Way kicked in the other $100,000.
KidStart children are recruited from Our House, Marillac House and Head Start. As many as 20 children ages 2 to 5 will enroll for 10-week sessions, meeting daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for learning and socialization. The Weigand Center, 235 S. Rio Grande St., houses the program.
"We're trying to provide a stable resource for the families of these children," said Molly Dumas of Catholic Community Services. "We want to address their needs, whether it's housing or education or immediate needs like food and shelter."
Emphasis is on very young children, because by the time they reach kindergarten, "if they've fallen through the cracks, they're really behind," she said. "This provides a continuum of care for homeless people."
"Nurturing and development are delayed when children are homeless, many, many times," said Maria Farrington, director of Success by 6.
Valdez said programs like KidStart are essential if America is to avoid the future envisioned by a recent edition of U.S. News and World Report. The magazine said that 40 million kids will reach their teen years at the turn of the century. And if current trends continue, it predicts "blood baths and crime waves," he said.