LOS ALAMITOS : Youth Home Gives Teens New Hope

Chad was 13 years old, he says, when his mother told him to find somewhere else to live.

“Her boyfriend told her to pick: him or me. She chose him,” said Chad, now 15 and a two-year veteran of the streets.

Chad’s life took a turn for the better a few weeks ago when he arrived at Casa Youth Shelter, the largest of Orange County’s three shelters for troubled teen-agers.

“Every week this place changes--we handle over 400 kids a year,” said Luciann Maulhardt, director of the Los Alamitos shelter. “Every day a new one might come in. You never know what to expect.”

Most of the teens stay about two weeks while they try to work things out with their families or find somewhere else to live. During their stay, residents attend group counseling twice a day, individual counseling as needed and family counseling once a week when possible.

“A lot of the residents feel helpless when they get here; they feel that they don’t have the power to change their lives,” Maulhardt said. “In counseling, we work to change that attitude. We try to show them that they can change their lives for the better. Anyone can.”

Life in the shelter, residents admit, can be tough. They do chores, make phone calls with supervision only, and must ask permission to smoke, use appliances, go to the kitchen, watch television or leave the grounds.

But the house rules, along with the support of their peers, the counseling, the art program, the merit and demerit system, give structure to their lives and help the teen-agers heal and move forward, Maulhardt said.

“I gave up a lot of freedom when I came here,” Chad said. “You know, I lived on my own for two years--I did anything I wanted.

“But that’s not the most important thing now. I’m alive. I’m off drugs. I at least have a chance now. The way things were looking, I don’t think I would have lasted much longer on the streets,” he said.

The shelter can house up to 12 teen-agers at a time. A few are permanent residents.

“People should be really happy that we’re here instead of at home being abused or neglected,” said Isaac, 15, who has been a ward of the state for four years. “We’re lucky to be away from the people who make our lives terrible.

“I’ve never really had a fun Christmas at home anyway,” he said. “Christmas was just like an ordinary day at home--nothing special.”

At Casa, a big Christmas party is planned, and Isaac says he expects to get just what he wants: “a lot of clothes.” He and Denise, the other permanent resident, will open gifts and share the holiday with whoever happens to land there that day.

“Sometimes it gets kind of lonely, celebrating Christmas in places like this, because you wish you were at home with family,” Isaac said. “But then you realize it’s not so bad. The people here are just like family, they are my family. And we have more fun here than I ever did at home,” he said.