Gwinnett Child Shelter Essay

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Currently, the Gwinnett Children 's Shelter houses about thirty kids and teens, ages twelve to nineteen. Unfortunately, the majority of the kids in the shelter have been abused in some way or another and others may have been in the Juvenile Court System before. Each child who is a part of the shelter has the opportunity to meet with a counselor about every two weeks, but almost every time the kids have to meet with a new counselor. The reason being, the shelter currently uses an on-call counseling service and whichever counselor is on-call is the one that sees the children that day. This is a huge problem because the kids have faced so much inconsistency in their lives and have nobody that they can truly trust and the one person they are supposed …show more content…

The problem is significant because the traumatized children in the shelter have voiced their struggle that is connected to the constant change in counselors who are supposed to be helping them cope and work through any problems they are experiencing. I have heard first-hand from many of the teenage girls that this is a very prevalent issue that makes living in the shelter even more difficult and lonely. The problem has not been solved before because there have been many changes that have been underway for quite some time and that has been the main focus of the shelter. For example, the yearly charity event takes up a good majority of the time in every meeting. Also, the shelter has had many staffing changes over the last few years. Even though there are many other issues that may need to be addressed, the children should be the main focus at all times. With that being said, an issue such as this should be addressed in a timely manner, as the children are often here for a few short years and those years are crucial. By implementing change, it allows the children to see that for once, their voices are being heard and there is hope for them to get the proper help that they

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