TROUBLED TEENS HAVE SANCTUARY

Fry House provides home with hear

SOMETIMES HOME is not where the heart is. But staff at
Fry House in West Vancouver have provided both home
and heart to North Shore teens, who have been experiencing
difficulties at home, for close to a year and a half.

The residential treatment
resource for adolescents offers a
maximum two-year stay to teens of
both sexes, age 13 to 17, who are
in need of support and stability.
The house, located in a quiet resi-
dential West Vancouver
neighborhood, is operated 24
hours a day, seven days a week by
nine child care workers and a
Program supervisor.

The house takes in a maximum
of six teens. All program partici-
pants are referred to the house
through the Ministry of Social
Services and Housing. The West
Vancouver house is one of six
houses operated by The Elizabeth
Fry Ssciety. In addition to the
West Vancouver house, the
Elizabeth Fry Society operates
three houses in Burnaby and two
in Vancouver. The preventive pro-
gram is funded by the Ministry of
Social Services and Housing.

Said Tanis Evans, West Van-
couver Fry House supervisar,
““Not speaking about any of our
kids specifically, but some of the
types of histories that bring kids to
this kind of program could be
anything from family breakdown
to drug and alcohol abuse, crimi-
nal involvement and physical or
sexual abuse.’”

The West Vancouver house of-
fers an extended family home base.
““We strive to have as close to a

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporter

family atmosphere as we can create
recognizing that we have staff in-
stead of parents. We have dinner
times, group outings, chores — the
kids get in there and help baking
and cooking.’*

The program allows participants
to remain in their own com-
munities and, at times, continue to
attend their neighborhood schools.
Said Evans, ‘‘It’s a major disrup-
tion to have to come into a resi-
dential unit. If you can remain in
your own community, that, I
think, is moze positive than having
to leave your community. It makes
a big difference for them.”’

Said Mary MacDonald, execu-
tive director of The Elizabeth Fry
Society: ‘‘Our houses are intended
to be an alternate kind of a famiiy
setting. They provide secure,
stable, normalized environments
where kids can get back on their
feet. The programs we run are not
related to corrections in any way.
The kids who are in these pro-
grams are not kids who have been
to jail. The hope is that this is a
step well before that.””

The Elizabeth Fry Society,
formed 50 years ago to provide
support for imprisoned women,
today offers a variety of com-

39 - Sunday, February 12, 1989 - North Shore News

Punch

procedure

irritates

PAGE 40

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NEWS photo Neil Lucente

WEST VANCOUVER Fry House supervisor Tanis Evans (left) and Elizabeth Fry Society executive director
Mary MacDonald (right) met guests at an open house held Wednesday at Fry House. The house is a resource

for North Skore adolescents in aced of group support and a viable home setting.

munity-level programs and support
services assisting adults and ado-
lescents who are, or could be, in
conflict with the law.

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