Article — Katherine Bontrager
The change in seasons brings with it the sight of children returning to school—backpacks full of shiny binders, stiff white paper, assortments of pens and pencils. For some, it’s a joyous return to friends and fun. For others, it’s an unwelcome end to summer vacation. But for still others, school serves as a lifesaver.
PJ* is one of them. As a young child, he was removed from his parents’ care; their drug and alcohol addiction degrading their home so severely it was deemed unsafe. So PJ entered foster care at age 10, shifting from home to home before being adopted. But he struggled in his new home, acting out in anger. There were issues of truancy, aggression, threats against his adoptive parents, the theft of a car and continued bouts of running away.
“I had a bunch of hate, depression, and anxiety,” PJ now admits during an interview with a caseworker. “I was mad at the world.”
Defiant with teachers and his new parents and struggling in school, PJ hit a dead end of sorts. Not knowing where to turn next, PJ’s adoptive parents and the state sent him to Ozanam in 2007—only four days before Christmas. It would be the hardest and most important gift PJ would ever receive.
For more than 60 years, Ozanam has helped thousands of children just like PJ. The institution began in 1948 when a young Kansas City social worker discovered there were few local places where emotionally disturbed adolescents could be given the long-term care, educational opportunities, and guidance they needed.
“This young social worker enlisted the help of several volunteers and began to accept custody of boys referred to him by local church-related social services and the juvenile courts, and offered them the kind of help they needed in his own home,” says Allison Briley, the charity’s special events coordinator. “The name Ozanam was selected for the new home from the name of a 19th century social worker whose boys’ homes in the city of Paris began in much the same way.”
There are four ways in which Ozanam seeks to help troubled youth, Briley explains. The first avenue is through residential treatment, in which Ozanam provides 24-hour care and treatment to 75 severely, emotionally disturbed, and/or behavior-disordered children ages 12 to 18.
“Of that total, 54 of our residents are male and 21 are female,” she says. “Treatment includes therapy and psychiatric services, education, recreation and medical care/medication administration. The youths in our care benefit from living in a safe and structured environment within residential dorms or additional therapeutic living options including Substance Abuse therapy, Family Focus therapy, Creative Arts Program, and a non-denominational Spiritual Life Program.”
The second program is Pathways Transitional Living Program, which consists of a supervised group home and various apartments for young men and women, as well as young parents with children who are homeless or living in out-of-home care. “Pathways also provides job coaching, substance abuse counseling, budgeting assistance, meal planning and nutrition education and more,” Briley says. “Pathways is currently serving 130 clients in Kansas City and Wichita and is Ozanam’s fastest growing program.”
Ozanam also sponsors a Behavior Intervention Support Team (BIST), which provides training as well as teacher and administration support focused on positive behavioral interventions and substance abuse preventions to more than 300 public and parochial schools throughout the Midwest.
The final program the not-for-profit offers is its accredited Day Treatment. This serves children with emotional, behavioral, and educational problems severe enough to keep them from functioning well in their homes, communities, and schools but whose problems may not be severe enough to require residential treatment.
“Our primary goal is to improve each child’s functioning to the point that they can return to their own school and be successful,” Briley says. “Each student has an individualized treatment and education plan designed to meet his or her emotional, behavioral, and academic needs. Working with the family, Ozanam’s teachers and therapists strive to develop a plan that will foster each child’s success in the classroom and beyond. Children in the Day Treatment Program attend Ozanam’s fully accredited school and are integrated with some residential students. The curriculum covers standard subject areas like English, math, science, and social studies, as well as physical education. Students also have the opportunity to participate in a number of elective courses, such as creative arts, computers, art, industrial arts, and horticulture.”
Briley admits that each client comes to Ozanam with his or her own unique set of problems. “However, the majority have been exposed to significant trauma, meaning physical abuse, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc., and due to this, suffer from any number of emotional or behavior disorders.”
These children can be referred to Ozanam in a variety of ways, including foster care, caseworkers, school district counselors, family members, and other social service agencies. But one thing remains the same: Ozanam is typically the final safety net for those who’ve otherwise fallen through the cracks. The home is essentially the last stop before a life on the streets.
Yet, as with many not-for-profits, the organization’s biggest challenge continues to be funding for its programs, Briley admits. “Last year one of our main funding resources cut our contractual rates by 10 percent, creating a $350,000 challenge to address in our budget. Individual, corporate and foundation funding continues to be sluggish given current economic times. At the same time, our expenses continue to rise for food, utilities and health insurance. Several of our buildings have critical repair and renovation needs that we must address right away.”
“We also have a need for gently used household items to be used in our Pathways apartments, general donations of any kind to support the Thrift Mart or the Gala, and volunteers,” she continues. “But one of the best ways to get involved on campus is to become a mentor to an Ozanam child and provide positive adult leadership.”
The organization impacts approximately 300 kids a day, accepts children 365 days a year, and not even the most difficult of cases are refused. This was the situation with PJ, whose Christmas arrival to Ozanam left him understandably angry and alienated. It took considerable time and the help of patient therapists before PJ began to come to terms with his feelings of abandonment.
“Not everyone is meant to be a parent,” he says in retrospect. “You can’t hate someone who tried to love you but didn’t know how.”
Under Ozanam’s watchful eye, PJ slowly pulled up his grades and became involved in campus life. He relied on the help of the Learning Lab and earned an on-campus job through Ozanam’s Work Program. But the best part of this new life? A chance to join the school’s basketball team.
“Before coming to Ozanam, I never played basketball on a team or even a pick-up game,” PJ admits.
The confused boy gave way to a self-aware, hard-working young man, whose favorite memory is traveling with the basketball team to St. Louis for the annual tournament. He credits his success to the tireless efforts of his mentor and Ozanam’s staff members. Yet the most compelling call to change came from much closer to home.
“The turning point for me was realizing that I wanted to be a good example for my little brother. We will always have each other.”
Now 18, PJ graduated from high school with merit, has taken the ACT, and hopes to go to school to become a chef. In the meantime, he holds down a job in the food-service industry. If it wasn’t for Ozanam, PJ knows he would have eventually run away from home and never returned. The life that would have awaited him down that dark path is not one he—nor anyone—would want to fathom.
To find out more about Ozanam, visit Ozanam.org or contact 816-508-3600. Also consider attending the charity’s Hollywood Holiday Gala on December 2nd at The Westin Crown Center. JCL * Name changed to protect the boy’s privacy.
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