FLDS 'Lost Boys' must leave St. George shelter
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
 
Michelle Benward worries about what's going to happen to the kids.

"I've been doing this for more than five years. I know what they'll go back to," she said.

A St. George shelter for teens who have either run away or been kicked out of the Fundamentalist LDS Church is undergoing a rocky transition, leaving some of the so-called "Lost Boys" in danger of being homeless again. Benward, who ran the House Just Off Bluff, has been fired. She spoke to the Deseret News the day after being let go from her job.

The home is transitioning from a shelter to a youth drop-in center after it lost its state contract for not being properly zoned and licensed. Since it was created more than a year ago, the home has sheltered teenagers from the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

"We have to leave the house but nobody knows where they're going to go," said Simon Barlow, 21, who has been staying at the House Just Off Bluff while he goes to college.

St. George city leaders were not willing to change the zoning to allow for overnight stays. That and licensing problems led to the current situation, said Tracy Johnson, the executive director of New Frontiers for Families, which manages the home. Now she's trying to find host families for the boys still living at the House Just Off Bluff while keeping them in school.

"It's scary for people who have had such unstable living arrangements for them to have to think about moving again and making decisions," Johnson said. "We're trying to meet with them as a team every other day to make sure that they're continuing to go to school and reassuring them we're trying as best we can."

The home was created to stop the problem of teenagers from the FLDS communities left to fend for themselves. After the Deseret News first reported on the home, generous readers flooded New Frontiers for Families with donations to furnish it.

Some of the Lost Boys said they were kicked out of their homes for not complying with their community's strict standards. Others said they ran away. Advocates have estimated as many as 1,000 exiled teens.

"They're going through that teenage angst and that rebellious nature," Benward said. "It's not as much the parents booting them out anymore as the teenagers taking off. Their parents are contacting me and saying, 'What are their options?' and I say, 'We've got options."'

Benward wanted a shelter to stop the kids from crashing in "butt huts," apartments packed with teens and no adult supervision. They don't go to school, wind up on drugs and get in trouble with the law. The House Just Off Bluff was created to give them some stability.

Since the home came into being, Benward estimates they helped at least 130 teens. She's had direct contact with at least 300.

"They need transitional housing," she said. "I've got one boy halfway through high school. If he'd been anywhere else other than a home, he'd have been in a butt hut."

Barlow was kicked out by his stepfather at 17 after he went to a movie and then said he didn't want to go to church anymore. He said the home gave him some stability and allowed him to go to school.

"I don't want to have to drop out to get a job," he said of his housing situation.

Overnight stays aren't possible, Johnson said. Members of the Safety Net Committee, a coalition of government agencies, social workers and polygamous communities, are stepping up to help with a transition.

"We did a lot with few resources," said Utah attorney general's spokesman Paul Murphy. "I think Michelle should be congratulated for trying to do her best in a difficult situation, and we're hoping more help is there to make sure it's run as it should be."

Barlow said he has to be out by Sept. 26. Johnson said anyone willing to donate or help can contact her at 435-616-3471.

"Our main concern is to make sure these young men have a place to stay, they can go to school and have a good life," Murphy said.

Benward, who is now looking for a job, said she was approached by some of the Lost Boys seeking help setting up a handyman business.

"They built a kingdom of God," she said. "They can build housing."

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
DeseretNews.com
Originally published Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008
 
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