Where Kids Get Help...Fast!

The following are just a few stories about the roles Safe Place sites have in providing a critical safety net for youth in Tarrant County. Not every site has been called on to help a child in need, but every site is prepared to do so. This gives kids in our community the comfort of knowing there is a reliable safe place to turn to in times of trouble. 

ACH Child and Family Services and Traveler’s Aid at DFW Airport help child victim of online predator. 

ACH received a call regarding a 16-year-old girl who was at a local hospital and had nowhere to go. A hospital social worker utilized the Safe Place program to find help for this girl. The teen was transported to ACH and explained to the counselor that she lived in a small community about six hours west of Tarrant County. She met a boy online and decided to come here to visit him. When she arrived at his house, she realized that he was several years older than he had led her to believe and was a heavy drug user. He would not allow her to leave his house and supervised all her phone calls to her father back home, becoming violent if she argued with him. He beat her up when she tried to leave his house: hitting her all over her body, choking her, and twisting her ankle. Eventually, she had been able to escape to a neighbor’s house, who called 911. 

The counselor at ACH helped the girl file a police report in the community in which she was hurt. She was given an immediate safe place to stay at the Emergency Youth Shelter, also operated by ACH, while counselors worked to get her back home to her father. Thanks to help from Traveler’s Aid DFW, also a Safe Place site, she was able to get a discounted bus ticket back home and was reunited with her family the next day. 

Fort Worth Library keeps throwaway youth off of the streets and back with family.

A 15-year-old boy walked into a Fort Worth Library a few blocks away from his house and requested help. The library quickly called ACH. When an ACH counselor arrived, the boy told him that he had been kicked out of his house. He said that he and his parents were constantly arguing and his parents were repeatedly kicking him out of the house. The teen shared with the counselor that he was tired of all the fighting and just wanted his home to return to the way it used to be: a fun and relaxing place to spend time with his family. 

The teen was transported to the ACH Emergency Youth Shelter where staff contacted his parents. He stayed at the shelter for several days while he and his parents met with a counselor and began working on the issues that led to their family conflict. A few weeks after counseling began, the teen was able to return home and the family continued with other ACH counseling services.

The teen and his parents were so thankful for the Safe Place program, as it provided him with a safe place in his own neighborhood to get help for the whole family. 

Arlington Fire Station saves 13-year-old girl from child abuse.

A 13-year-old girl left school one day and decided that she could not go home. Her father had beat her severely the night before, giving her bruises on her arms and back, and she knew it would not be safe to return. She talked to a friend about her situation and her friend recommended going to a Safe Place. She went to an Arlington Fire Station, where the firefighters were quick to make sure that she was okay and make her comfortable while they called ACH, going as far as giving her a portion of the dinner they were cooking! 

When a counselor arrived at the station, the girl stated that she had been abused by her father several times in the past and Child Protective Services (CPS) was involved with the family. With help from both ACH’s counselor and the firefighters, she was able to contact her CPS worker, who acted immediately, legally removing her from her home and beginning a child abuse investigation. The teen was able to stay with her grandmother until the outcome of the investigation was determined.