YOUTH SAFE HOUSES TO CLOSE IN TWO WEEKS

Ministry Shuffle Results In Loss Of Funds

VANCOUVER - Tanya Wilcox, 16, and Davina Boone, 17, say they would still be
addicted to drugs and might be dead today if it weren't for Vancouver's
underage safe house program.

These are not easy ideas for two teenagers to ponder, and the memories of
drug use and street life are difficult to discuss. But both girls hope that
by telling their stories, the program that helped them won't have to close
its doors in two weeks.

For the past eight years, the Underage Safe House has operated three homes
in Vancouver that have been the only places in the city taking in youths
younger than 16.

But since last Thursday, the program has been turning away youths looking
for a place to stay. Six youths younger than 16 were turned away between
Thursday and Saturday, said Mitchell Pleet, a youth worker at the program.

Due to a shuffle at the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the
program lost its funding this month and plans to shut down completely by
next week.

Unless the ministry comes through with some last-minute funding to save the
program, Wilcox worries more kids are going to end up on the street.

"I would expect to see more teenage prostitution, more teenage deaths," the
former meth addict said Sunday.

"If you want to see more bodies in body bags, go for it, go through with
it. More people won't have places to go like this and more people won't
recover."

Wilcox, Boone -- who left home at the age of 12 and spent years in and out
of the program -- and a few other former residents gathered recently to
tell their stories to community groups and leaders.

Their meeting raised $4,000 for the program, allowing two of the houses to
stay open to youths until the end of this month. One house had to be closed
last week.

The ministry said earlier this month it is negotiating with the program's
directors, and Pleet said Sunday there has been an indication that one safe
house might remain open, but a ministry representative did not return calls
Sunday to confirm that.

Wilcox's voice shook with anger Sunday as she talked about the possibility
of the program disappearing.

"It provided support and a stable environment I needed," she said. "These
were the people that helped me trust again and helped me reform myself and
get back into society."

But Wilcox, like most other youths, did not go into the program willingly.

Wilcox said the safe house program was where the cops would take her when
they picked her up on the street at the age of 15 after she'd been doing
meth for several days. Other youth shelters don't take youths younger than
16 and she hadn't committed a crime so she couldn't be put in jail.

She would run away from the program nearly every time she was placed there,
but said eventually she found she liked the staff at one of the three homes
and stayed a while.

Boone told a similar story about bouncing from the streets to the safe
house to other accommodations. The expectant mother and receptionist said
she would likely still be doing crystal meth and crack if it hadn't been
for the safe house program.

"If it wasn't for the safe house, I wouldn't have found out there were
better things to do," she said.