The last youth group home in Lincoln County has closed its doors. On Feb. 3, the Northeast Family Institute Curtis House shut down due to State budget cuts.
The Curtis House was a co-ed facility for kids in their late teens that needed 24-hour supervision and counseling.
The blue ranch-style house sits alone on a hill overlooking several acres of fields on North Mountain Road in Jefferson. The staff, three counselors, and a resident sat at the dining room table surrounded by cleaning supplies and boxes ready to load into the moving van on Jan. 29.
“We have a million memories of this place and the youth we’ve served over the years,” said Program Director Joan Muldoon.
Jessica Leeman, who spent 13 years as a direct care counselor living at the house and working with kids, nodded in agreement as she stared into her coffee.
“We get a lot of phone calls,” she said. “Even [from] the ones that hated the rules. They call when they’re homeless and need some encouragement. They call just to say ‘hi’ and to thank us.”
One former resident named Shannon lived at the house for four years. The staff at Curtis House hasn’t been able to reach her for some time, but she called and left messages on Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
The purpose of the Curtis House was to help prepare troubled kids to live on their own.
While Shannon was living at the Curtis House, she became the first in her family to graduate from high school.
“Education is the biggest part of what we do,” Leeman said. “Sometimes kids can be reunited with their families, but mostly we’re trying to help them become successful members of society.”
The kids at the home were all referred to the Curtis House by their families or by outside organizations, such as schools, courts, and psychiatric hospitals. Many are kids that the Dept. of Health and Human Services removed from abusive homes.
Dennis Derosier, a 20-year-old resident of the Curtis House, was referred by his family. He lived in the home for nearly a year and a half, up until it closed. Now he’s moving to Portland. He’ll be living in a shelter because the long-term care facility down there is full.
“I pretty much liked everything about living here,” Derosier said. “Even the shoveling.”
While living at the Curtis House, Derosier had part-time work and did odd jobs for local residents.
Last summer, he worked for the maintenance department at Damariscotta Lake State Park. Every week, he goes to an elderly Newcastle woman’s house and helps her stack wood.
Nancy Booth, the woman Derosier helped out, said she’ll miss him and hates to the see the program end.
“This is a great mistake for the state to do,” Booth said. “The program gives kids a new start. It gives kids regular hours and people who care. It gives them pride and helps them earn a little money.”
Booth is one of the founders of the original Lincoln County Group Homes. At one point, there were two homes – the Curtis House for girls and the Heinrich House [the Weymouth House] for boys in Bristol.
Waning state mental health budgets forced the Heinrich House to close in 2008, and the Curtis House became co-ed. Now that the Curtis House is closed, there are no local live-in facilities for kids in Lincoln County.
As he prepared to make the move to Portland last week, Derosier said he has mixed feelings.
“I’m looking forward to moving to a new program,” Derosier said. “But I’m going to miss all the staff that’s here.”
The staff at Curtis House worries about what will happen to kids now that there are no group homes in Lincoln County. The state cuts that closed the Curtis House are part of a 10 percent reduction to all mental health services in Maine.
“They’re mistaken in thinking that we’re saving any money by not giving treatment to these kids,” Muldoon said. “Most of them will be in jails or psychiatric hospitals, if they’re not homeless.”
It costs between $1500 and $2000 per day to house patients at psychiatric hospitals, compared with $350 per day at the Curtis House, Muldoon said. The difference is that the federal government pays a large percentage of hospitals’ costs.
With the state scrambling to cope with the down economy, agencies across the board are facing reductions in state funding.
“Right now, it’s the vulnerable people who are suffering the most,” Muldoon said. “But we’re trying to focus on the great things we’ve done – that we’ve operated for as long as we have, with as much success as we’ve had.”
One of the great successes of the Curtis House was the interaction the kids got with the local community, the staff said.
“The young people have always been welcomed by our neighbors,” Leeman said. “They come up and help shovel and work around the yard. That socialization is so important for these kids. It’s real Maine living – you don’t get that in other places.”
It’s about making kids who might never have had a home, feel like they’re a part of the community, Muldoon said.
“Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover the support Lincoln County has given over the years,” she said. “Financial support as well as just treating the kids like they’re their neighbors.”
The staff at Curtis House doesn’t know exactly what’s going to happen now that the home is closed, and they’re trying to stay focused on short-term concerns.
“We might have a yard sale with all the stuff from the house,” Muldoon said. “Stay tuned for the date.”
