Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Center Helps Young People

To see them it would be hard to imagine they have anything but normal teenage problems.

But the four young ladies residing at the Hours of Joy Child Care Residence in Gurdon are there for darker reasons. In fact, they are there because of other problems they couldn't work out.

However, these young ladies aren't troublemakers, as could be expected. Instead, to see and talk with them, they are well-mannered, polite and friendly teen-age girls.

All four give credit for this to Johnny Harris, who runs the center.

Harris said the idea came from a need he saw in Clark County. He and his wife, Linda, began a daycare in 1985 in Gurdon after moving from Bearden, but saw the need to help older children as well.

Last year a building came open and Harris was able to purchase it. He has written grants to the Department of Human Services and for minority and family grants, being approved for both to help fund some of the center's programs.

He and his wife began working with Arkansas Behavioral Care to get clients, and the youth started coming in from all over the state. At this time HOJCC, Inc. has a contract with the state to house problem youths.

Currently, he said, the center is licensed for six young people, but work is being done to get the building renovated so the license can be modified for 40.

HOJCC is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operation to make sure the young people involved get the help they need.

For the most part, he said, what these children and teens need is to be shown someone cares about them with compassion and love.

Of the four on-site now, two are from Arkadelphia, one is from Harrison and the other is from Springdale.

"These kids," Harris said, "need someone to deal with them one-on-one and show they're concerned. Then their behavior changes."

This, he said, is a grass roots program with caseworkers visiting to see how their clients are progressing at the center.

The problem is, Harris said, the program needs more volunteers from the community to work with those who live there. Volunteers are welcome to come by and visit the young people, take them shopping or out to eat. Anything to interact with them on a positive note.

When work on the center is completed, he said, it will be similar to the Human Development Center in Arkadelphia, only not dealing with low-level functioning children.

The four at HOJCC now are normal, healthy young ladies with lofty goals for themselves.

Holly, the most outspoken of the four, plans to graduate high school then pursue a career in law after college.

Harris and the staff, she said, are down-to-earth people, who aren't fake. This center, she added, isn't like any other she's been to, because it has a caring and nurturing setting.

Deidri, another girl living there, said the Harris' and staff try to help people out and listen. "It's like home."

Holly said they're treated like humans instead of children, like equals and given respect. The staff, she added, doesn't just tell them what's right and wrong, but asks their feelings about things,

"They give us reasons for saying no," Deidri said.

"They usually have a good reason for saying no," Holly said. "This is a place we can come back to. We're treated with care here. These people give their own time from the goodness of their heart."

There is discipline at the center, they said, where privileges can be lost when rules are broken.

Still, Holly said, the staff tries to get on their level and understand what's going on.

She said those who come to the center don't want to leave for the most part, because they get more care there than anywhere they've been. "It's a nice place and I don't want to leave. We're well fed, get treats and have more freedom, but the rules are carried out in a meaningful way because they care."

"They don't look down on us,"Deidri said. "when we do wrong. They build trust."

Holly looks upon the Harris' as a foster family, saying they've treated her with respect, given all of them slack, yet making sure they had enough responsibility to build trust.

"They really try to help," she said. "We get to go places, but the intangibles we get, truck and concern, are worth more. This is a good Christian place, but religion isn't forced upon us. It's our option, but most of us want to take it.Deidri is working for emancipation, which means she's honing her independent living skills so she can be on her own someday.

Razheme has a six-month-old daughter she gets to see on weekends. When her daughter is brought in, Razheme lights up.

She, too, enjoys life at HOJCC, saying, "It's great, we got to do a lot of things and it's better than most facilities."

According to Razheme, they aren't locked down as clients other places are, and get to go outside and be involved in church activities. She plays on the church softball team, something important to her.

"I like it here," she said, "but I'll be going home soon. I'm looking forward to it so I can be with my little girl."

Razheme also has some lofty goals. She plans on attending UCLA and becoming a pediatrician.

Magan has been at HOJCC the longest, since March. Her goals are to become a lawyer because she likes to argue.

Harris said they have few problems with the girls breaking the rules, but when infractions occur, the loss of privilege is punishment enough.

The girls can lose the right to watch television, go outside or not use the computers.

At this time, he said, plans are in the works to take the girls to Six Flags over St. Louis in July.

The center has a low overhead for expenses and much of the work is done with volunteer labor.

Harris is working to renovate the upstairs so more young people can benefit from the center.

Right now, though, HOJCC can't have boys and girls there at the same time, because there's no way to separate them.

When the upstairs portion is finished, boys will be housed there, while the girls will remain downstairs.

In addition, Harris said, parts of the building can be used as emergency shelter for those in need. This, though, is done on a case-by-case basis and based upon need.

"We have a lot of services combined here," Harris said, "with caseworkers, nurses, doctors and other agencies. This is the only service like it in the area, maybe the state."

When someone wants to give one of the girls a special treat, Harris said, they need to let the staff know where they're going and what the plans are. But it's no problem to take one of them on an outing, in fact it's encouraged.

Currently, none of the girls are attending a public school, but Harris is working to get tutors to come to the center. He's also working to get them tested to see where they would be in school, so they can be tutored accordingly.

The library upstairs is filled with shelves of textbooks. The girls said this isn't a bad thing because they're able to learn while they're there.

The girls are tested on the PLATO program to see what areas they're strong in and where they need help.

The center, Harris said, is open to children 0-18, with infants going to one of the two day care centers they have.

"We try to help get them prepared for life when they turn 18," he said. At this age, the clients are considered adults and aren't covered under the center's program.

"This goes beyond childcare," he said. "It's more than taking children in for pay. We use positive reinforcement, have early intervention programs and go into homes to establish services for families."

There is one drawback, Harris said, "It's hard to let them go. We get attached to them here."

The HOJCC is located across from the Gurdon Senior Adult Center on Main Street.

Harris said donations are accepted and encourages local residents to come and visit the young who stay there.