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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal Star, 1976-05-06, Page 1e ' 9 PUbJ Q •ta.bravy, 5210 tx' .L S•►$ Gode Bchl Ont. 1 N 2.G4 • • 129 YEAR -,18 THURSDAY, I AY i 1970 COND SECTION•• The Queen. and her court. Laurie Kernighan sits on the. que'en's throne at theGDCI Spring Prom after being named Queen; of the Prom. Surrounding her are the either can- didates. for the honor (Ieft to right) Patti Denonime, Marion. Bell, )lora Simpson andAnne Melick. (staff -photo). . • Over the .:drawbridge Guests of the. GDCI Student's Council at the high school 'spring prom passed through a. facade of.castle doors crossed a drawbridgeover a moat and descended onto the .dance floor. The decorations were made by students of the school concentrating on the NledievaL England` theme. Here..Chris Maillet and her date, Mike Cummings enter along with Canon and Mrs. G.G. Russell. Laurie . Kernighan flashes a. smile at her friends and '. fellow students who voted her Queen of the Prom at the` annual GDCI formal Friday night. (staff -photo) Revellers at the GDCI Spring Prom are dwarfed by the huge replicaof the Crown Jewels of England that served as thecentrepiece on the dance floor. The decoration was con- structed by students at the school adding to the theme of the dance, Medieval England. Huron CAS looking for alternatives_. Troubled teens ,... BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER "Itis -one -thing -tom say that a kid . should . be doing -soni°ething. It is another thing entirely to make it happen." Chris Martin, hebd of the Youth Services Department of the Huron ` ' County Children's Aid Society doesn't look mach like the social, workers this county has had in its employ previously. He's a well-built young man with a ` heavy black beard and :a heat - tip suede jacket. His blue.eyes are partially obscured behind. a pair of tinted glasses, but when he•smiles.and says "I really get' off on kids" it is .crystal clear that he's' just . what is needed• to work with Fl•:tiron's troubled teens. And according. to Chris Martin and Marion Hind - marsh, also of 'CAS, Huron has a "real influx''. of teenagers who • need the assistance of the Youth Services Department About 60 percent of the 85 or so youngsters' in• the care' of . the CAS are teenagers. As well, about one-third of 'the work with families in--:th.e- county involves teenagers who aren't in care but who are havingdifficulty living at home. "3t has been gradually coming over•thee.last two or three years," says Chris in his soft-spoken manner. "But. we've only realized the large numbers of them in the last 1:0 'months or so:" Most ,of the approximately 50 teenagers in the care of co. are from Huron. Most are' in conflict with parents ,,. :some with the school system and perhaps the police. All have a siinilar col'nplairit. 'All `want increased independence and increased responsibility. "The key; Word , . is freedom,," 'admits., Chris. "F•reedom to do whatever they want. When you ask them to be.more.specific they Can't be. They just want to make, theiry own decisions need special homes without parents:, tea•ehers.and. police' telling them .what to do." — �'he-mosi troubled -age -as far as.CASis about 14 years. • "That's usually when we gel involved," said Chris., Are young people of this age able to '.make their 'oven. decisions? "More capable than we realize," says Chris. "We expect. teenagers to act responsibly' and then we take responsibility -away from them. It's them not having to accept the consequences of their own actions that causes the problem's.'.' • Oddly enough, and contrAty to what many people believe, it is not the young people from broken homes and deprived conditions Where they feel unloved that are corning into care. "More and more are coming from very stable, well -adjusted' family situations," says Chris. he rise we care too.- much,". oo much,"- he explained. "We are likely to know what's best for them because .we ,have' years of experience on them.. We want to impose that on them 'because it is likely to save them some grief." " ' ' •Parents may •also want to save themselves some heartiache,•but Chris believes this. isn't such" a factor as parents who love their kids so much they want to. protect them from harm and danger: "It's parents taking one position over here and kids taking another position over here.," says Chris,demon- s'tr,;ating with his hands the wide gulf between the two. "There's just n•o cd fnpronlise in a situation like that." Teenagers .come to . CAS themselves, looking for help. Sometimes parents make the approach. Some referrals are • from police and., some•are from the schools.. "It is our job to work out a compromise so. that the kid Can ' remain in the ,home," • Chri$ explains, "or providing an alternative situation., for • that kid when there can't be a compromise worked out right s then." • LOOKING FOR. ' ALTERNATIVE SITUATIQNS While the initial goal of CAS is tokeep kids in their 'own. homes;. alternate living situations are absolutely necessary ih some cases. The traditional foster home is not working out, CAS is discovering. According to • Chris, it isn't much .wonder.. Taking a teenager out of one fanjlly,situation 'and putting him right back into a similar family situation isn't ' •the answer. "Sometimes, a kid coming out of a •family' situation wants no part of another family," says Chris, CAS i:.(ooking for homes, thtiugh..W Kut. they 'must be (continued on piige 14A j Laurie Ker,.tithan enj•oy.ed.a dance with her escort Steven Little after thg,Grade didate was declared Queen of the Proin at the annual GDCI formal. -(staff -photo) • 13 Gatto.