North Raleigh Today

The Wake County Board of Commissioners has set aside $2 million to partner with Alliance Health, as the county moves forward with plans to create three transitional group homes for teens.

With no place for teens who are experiencing a mental health crisis to go now, District 3 Commissioner Maria Cervania applauded the recent decision, saying children shouldn’t be housed in office buildings any longer, WRAL News reported.

“This is inhumane in a lot of ways,” Cervania said of keeping six children who are in county care in the Wake County Human Services office building.

The plan for three group homes will provide space for 18 teens who are dealing with mental health or substance-abuse issues. The goal for the county is for the teens to get the treatment they need. 

"We’re really hopeful that by having safe places to stay for a short period of time while we figure out what the best next step is for (the teens),” Alliance Health project manager Kate Peterson told WRAL News. “Then we can help launch a much better treatment." 

Once the homes are finished, the cost of running them will be covered by Alliance Health, and the agency is currently looking for real estate and working to  get the programs listed with the state. Alliance is projecting it will take six months to get the program up and running.

"The more families we have, the more we’re able to make that right match between a child’s needs and a family’s strength,” Wake County Child Welfare Co-Interim Director Sheila Donaldson, who is tasked with trying to find a place to stay for children under the county's care, told WRAL News.

Donaldson described the desperation her team faces to make daily moves.

"Foster parents are usually saying, 'Come get this child, I can’t deal with their behavior any more,'"  she told WRAL News.

She said the county has not provided the children with proper mental health intervention.

"They are not getting the appropriate treatment," Donaldson told WRAL News.