Raven Warren is a junior at Palo Alto High School. But unlike most Palo Alto teens, Warren does not live in a permanent home with her parents or relatives. Since she was three, Warren has lived in group homes, foster homes and children’s shelters. When she learned Wednesday, Feb. 7, that she had to move out of her most stable home so far, Caravan House, she was in shock.

“Caravan House has helped shape who I am today,” Warren said. “I come from a very abusive background, and without Caravan House, I’d probably still be destructive.”

Caravan House, a Palo Alto group home that for 30 years has provided shelter and services for physically and emotionally abused adolescent girls who can no longer live with their families, recently announced that it will be shutting down. Residents must find new homes by March 1, according to Laurie Linscheid, Paly’s Adolescent Couseling Services (ACS) coordinator.

Warren has lived at Caravan House for two years, and is one of the three residents who is now searching for new living arrangements. “At Caravan house they actually care about their clients. They take the time and that’s one thing I really love.”

Caravan House is a program sponsored by ACS. “The board had a very difficult decision,” Linscheid said. “We care about kids and their lives. The last thing we want to do is sacrifice them. It’s heartbreaking that they have to find somewhere else to go, but we can’t help anyone the way it is set up right now.”

According to a letter distributed by ACS to residents and staff announcing the closing of Caravan House, ACS must “shed programs that no longer fit the mission [they have] developed,” and that from sifting through their current programs “the one that doesn’t align with any of the others is Caravan House.”

ACS’s mission involves being the “‘go-to’ place for Peninsula teens and families who urgently seek education, intervention, counseling and referral.” The residents at Caravan House are mostly referred to ACS from failed foster placement, abuse, neglect or family conflict. The house provides services to girls ages 12-18.

Caravan is closing partly because of its financial situation.

“We haven’t been able to maintain a steady occupancy,” Linscheid said. “It is only half full right now, and it is a drain on the [ACS] agency. There is not much of a bright future for it [Caravan House] to support itself.”

The letter ensures that Caravan house will not close until “all the girls are placed in comparable and appropriate placement, such as foster care or another group home.”

“They want to make sure we have a smooth transition, but it is hard to have a smooth transition in three weeks,” Warren said.

Linscheid said the decision was made to close by March 1 because it is before the end of the fiscal year.

Warren, along with her social worker are looking for a home for her. Warren says that there are no group homes in Palo Alto, but there are in San Jose. She also says its hard for teenagers to get into foster homes, as foster homes normally like to take in younger children.

Linscheid says that Warren and the other residents can finish their school year at Palo Alto schools, even if they no longer live in the area. Transportation to school would have to be provided by the foster or group home.

“Paly is definitely a school that I can say is home for me,” Warren said.

Click here to listen to a segment of the original interview with Raven: http://voice.paly.net/media/audio/2007-02-15-w_raven_01.mp3