Hope House: A Legacy and a Future
Hope House was the first building erected on our McClain Campus in 1981. The house was named in honor of Phenie Hope Pott, a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Missouri and long-time supporter of Missouri Girls Town. The house has a capacity of 10 and serves girls with significant aggression, self-harm tendencies or high risk behaviors.
In December 2022, a water pipe burst causing damage to the building. At that time, youth were moved to McClain-Williams House, and the Hope House has remained vacant since. Hope House is not the only vacant building on campus. Currently, Gerbes is the only one of our five residential cottages providing a temporary home for the youth we serve. Why? A simplified explanation includes increased regulations for residential providers to receive federal funding, individual assessments required to determine youth placement, medical necessity determinations by insurance companies, and a post-COVID depleted workforce.
These barriers don’t just impact residential facilities. They significantly affect youth and families. On average 75 Missouri youths are receiving residential services outside of the state. Transitioning the youth out of state and farther from family presents additional trauma and often the cost for care out of state is significantly more than utilizing services in Missouri. Missouri Girls Town continues to develop operational plans to fulfill our strategic goals, which include increasing our census and providing therapeutic services to youths and families who have endured extensive trauma.
As an organization, we continue to work diligently to meet regulatory demands, navigate insurance billing challenges, provide competitive wages, and foster a positive work culture to improve employee retention. We remain committed to being a resource for youth and families. Our goal is to increase our census because we know the need exists. We will continue working to reopen Hope House and the other buildings our generous donors helped establish, sharing a vision to make the world a better place for youth affected by trauma.
Special thank you to direct care worker, Missy McCray for taking this photo for this spring newsletter article!
