Youth spent months homeless

By Ed Runyan

Homeless children in Trumbull County are ‘very rare,’ the Children Services director said.

WARREN — The Trumbull County Children Services Board has taken temporary custody of a 14-year-old boy who showed up at the Warren Family Mission on Sunday, saying he had been homeless for several months.

Children Services officials say they don’t know whether the boy had been on his own for months or just days, because they have been unable to verify who he is and where he came from.

Marcia Tiger, executive director of the Trumbull County Children Services Board, said finding a juvenile living on the streets in Warren is “very rare,” saying she’s never been aware of any homeless juveniles in Trumbull County during the 32 years she has worked for the board.

In one interview on Monday, the boy said he’d only been in Warren a couple days, The boy said he had been “roaming” the area for several months as a result of not having a place to live, Tiger said.

The boy said he slept in the football stadium at Harding High School on Saturday and went to a female friend’s house Sunday “to sleep someplace warm,” but she could not keep him there, she said.

The boy said his parents were killed in Youngstown in June 2007 and that he stayed with friends in Youngstown and then in the Warren area for the past three to six months, Tiger said.

Pastor Chris Gilger, executive director of the Warren Family Mission, 361 Elm Road, said the boy’s condition when he showed up Sunday night suggests his story about living on the streets appears to be true because of the condition of his clothing and his absence of bathing.

“His hair was wild and he smelled real bad like he had lived outside,” The Rev. Mr. Gilger said, adding that the boy said he had slept around the football stadium a couple nights and in the Scott Street area, not far from the Warren Family Mission.

The mission sees homeless men on a somewhat regular basis but juveniles arrive at the mission only a couple times per year, Mr. Gilger said, adding that this is the time of year when such people usually arrive, when the air begins to turn cold.

Juveniles who come are usually runaways, Mr. Gilger said, though the 14-year-old was not listed in police records as missing or a runaway. The boy told Mr. Gilger his parents were killed in separate incidents.

“Sometimes people have such terrible things going on that they will do anything to get away,” the Rev. Gilger said.

The Elm Road facility is not normally open Sunday nights, being used mostly for executive offices and giveaways for clothing and food, the Mr. Gilger said.

But Mr. Gilger went there Sunday night just on a chance and is glad he was there when the youth showed up.

“He was real depressed. His head was down,” he said, adding that the boy was also “real polite” and soft-spoken.

Mr. Gilger told the boy Children Services would have to be notified because the Warren Family Mission cannot house juveniles. The boy said he was tired of living from place to place and getting beat up.

“He said, ‘Even if you have to call police, that’s OK. I’m tired,’” Mr. Gilger said.

Before calling CSB, Mr. Gilger cut the boy’s hair and allowed the boy to take a shower and eat a meal, he said.

The boy didn’t appear to be sick and cooperated fully with CSB workers, Tiger said.

runyan@vindy.com