Kid's Stories

Safe Haven’s mission: to create lasting change in the lives of youth and young adults through strength-based services.

As our mission statement describes, we are committed to creating lasting change in the lives of the youth we serve. We accomplish this in part by providing ongoing support to youth before, during and after participation in our programs. The stories provided below illustrate beyond the statistics of the program's evaluation the impact Safe Haven has in the lives of youth.

"David"

David moved to Scott County from North Minneapolis where he grew up because he wanted to get away from the drug and gang scene in the city. He was living with a relative here and attending high school until the relative moved, leaving David homeless. He had made a new life for himself here and didn't want to leave his school so he wound up living with a board member of Safe Haven for several months (whose son was a friend of David's) until our transitional living homes were opened in August, 2000. David thrived in our program. He joined the high school track team (which our executive director coaches) and won the 101% award for his hard work and work ethic on the team. After graduating from high school, David went on (with the help of an alumnus who worked at Safe Haven) to attend Saint Mary's University where he's still enrolled and doing well.

"Eric"

Eric, like many of the kids we serve, was left homeless after being shuffled between separated parents for years. Eric lived in Safe Haven's group home for boys for a year until he was 18. After leaving the program, he kept in touch with several of our staff he had become close to and let us know about the latest in his life. Last year, Eric walked into an Armed Forces recruiter's office and joined the Army. He notified us just before his deployment and said he wanted to come back after his tour and talk to a group of our kids about his experiences both in our program and after.

"Jenny"

Jenny first came to Safe Haven at age 16 when she entered our group home for girls program. In addition to living in a very dysfunctional family situation, Jenny was bi-polar and suffered from several other mental health issues. Because of her somewhat violent tendencies at that period in her life, Jenny had to leave our program after four months and enter the foster care system. However, because of the supportive environment she experienced here, Jenny returned to us two years later in our transitional living program. Once she had dealt with her anger, Jenny was able to successfully complete the transitional living program, learn independent living skills and graduate from high school. She applied and was accepted to Bemidji State University where she's currently in her sophomore year.

"John"

John was 17 when he came to live at Safe Haven's group home for boys. He had been living in foster care homes since he was 10 years old after being placed there for alleged abuse issues related to his stepfather. Safe Haven staff helped John complete high school, get involved in football and deal with the issues of his past. He is now enrolled at Normandale Community College and living successfully at home with his mother.

"Chris"

At age 17, Chris' relationship with his mom had been steadily declining, he was heavily involved in drinking and drugs and his mother could no longer handle him. He came to Safe Haven after going to an emergency shelter for help. We recognized Chris' strong desire to work, play high school sports and live a normal life. We helped him stabilize his life and learn to get along with his family again. While in our program, Chris attended high school, worked and received a varsity letter on the Prior Lake football team. He was soon going home on weekends to stay with his mother. Eventually, he left our program to return to his mother's where he continued to play football and graduate from high school. Chris still stays in touch regularly with Safe Haven staff.