Solomon Center Reopens at Home

Courtesy Amanda Irwin

BGHNC

For a year, whenever Columbus County children were removed from a home by law enforcement or the Department of Social Services, they often spent the night in the DSS office in Whiteville in a makeshift bedroom.

For some children, this temporary stay stretched into days while a temporary foster home or a relative was located. Other times they were shipped across the state to a foster home.

Now when a young person is taken out of a family home in Columbus County, they will have more comfortable setting while they await more permanent relocation.

The Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina’s Solomon Assessment Center will have a ribbon cutting and re-opening at 9 a.m. June 30 on the Lake Waccamaw campus.

Solomon is the only emergency youth shelter in Columbus County.    The Solomon Assessment Center can provide “shelter and stability” for a child for 30 to 90 days, according to a press release.

   “Without Boys and Girls Homes’ emergency shelter, Columbus County kids were having to be transported to other parts of the state just to have a safe place to go to bed that night,” said Marc Murphy, BGHNC’s President and CEO.

Solomon was opened in 2002 to fill the need for an emergency youth shelter in the county.    The center had been closed for a year for renovations and staffing challenges. The renovated Solomon Center will have 10 beds available for youth who need a place to live during a time of crisis for their family.

   “This reopening will benefit all of our partners, including law enforcement, the Department of Social Services and mental health agencies,” said BGHNC Chief Residential Officer Erika Brown. “In cases where parents are being arrested, when abuse and neglect are involved or maybe a child had to be removed from their foster care placement for various reasons, any time of the night or day, the Solomon Assessment Center will become an immediate option for placement.”

Once admitted, BGHNC staff will assess the child, determining “if they are a fit for our residential campus, one of our BGHNC foster or therapeutic foster care homes, or if they require a higher level of care. Those next steps will be determined while they are at the Assessment Center,” Brown added.

   “We know it’s so important to keep kids near their community,” Murphy said, “and having this shelter allows kids to stay close to their schools and their families.”