Eight days after
celebrating its 25th anniversary, Los Angeles's Gay and Lesbian
Adolescent Social Services has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy,
effectively ceasing operations immediately.
GLASS was the nation's
first long-term residential treatment program specifically for
LGBT youths. The group currently operates residential group
homes in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland that house 71
young people. The agency also provides transitional living
space for about 25 teens aged 17-19 and secures foster homes
for 50 youths.
"The staff is very
upset," says Terry DeCrescenzo, GLASS's founder and executive
director. "They may physically go to court and petition the
court to reject the Chapter 7 and give us a Chapter 11."
An anonymous source
reported that upon hearing the news of GLASS's dissolution,
one of the children under their care overdosed and was rushed
to the hospital. "I am not at liberty to discuss the
condition of any of the minors in the program,"
DeCrescenzo said. "But it should certainly come as no
surprise under these circumstances, as [the
children] face losing the only families they've
ever known."
DeCrescenzo says a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy would allow GLASS to continue operating
while seeking additional funds through donations or loans.
GLASS's board of directors didn't believe the organization
would be able to secure a loan or obtain enough donations at
this time and therefore pushed for the Chapter 7, DeCrescenzo
says. The group receives 90% of its funds from the
cash-strapped California government and the rest from
donations.
"We need two
[million] to thrive," DeCrescenzo says. "One [million] to
survive."
The young
people in GLASS's group homes will most likely go to
state-run facilities, while those in the transitional living
program will lose any outside assistance they were receiving,
DeCrescenzo says.
DeCrescenzo worries for
the transgender youths who will no longer have the specially
trained GLASS staff -- 150 people now without jobs -- at their
sides.
"I don't see outside
agencies having the skills, expertise, or heart to take care of
these trans kids," she says. (Neal Broverman and Rhiza Dizon,
Advocate.com)
