By CRAIG MAUGER, Courier-Times
cmauger@thecouriertimes.com
KNIGHTSTOWN - There were stories of abuse, drug use and family arguments that never ended.
On Wednesday, those stories of what brought children to the Indiana Soldier's and Sailor's Children's Home blended with fears of what will happen when the children have to leave.
Citing concerns for finances and performance, the Indiana State Department of Health announced Wednesday morning that it plans to close the Home in Knightstown, which serves children from across Indiana who come from at-risk environments. The state said the 114 children will transition back into their community-based school corporations at the end of the spring semester in May.
In a press release, the department of health said it costs the state about $90,000 per student per year at the Home. The department says the Home lacks a clear mission and its facilities are outdated.
After the announcement, alumni of the Home ate lunch in Knightstown's American Legion. They said they will battle to keep the Home - their former home - open.
"It's like taking an alcoholic and putting him in rehab on Monday and then sending him back to a bar on Saturday," Doug Jordan said of transitioning the children back into their schools. "You're shooting yourself in the foot."
Jordan, who now lives in Connersville, first came to the Home in 1975 from Plainfield. His brother and sister were getting in trouble, and his grandparents couldn't handle them. The children's welfare agency told his family there was a place that could help.
Jordan said the Home helps at-risk children concentrate and learn.
"They wouldn't be in the home if they didn't have a bad situation in their community that they came from," he said.
Troubled homes
Diana Holden Bossingham's father killed her mother. She then moved in with her aunt who was emotionally abusive before coming to the Home.
She was a member of the class of 1973 and is now president of the alumni association.
"I was excited to come here," Bossingham said. "And I've been excited ever since because it gave me a place where I feel safe, where I could be a kid and where I could explore my dreams."
At the Home, Bossingham participated in the choir, drama club and science club.
"If that would have happened when I was here, I would have had no place to go," she said of the closure.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, state officials, Home staff and alumni met in the administration building to hear the official announcement.
Afterward, sitting in one of the building's hallways, Bossingham said state officials used the meeting to explain why they decided to close the Home, which has been open since 1866.
'We are not statistics'
"Basically what it came down to was dollars and cents," Bossingham said.
"That greatly disturbs us," she added. "Because we are not statistics. We are not data. How can you put a price on the value of a safe place to live, a good education and a place we can always call home?"
Carol Stuthridge started calling it home when she was 4 years old. She now works as a house parent there.
During her childhood, she had been in and out of three foster homes.
"There's a lot of students out there that don't have a lot of options," Stuthridge said. "It's not as easy as saying we're going to stick them back into their school systems and back into the homes they came from."
Stuthridge recalled one child who said at her home, she wasn't allowed outside because it was too dangerous.
State Rep. Tom Saunders attended the Wednesday meeting. He said a youth minister told him a story about a child who was left at the Home. According to the minister, the child's parents told him they were taking him on a vacation, but instead, they drove to Knightstown and left him on the property.
Alumni say the children who are currently at the Home have been told about the closure.
'It's very scary for them'
"They are in tears," Stuthridge said.
Bossingham says while the children know about the closure, they don't know what their futures will hold.
"That's very uncertain," she said. "It's very scary for them."
Stuthridge says the Home could hold more than 1,000 children. She says the number of children there has dwindled over the years along with the funding the state has given.
Paula and Willie Anderson of Middletown both attended the Home. Paula says it allows children to feel loved when otherwise they might not.
Willie says the Home gave him discipline and an education.
"You were ready to walk out in this big world," he said.
As the state prepares its next budget during a recession, Daniels has proposed cuts in funding for universities and state agencies. He says the state's financial problems are manageable and plans to protect a $1.4 billion surplus or "rainy day fund" as some officials call it.
Despite the fact that the department of health says it made the closure decision after a three-year study, many of the alumni hold Daniels personally responsible for the decision.
"His next political venture will be ruined," Jordan said of Daniels. "They say it's not him doing it, but it is him doing it."
The alumni are currently planning their next move. Jordan says he hopes to arrange a march on the Statehouse. The alumni have a Web site that has thousands of members which will be utilized for organization.
"If they're going to close it, the country is going to know about it," Jordan said.