Lockup For Runaways Wins Lawmaker’s Praise Locked, Guarded Facility Aims To Reunite Teens With Families

A state lawmaker is giving the thumbs up to the first lockup for runaway youths in Washington.

“Let’s hope we can take what Yakima has done and show the state,” said state Rep. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood.

The $242,000 residential center marks a sharp departure from typical come-and-go-as-you-please group homes. It features locked doors, fencing topped with barbed wire and motion detectors around the perimeter.

The new approach stems from the 1995 “Becca Bill,” which lawmakers approved after 13-year-old Rebecca Hedman, a chronic runaway from Tacoma, was found beaten to death in Spokane.

“Rebecca would be alive today if she’d been here,” Carrell said Thursday after he and other members of the House Child and Family Services Committee toured the 2,100-square-foot facility.

“Nobody could walk into that center and not feel that their child was protected.”

But some argue that only criminals can be locked up against their will.

Debbie Chard, director of youth services at EPIC, a private nonprofit social service agency that operates the facility, said she understands the concern.

“I believe in youth rights,” she said. “But you don’t hand over a bag of youth rights … without preparing them for the responsibilities that come with it.”

Counselors work one-on-one with youths and parents. The goal, Chard said, is to reunite families within five days.

The center, which opened in June, has four bedrooms, one of which is handicap-accessible. All rooms are equipped with their own toilet and shower facilities. The communal living room features computers and educational software.

So far, more than 60 runaways have come through the facility, most of them from middle-class, two-parent families.

“We need to get people down here to see what Yakima is doing with this,” Carrell said. “Why would anyone want to just keep letting kids roam the streets when you can have facilities like this for them?”