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A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal,and the common cold. ~ Ogden Nash

History

Up to April 1, 1971 there was no facility to accommodate children in  Pottawatomie, Lincoln, Seminole and Okfuskee Counties who were in distress either by reason of misfortune or their own acting out. Many were housed in the Pottawatomie County jail. The children in a cell not unlike that of other inmates. It was barred, locked and stark - a discouraging place for children.

The movement began in 1969 when Pottawatomie County Judge Glenn Dale Carter,  and associate district judges, from Pontotoc, Okfuskee, Lincoln and Seminole Counties met with personnel from COEDD to discuss funding a regional facility.

Subsequent meetings were held in Chandler, at Girls Town and elsewhere and possible sites were considered. Among the sites were Irving school, Dunbar school, ACH , City and Broadway Hospitals which seemed well located.

On Nov. 26, 1969 the five judges co-signed a letter requesting financial assistance from the Oklahoma Department of Institutional, Social and Rehabilitative Services for establishing a regional facility . Instead, the Department  promised to provide staff.

Local opposition arose and the former Indian Agency Sanitarium became foremost as a possible site. Judge Carter and John Taylor, Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, met with the Business Committee of the Absentee Shawnees who owned the premises.

Facts were gathered to make application for funds to the Crime Commission when Judge Carter entered the hospital Feb. 7, 1970. He held meetings with concerned citizens in his hospital room during the 42 days he was hospitalized.

Shortly after his return to his office, a proposal was made to lease the Sanitarium with the agreement that  if materials were provided, the pre-release center would provide labor to renovate the former nurses quarters.

Application was made and approved for $20,000 from the Oklahoma Crime Commission and with matching funds in the amount of $13,000, the program  was started,

Tom Yarbrough, student counselor at Oklahoma Baptist University, and Betty Cartwright of COEDD, put  much time in organizing the program.

A filmstrip taped at KGFF radio station depicted proposed solution.

 A public rally Sept. 17, 1970 at the Federal National Bank penthouse kicked off the campaign.

Gene Rainbolt agreed to be overall financial chairman with Harber Lampl serving as big gifts chairman.

An intensive series of programs was begun.

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The response was $27,000, given in all sizes of donations, from, big gifts to special offerings taken by churches, to nickels and dimes from school children. Both colleges donated; the high school students gave more than $1,000 and junior high students, around $700.

On October 22, 1970, a lease was executed with the Absentee Shawnee Indians for two buildings, a former nurses quarters and a cabin, the latter for use as living quarters by the house parents.

Problems had arisen before that point, however. The pre-release center plan fell through and with it the promised labor to renovate the buildings. A new application for additional funds had to be made to the Crime Commission and the amount needed for matching funds had to be upped.

During the period,  a non-profit, Hope House corporation was formed. Officers were Judge Carter, President; Tom Yarbrough, Vice-president; Sid Clarke, III Secretary; members of the Board of directors were the Rev. George McClendon, Chaplain at St. Gregory's College; Dr. John Carson, Chief of Staff, Mission Hill Hospital; Associate District Judge Frank Seay of Seminole; H. Harber Lampl, President of American National Bank; and H. E. Rainbolt, President of Federal National Bank.

April 1, 1971, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Lusk, OBU students and houseparents, and Ann Boyd, Tecumseh social worker became the first employees. All were outsourced by the Welfare Department to Hope House.

The first child was admitted April 3, 1971.

The larger facility was opened July 1, 1971. Thirty-five were admitted that  July.

Circa 1976, Youth & Family moved to the corner of Eleventh and Louisa Streets in the City of Shawnee in a house and garage apartment donated for use by Youth & Family.

In 1989 a campaign for a new building was begun and the offices moved to Shawnee Street with Hope House locating on North Broadway. Once the new facility was completed, the counseling offices and Hope House shelter moved to the current location at 326 West Eleventh Street, Shawnee.

In 1996, the Unzner Child Advocacy Centre was added at 214 North Oklahoma in a home donated by the Unzner family.

From the very beginning, the Board and staff set the goal of helping to  help keep kids out of trouble and serving as a beacon of hope for families navigating troubled waters.

Youth & Family today is one of the premier businesses of its kind. It is one of 36 children's shelters in the State of Oklahoma,  the only shelter of its kind in Pottawatomie County and the only advocacy center in the State of Oklahoma that offers closed-circuit testimony for young child abuse victims.

Since 1971, some 25,000 children and families have received help.  

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