Seeking Support, Homeless Maine Teens Are Often Forced To Leave Their Communities

After years of constant turmoil, Kobe Brown, 18, says he’s finally found some stability at Shaw House in Bangor. (Robbie Feinberg/Maine Public)

Recent financial trends have not been kind to some organizations serving homeless youth, especially those in rural Maine. Programs and youth shelters in Rockland, Skowhegan and Rumford have all closed over the last dozen years. With fewer resources, teens in rural areas have had to face a tough choice: stay within the community they know or move to an unfamiliar city that might offer more support.

For youth who live in Penobscot and surrounding counties, the search for a safe place to stay often begins on the doorstep of Shaw House in Bangor. It is a shelter that serves up to 16 kids who are homeless or at-risk.

Inside, draped across a couch, is Kobe Brown. He is 18-years-old.

“I’m kind of in a tight situation because of past things that have happened in my life,” Brown says. “I moved around a lot. Placement to placement — hospitals, group homes, foster homes.”

Brown was born in Boston but moved to Maine as a child. He says much of his youth was chaotic and abusive, which led state agencies to remove him from his home when he was young. His treatment by family made him angry and upset, he says, and he expressed his feelings through emotional outbursts and by getting into fights.

Read the rest of the story at Maine Public’s website.