I’m looking at a photograph in USA Today of my spouse, David Rothmiller and me. We look happy and relaxed. The photo appears in the Faces of Pride edition for 2017, representing California. As I stare at it, I reflect on the path that brought us to that moment of national acknowledgement.
In July of 2014, the LGBT Sanctuary Palm Springs was incorporated as a non-profit corporation. David and I had been developing the concept for months before that official ‘birth’. Why two filmmakers came to the conclusion that birthing a nonprofit start-up was a great idea is a question we still ponder.
Initially, we applied for a license for LGBT youth 13-18 in foster care. We were told that because there was a state and federal mandate to provide care for LGBT youth, we would likely be able to get a license even though group homes were being phased out. While awaiting our tax exempt status we wrote our Program Statement – describing and outlining every aspect of what we would offer these young people.
Over the next months, we had three meetings with the Riverside County support letter committee - the group that examines applicants for a group home license. Each visit resulted in changes to the Program Statement. On the third visit, having made changes as required, the committee simply moved the goal post. They told us to come back in six months.
That was the first ‘dark night of the Soul’ for us. Others followed.
Our Program Statement was 130 pages of passionate belief that, with support, LGBT foster youth can beat the odds and become productive adults. Statistically, over 60% of the kids leaving foster care end up on the streets, on drugs, in survival prostitution, incarcerated or dead. We wondered if our efforts pushing into a very complex bureaucracy would ever succeed. But then, our thoughts would stray to the unknown LGBT youth whom we could have helped and our determination grew.
“Dark Night of the Soul: The Sequel” occurred while listening to our advocate’s voice on the phone deny our license request. Shock turned to numbness. But thankfully, she steered us in a new direction - Transitional Housing Program Plus Foster Care, created by the CA state legislature to provide care for young people about to ‘age out’ of foster care. THP+FC serves a population of 18-21 year old foster youth who desperately need support, safety and training to transition to adulthood.
Our advocate had intoned that it would probably be a quicker process to get licensed as a THP+FC. It didn’t occur to us that might be unfounded. Nor that since THP+FC was such a new program we would have to educate the people in the system about it or that we might have to go through another year before we would be licensed and even longer before we actually opened our doors.
Here are the key highlights to our getting licensed:
• We had to acquire a physical facility for the county and state to inspect. Thanks to our Director of Operations, Ellen Wolf and many others, we were ready for inspection and then, the house sat furnished with food in the cupboards for over a year.
• We had to write another Program Statement and Plan of Operation.
• The county support letter committee inspected the house and then more months went by even though they had written the letter of recommendation (unsigned).
• We began making phone calls to state officials to get some answers as to why the letter had not been signed.
• The letter was on one woman’s desk who was under investigation on some unspoken charge. Pressure was brought to bear.
• Two more weeks and we received a signed letter but, oddly, the wording of the letter did not match the letter that had been written by the support letter committee.
• We had to correct the letter and with great trepidation, resubmit for a signature.
• While we were awaiting the corrected and signed letter, we prepared the state application.
• Once a state application is submitted, the state has ten days to set an appointment for a face-to-face meeting to review it. This did not happen.
• We were assigned a state analyst.
• Another couple of months slipped by and we had to call state officials again and found ourselves back in a holding pattern.
• The ten days allotted to set the appointment for initial interview turned into three months. We called state officials again.
• This finally resulted in an appointment for us to come in and present our program to the state analyst. The final hurdle was in sight!
• Then, our state analyst called saying that we didn’t need a state license and that she was canceling our appointment. She said that since San Bernadino County provided us with a support letter, we were done.
• But THP+FC is a state license. We found someone at San Bernadino who could confirm that fact. The appointment held.
• Fire inspection is supposed to be ordered by the application reviewer a few days after initially submitting a complete application. It wasn’t. Another curve ball, but we were prepared and got the fire inspection done within two days.
• Finally, the scheduled meeting in San Bernadino. In attendance was our state analyst and the support letter committee. It was apparent that everyone there had had their cages rattled for the delays we’d endured. The meeting was a love fest, thanks to our Program Director Julie Siri who produced document after document without skipping a beat. After that meeting on November 2nd 2016 we were given a verbal approval. The license arrived November 14th 2016.
In June 2017, we received our first resident just shy of three years from our incorporation date. The good news, besides having achieved our goal, is that during that time we’ve grown to understand even more deeply the need for our program.
Our core competency is serving LGBT youth. All of the key staff who serve Sanctuary Palm Springs are LGBT, many of our support staff and volunteers are, as well. Our board is primarily LGBT. And Sanctuary Palm Springs was born in a community famous for its tolerance and inclusivity.
David and I have been LGBT rights activists most of our adult lives. We have witnessed the historic events of the last few decades that have brought us to this complex landscape. Though we have marriage equality, our transgender community is still fighting for job and housing security and the right to serve in the armed forces. Adoptive and fostering couples are still fighting to be seen as fit parents, LGBT teen suicide is still on the rise due the all-too-pervasive climate of bullying. And let’s not forget that if a young LGBT foster youth comes out or is found out and their foster care providers do not accept them, they can be bounced from that placement – losing their ‘family’ once again.
Even though getting the license was work, the real work begins now. By receiving our first residents we are making history in our own small way. Sanctuary Palm Springs, to our understanding, is the first transitional housing program specifically designed for LGBT foster youth. With this model in operation, we can now begin to expand the program. Part of our mission is to train others to provide the quality of care and guidance that Sanctuary Palm Springs is designed to provide. And, hopefully, having been the groundbreakers, others will not have to wait so long and overcome so many hurdles to help this very vulnerable population.