I've mentioned the Brownsville converted Walmart in at least two posts on the thread and also the congressman who raised a stink when he was barred entry to it. The problem I have with the way people are responding to this is that when they say they care about the children who are being detained or Hawkeye who says he finds it depressing, is that what they really mean is "I damned hate Trump".
How do I know? Because they haven't put finger to the keyboard to come up with the information that you just did which tells me you are both genuinely interested in the well being of the children and
truth. I'll have the conversation with you that I had hoped to have with Hawkeye.
Let me cut to the chase regarding the shelter in the converted Walmart. You have some of the evidences I was going to use right in the article that you linked to.
The children are being accommodated and their needs met in a building that has been converted to meet their needs, receiving medical care and program that is designed to meet their physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs. It is sponsored and operated by Southwest Key Services and to the best of my knowledge, it is being run under the auspices of the US Department of Health and Human Services and under the direct supervision of the Texas Department of Social Services which is the state licensing agency in Texas.
What that means in real life is that the building has been subject to inspections by DSS, Fire Department, and Health Department. It must operate IAW state rules and regulations.
What that means in real life is that the everyting that takes place inside that building, when it takes place and how it takes place, is regulated by the state including how the children spend their time and who they spend it with. How they are fed, what they are fed, how many hours of recreation they are entitled to (note the word "entitled"), how many periods of rest they require according to their age and stage of development, when they sleep, how they sleep, on what type and size of cot they sleep, how far apart their cots are from each other (health department), how they are supervised during periods of sleep, how they are supervised and grouped during their periods of educational instruction, what type of curriculum is used, who teaches it, how much space and time they have in the out of doors, what type of indoor and outdoor equipment is availble for their use, how they are supervised in the out of doors, that they have 24 access to water indoors and outdoors, and particularly in Texas that they are provided with shades areas in the out of doors.
This program is staffed with people who have had to pass FBI and state background checks, fingerprints included. Staff who has been trained to provide instruction, supervision, to deliver curriculum and meet the children's emotional needs so long as they are in the program.
In other words, it is staffed by people much like me.
My question to whomever opposes such accommodations would be this.
Would you rather have immigrant children housed with related and unrelated adults 24/7 in adult shelters with no additional supervision, while adults work out adult issues, hoping to god that the guy in the next cot isn't a pedophile or would you rather have them accommodated in a LRE supervised and cared for 24/7, where their safety and security is ensured, where the staff provided for the express purpose of meeting the children's needs, who have received training and education to provide such services and whose identity and background has already been verifiied via dual background checks?
I noticed in the article that the program has had 13 write ups for deficiencies, though I didn't see that it specified what those were. What happens in that case in an already licensed program such as this shelter is that the shelter will have something on the order of 60-90-120 days to correct each deficiency in order to continue the license.
Having been through my fair share of walk-in unannounced inspections by the various departments I listed above, I can tell you that violations can be anything from something like your bleach solution being strip tested, rubber bands laying on a counter top, the depth of your playground sand when it's stick tested, how many surfaces are available on the playground, a fence that needs repair, an unlocked closet, immunization records missing from a child file, and all sorts of things. It's not at all unusual for a program to come up with at least a few minor violations as the result of a walk-in inspection. This is business as usual for anyone who knows anything about the operation of children's programs, particularly those that are nonprofit.
Let's say they're using the rear parking lot for an outdoor center--playground. Let's say they temporarily have asphalt only as a surface. That's a violation that will be covered by a response letter process as they secure funds to install the additional surfaces and if the license is up for renewal, it involves a continuance process. Here's a link directly to SKS child immigrant programs if anyone would like additional information on what is provided.
http://www.swkey.org/programs/shelters/