Wake County is using its own office building as an emergency shelter for foster teenagers because it cannot find enough homes or residential placements. The teens sleep, shower and eat in space meant for government work, while county employees continue handling public business around them. Officials say the arrangement is temporary, but the shortage behind it has become anything but.
The latest look at the crisis comes from ABC11’s report, which says Wake County has 539 children in foster care but just 76 foster homes licensed and monitored by the county. Sheila Donaldson, the county’s deputy director of social services, said the number of foster families has been cut roughly in half since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The children stay at the Swinburne Building in converted office and conference spaces, according to The News & Observer. The setup has included air mattresses, a single shower, meals brought in from outside and laundry transported away from the building, with an average stay of about eight weeks and at least one youth remaining for nine months…