St. Joe's Carmelite Home for Girls - East Chicago, Indiana

  Our Foundress opened St. Joseph's Carmelite Home for Girls in 1913. After several foundations in Europe were successfully established, Mother traveled to the United States and eventually received permission from the Bishop of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to work among the poor in Lake County. Two small frame buildings, housing some seventy children, became the nucleus for our present block-long facility. The poverty in these early days was extreme, but true to the spirit of Mother Mary Teresa, the dedication of the sisters to this mission prevailed.

  Carmelite Home evolved from an orphanage, to a group home, and finally to a certified residential treatment center, where the social, moral, educational, and physical needs of girls between the ages of six and eighteen years who have experienced abuse, neglect, or are in some way dependent on an outside group for care and nurturance, are given the supportive environment they need for healthy development. We accept children with a variety of personal and family problems. We have a capacity for forty-eight residents. Carmelite Home for Girls is licensed by the Indiana State Division of Family and Children, and is owned and operated by the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus.

  The Carmelite Home provides a full range of therapy services to residents and their families. The home consults closely with psychiatrists caring for residents with emotional disorders. Individual Therapy is provided for children suffering from the trauma of physical and emotional abuse and neglect. Abusive parents are helped to recognize the damage their behavior has had upon the family and are assisted in correcting the abusive behavior and establishing trusting relationships.

  Many of the residents of the Carmelite Home, though able to function adequately at home during non-school hours, are not able to function academically or socially in the public/private school environment.

  The sisters recognize that a good education is indispensable and that the Carmelite Home has the responsibility to assure academic progress for all of our children. Therefore, in August, 1999, our facility, in conjunction with the East Chicago Public Schools, registered with the State of Indiana as an home School through the Indiana Department of Education.

  Our Home School staff assesses the educational needs of the students and develops a curriculum to meet individual needs. Being on the grounds of our facility, the school insures daily class attendance, which is of the utmost importance to our students who may in the past have had problems with tardiness and truancy.

  June, 2000, marked the end of our first full school year. We are proud to report that our program was a success. Students, who just one year ago were failing, made Honor Roll! Many of last years students are now ready to reenter public/private schools with new found confidence.

  Our Transitional Living Program is designed for young women in their Junior/Senior year of high school, who do not have family resources available to help them following graduation. These young women will have to assume full responsibility for themselves. The goal of this program is to help young women in this situation to learn the necessary skills and to acquire the necessary resources to achieve self sufficiency following graduation, and to create a home of their own.

Transitional Living Program components include:

• money management
• consumer awareness
• food management
• personal health/hygiene
• housing
• housekeeping
• transportation
• employment
• emergency & safety
• community resources

  Very recently, the Carmelite Home has established services meant for pregnant adolescents in need of residential care throughout their pregnancy. It is the mission of the Maternal Care Program to provide the best of care to the teen, mother and her developing child.

  After giving birth, young mothers who choose to remain with their child, are transferred from the Carmelite program to an appropriate home selected by her case manager Young mothers who choose to live separately from their newborn, may return as a resident of the Carmelite home for Girls.