A Shelby County organization is working to keep runaway and homeless youths safe and sound.

From January through November, Family Connection has served 58 runaway and homeless youths from age 12 to 18 at its emergency shelter and youth center.  The center is at 2 Walker Run, off Shelby County 26, Alabaster.

The nonprofit organization also operates a day shelter and street outreach program in Birmingham for runaway youths and homeless people ages 13-21, and has assisted 561 young people in the past 11 months.

Formed in 1976 as a group home and emergency shelter for at-risk children and teenagers, Family Connection is funded through local, state and federal grants.  Its Alabaster campus, with an 18-bed shelter, was constructed in 1986.

In 1992, Family Connection expanded to include the downtown Birmingham shelter and the first outreach street program in the state.

Family Connection Executive Director Susan Johnston said the runaway services fill an important need, especially in the current economic environment.

"Many families are struggling to make ends meet and there is a lot of tension and stress within the home," Johnston said.  "Teeagers leave home for a great variety of reasons, and it's vital to have a safety net in the community when they have nowhere else to go."

Besides food, shelter and clothing, the Shelby campus offers crisis, individual and family counseling, said Kevin Keane, residential program director.

Young people can stay in the shelter up to 21 days, Keane said.

"Youths can expect a warm, caring staff who are there to help them and their families work toward reunification or toward a long-term, stable environment through the court system or Department of Human Resources," Keane said.

The Birmingham location, Project HOPE, combines a day shelter with a street outreach team that travels the downtown area looking for kids in need.

The team immediately provides food, water, blankets and transportation to the shelter at 1321 Seventh Ave. North.

There, the staff will work to reunify families if possible, but also helps young people with arrangements for GED classes, job training and placement, and housing, said Director Marilyn Jones.

In addition to its shelters, Family Connection is in partnership with 71 public locations-businesses, fire stations, libraries and schools-in Shelby County, Hoover and Irondale.

These are designated safe places where young people can request help in times of crisis, said program coordinator Carol Williams.

More than 100 volunteers in Shelby and Jefferson counties can respond to calls from the Safe Places and will do so within 20 minutes, Williams said.

"The volunteers are trained in crisis management and if the young person asks for shelter or counseling, (volunteers) will bring them to Family Connection," Williams said.

Family Connection operates two help lines that youths and parents can call to speak with counselors and receive assistance and guidance over the phone, Johnston said.  The numbers are 664-2273 and 252-4673.

"We want to make getting help as easy as possible," Johnston said.  "We'll pick kids up, or they can walk right up to our doors."

The Birmingham News, Marienne Thomas-Ogle