A shelter for girls suffering from abuse, neglect or mental-health issues is no shelter at all, the Free Press reports.



The Davenport Shelter on East Grand Boulevard (Photo: Google Maps)

Tresa Baldas details problems at the Davenport Shelter on East Grand Boulevard, currently being sued by the city of Detroit in Wayne County Circuit Court. The shelter is not secure, which allows vulnerable teens to leave at any time, and many do.

Rapes. Suicide attempts. Assaults. Sex trafficking. This is what happens to many girls who wind up at 665 East Grand Boulevard, a youth shelter where one girl a month attempts suicide, nearly three a month get assaulted and one gets raped every other month after running away and ending up in dangerous situations, police records show.

The Davenport Shelter has only 12 beds, but:

Since 2017, records show, the residential youth center has accounted for more than 500 911 calls, which is the highest number of emergency calls received from any location within the 7th Precinct. Spectrum Human Services, which owns the shelter and is the named defendant in the lawsuit, claims the city's suit has no merit and is seeking to have it tossed.

Baldas details the case of one 15-year-old, said to be suffering from mental-health issues, who was placed at Davenport and ran away. She ended up in the hands of apparent sex traffickers, who held her against her will in a drug house, where she was raped. The girl's sister said the family was told by people who live near the shelter that "men and boys who wait outside in their cars for girls to come out" because so many run away.

The state is investigating the shelter.