Other children can only stay at Safe Haven longer than 12 hours with parent or guardian consent, Handrow said.

"Sometimes when the youth find out we need parental consent they take off," she said.

Sometimes parents also refuse to give consent or cannot be located. When parents aren't found, Safe Haven staff contact the Racine County Human Services Department to investigate the child's situation, said Melissa Robinson, Safe Haven shelter programs director.

HALO also calls Human Services for youth that show up at the shelter without a parent, Cookman said.

After an investigation, Human Services workers reunite families when possible. But if a child's family poses a threat to them or there is a history of abuse, other arrangements can be made including staying with other relatives or a family friend, going into foster care or temporarily staying in a juvenile detention facility, said Jonathan Delagrave, director of the Racine County Human Services Department.

While living in foster home or a shelter is better than living on the street, Cookman said youth don't always see it that way, especially teen moms who worry foster care will split them up from their babies since it's hard to find caregivers willing to take both.

Cookman said a new law has both agency and public officials in Racine County working on more options for teen moms, but that law changes for other unaccompanied minors are not presently on the horizon.

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