DHS BY THE NUMBERS

From the time the Experience at Sea crew began two months of rigorous training a year ago to the end of their arduous nine-month voyage last spring, the innovative group-home program for teen-age boys in foster care built an impressive following of influential supporters. Glowing statements of support from Maine’s members of Congress, its governor and Attorney General’s Office attest to the program’s ability to change troubled lives.

The past two months have been a different story. Informed by the Maine Department of Human Services that, due to the state’s budget shortfall, the program was being dropped from the list of foster group homes receiving state funding (the only group home being dropped), Experience at Sea’s sponsoring organization, Community Health and Counseling Services, has provided clear evidence that the maiden voyage not only produced astonishing results, but did so at a lower cost than most group homes.

CHCS says Experience at Sea cost $770,000 and has the numbers to back it up. DHS claims it’s closer to $1 million, but has not produced any numbers whatsoever. Several highly credible Experience at Sea supporters claim DHS officials have told them they recognize the value of the program but simply don’t want the difficult job of defending what might be misconstrued as a state-funded pleasure cruise. DHS’ stonewalling strengthens that claim.

The value is obvious. The daily rate for Experience at Sea – the cost per day per boy – was $259. That’s a lot, but it’s lower than the cost of the typical group home for teen-age boys of $263 and much lower than the $300 that’s not uncommon (as far as CHCS can calculate without any help from DHS). That cost-beater was accomplished at less than full capacity. The century-old schooner Lettie G. Howard could have accommodated 12 boys; CHCS took a cautious approach the first time out and kept it at nine. At full capacity, the daily rate would have been $220, by far the least expensive group home in the state.

The fiscal result was good; the social result was amazing. Of the six boys who completed their high school studies during the voyage from Maine to Venezuela and back, five are headed to college, the sixth got a full-time job on a commercial schooner and also plans on college – the very best high school in the most affluent community would envy such an outcome. A group of troubled boys coming from backgrounds of abuse and neglect were given the opportunity to develop teamwork, self-reliance and courage (just ask the adult crewmember whose life they saved one night by perfectly executing the man-overboard drills they’d practiced). What should be a model for other programs, land or sea, is in danger of becoming just another good idea Maine tinkered with and then abandoned.

DHS’ failure to provide numbers hurts this program in another way. At the time the de-funding was announced, the department told CHCS the decision would be reconsidered if private-sector support increased, but refused to state how much fund-raising would trigger a review. CHCS has done just that, increasing private pledges from $40,000 to $105,000. Further fund raising, however, is hampered because CHCS can’t tell prospective donors precisely how much is needed because DHS won’t commit.

Because of this obstruction, there will no training for Experience at Sea this fall. At best, CHCS hopes to launch a sharply curtailed voyage next spring. No one should expect DHS to reverse its decision on funding this program, but the department must provide the numbers that led to it.