Youth
I've been volunteering with my church youth group for a year and a half now. Hubby came with me once last summer and the high school boys insisted he stay, so he's been there every Wednesday since.

Last summer, we had less than a dozen kids coming. The only girl was the pastor's daughter. For some reason, in December and January, the group exploded and now we consistently have 45 kids or more. Most of them are from the same neighborhood, and their parents do not go to church. Their parents are more than happy for us to take their teens for a couple hours, but we currently send a bus to pick them up because the parents can't be bothered to drive their kids four miles to do ...

Youth
I've been volunteering with my church youth group for a year and a half now. Hubby came with me once last summer and the high school boys insisted he stay, so he's been there every Wednesday since.

Last summer, we had less than a dozen kids coming. The only girl was the pastor's daughter. For some reason, in December and January, the group exploded and now we consistently have 45 kids or more. Most of them are from the same neighborhood, and their parents do not go to church. Their parents are more than happy for us to take their teens for a couple hours, but we currently send a bus to pick them up because the parents can't be bothered to drive their kids four miles to do something they enjoy.

That may sound unfair, but I'm a little sick of parents at this point. Several parents had a fit when we asked them to sign permission slips that said they were okay with their kids being at our church every Wednesday and giving us permission to talk to doctors in case we ever have to take them to the hospital. We need those slips because a mother called livid one day because she'd found out her son had been going to our church for six weeks without her permission. I understand her anger that strangers were taking her kid somewhere (He'd told us his parents knew where he was going), but it bothers me that she was content with the idea that he was running around the neighborhood unattended but furious to find out he was playing dodgeball in a gym and talking to someone about school bullies instead. Regarding the medical release, one mother even said that if her daughter broke her arm, we could call her so she could pick her up. The few parents that do pick up their kids for a while were trying to pick them up half an hour late. And then there's the dad who, while drunk, drove his 12-year-old son to a camp out and told my pastor, "Let me know if the little shit gives you any trouble."

We have so many kids who are abused, neglected and damaged. One of the juniors started coming because he was friends with the pastor's son; he now basically lives at my pastor's house and only goes home when he knows his step-dad is sleeping or out. He flinches when people raise their hands. I have a bright, emotionally damaged 16-year-old who is basically raising herself because mom's so busy with a rotating door of boyfriends. There's a sixth grader with anger issues who cuts, and her father buys her razors because he thinks it helps. Two weeks ago, two of my girls told me they'd been molested and a third raped. They're all 14.

I'm not sick of step-parents, and nearly all the kids have one. This past year I've heard so many stories of step-parents rescuing their step-kids from abuse, supporting them when no one else would and generally being Superman.

Here's where I'm supposed to tell you this is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. It's not. It's hard. I've had arguments with the other youth leaders and we've cried about this tangled mess of youth. I've given up my Wednesday's completely and often feel I'm getting nowhere. More than anything, I'm tired, but when you're the only adult in a kid's life who isn't insane, you cant very well turn your back on them, can you?