Salvation Army Shelter for Unwed Mothers to Close

A 92-year-old Salvation Army shelter for pregnant teen-agers and unwed mothers in Lincoln Heights is being shut down because of financial losses, leaving officials searching for homes for dozens of young women and their babies.

The Salvation Army said Friday it had accumulated debts of nearly $1 million in the last two years at the Booth Memorial Center as state and charitable funding has dried up. The facility will close by next Jan. 15.

Like the term “unwed mothers,” the center appeared to have outlived its time, officials said, with the stigma that once sent unmarried mothers into seclusion having ebbed.

“It is tragic that it has come to this, but, barring some sort of financial miracle, there is no alternative,” said Russell Prince, director of development for the Salvation Army’s Southern California Division.

There are currently 28 teen-age girls and 19 infants housed at the center, which is home to a full-service maternity hospital, an obstetrics clinic and Riley High School, operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District as part of its pregnant minor program.

Prince said the group “will do everything it can” to relocate the girls and their children, and to provide “some sort of assistance” to the institution’s 71-member staff, many of whom will probably lose their jobs.

“We certainly are not going to put any clients out in the street. Our aim is to have as smooth a transition as possible,” he said.

The center is located in a graceful Spanish-style building in the 2600 block of North Griffin Avenue, where it began in 1900 in a two-story mansion that had been donated by a wealthy benefactor.

Long known as the Booth Maternity Group Home for Unwed Mothers, the center underwent a major expansion in the 1960s, enabling it to accommodate 150 pregnant teen-agers and their babies.

With more and more young pregnant women being placed in foster homes, the center failed to attract enough clients to break even in recent years, Prince said.

“We’ve faced a shortfall in the number of clients at the same time state and charitable funding assistance has declined,” Prince said.

Officials said that the center--which has an annual budget of $1.5 million--has amassed a $935,000 deficit in the past two years.

The teen-age mothers at the center include runaways, girls who are the victims of abuse at home, and those who for a variety of reasons have no other place to go. Others are on probation from Juvenile Court.

Prince said the staff will attempt to place the girls either in foster homes or in other institutions for pregnant teen-agers.

Although some staff members will be given the opportunity to work at other Salvation Army facilities, Prince said, it was too soon to determine how many jobs will be lost.

Major James Hood, the center’s administrator, said the staff had responded to the news that the center will close “with shock, surprise and sadness.”

“I would say it is similar to having a terminally ill relative. You know they are going to die, but when it comes to the final hour, there is still the shock and sadness,” he said.

Salvation Army officials say they may attempt to sell the property.

Salvation Army officials said they expect that the high school for pregnant girls will remain open through the academic year.