Covenant House: Help or Hype?

To many of us, the mention of Covenant House calls to mind the horrible scandals of the 1980s, when charges of financial dishonesty and sexual abuse on the part of its director were all over the news. Its founder, Father Bruce Ritter, was forced to resign and eventually ended up living in nearly total isolation for the rest of his life. But let's take a closer look at the early days of this organization, which during the Seventies and early Eighties was greatly admired for its innovative work with kids.

Ritter founded Covenant House in 1972 as a shelter for runaways and street kids. One of his facilities, "Under 21," was located on 8th Avenue between 42 and 43 Streets, right in the heart of what was then the sleazy Times Square district, riddled with drugs, prostitution and opportunities for a kid to be exploited. Ritter's idea was a simple one; a kid could stay at the facility as long as he or she abided by the "Covenant," a set of ground rules for behavior. Covenant House grew rapidly, and Ritter was often to be seen on television or the lecture circuit. He certainly deserves some credit for bringing the plight of street kids to the attention of the wider public, even though the portrayal of your typical homeless child was not always accurate.

Many people imagined the population of street kids as composed heavily of white children from places like the Midwest who ran away from home to NYC for a variety of reasons, only to be trapped and forced into prostitution and drugs by predatory pimps. Certainly that did happen, and the idea of such a horrible thing was a potent fund-raiser. Just take a look at the cover of Ritter's short book Sometimes God Has a Kid's Face, thousands of copies of which were mailed, unsollicited to potential donors. But the majority of these children were minority teens, often from tough backgrounds. They certainly needed lots of help, but their pictures didn't bring in the bucks as well.

Ritter was criticized on several other accounts. The very idea of locating an actual shelter for kids in the midst of a drug and crime-ridden area struck some social workers as akin to putting a hen house right by a den of foxes. It was not a good environment for growth and healing! The idea of having the kids stay in a shelter where the only requirement was a behavioral code was also criticized by those who believed that there needed to be more emphasis upon heavy-duty counseling and other treatment services; it was seen as treating the symptoms instead of the underlying causes of a child's problem. Ritter was also known as something of an ego maniac. One social worker I knew who worked at CH described him as wanting the be "The first person canonized while still alive." I am also told that the chapel at one CH facility had a stained glass window containing Ritter's image.

Staff at CH often complained to me of poor pay and an administration that did not respect them. Many people volunteered there, and the bosses considered them somehow more worthy than those who could not afford the luxury of working for nothing.

Still, Covenant House became a true NYC institution. Conservatives loved it because it was what we now call "faith-based" and stressed abstinence. And everyone admired the idea of doing something, anything, to help the street kids.