Are Girls Admitted to Boys Town?

DR. WALLACE: I'm dating a swell guy and I care for him very much. Both of us attend the same church, but we go to different high schools. I like his mother (single mom) and she likes me. My parents like my boyfriend and he likes them.

One thing about his mother has me baffled. She was talking to me about her high school days when she was a student at Boys Town in Nebraska. I just listened, but I didn't ask her or my boyfriend any questions. Is it at all possible that a girl could attend Boys Town? How does a teen get into Boys Town? — Nameless, Chicago.

NAMELESS: Boys Town, the home for troubled youth immortalized in a movie starring Spencer Tracy, was opened in Omaha, Neb., in 1917 by Father Flanagan. For more than 60 years, the population remained all male. But girls started being admitted in 1979, at which time the name Boys Town suddenly became inaccurate. Today, girls make up almost half of the 33,000 young people living at sites in 18 states.

These residents voted on a new name, and now this venerable institution is officially called Girls and Boys Town. "Girls" come first in the new name, so the words "boys" and "town" remain connected, according to the institution's executive director. The administration hoped the new name would help the facility reach more troubled girls without hindering fundraising efforts.

When it opened, the facility was known as Father Flanagan's Home for Boys. The founder decided to allow the residents to choose a new name on Valentine's Day in 1926. Boys Town was a landslide winner over Father Flanagan's personal choice, Home for Little Valentines, which got only one vote. I wonder why?

 

CAN MY PARENTS STOP ME FROM LEAVING HOME?

DR. WALLACE: I'm 16. I live with a father I dislike very much for a number of reasons and with a mother I totally despise. I have an opportunity to move in with a buddy's family, but my parents refuse to allow me to go there. When I ask them why, they won't give me a good answer.

I feel like I'm old enough to decide where I want to live. Can my parents stop me from moving? — Caleb, Toledo, Ohio.

CALEB: Sorry to disappoint you, but you cannot leave home without your parents' permission until you reach your 18th birthday, except in unusual circumstances, such as getting married or obtaining your freedom in a court of law.

 

TEENS CAN BECOME ALCOHOLICS

DR. WALLACE: You said in your column that it's possible for teens to become alcoholics. My father is a recovering alcoholic (he's been sober for over a year) and he said that he learned at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that it takes from five to 15 years of drinking for someone to become an alcoholic. If that's true, it means there aren't too many teen alcoholics. Do you care to explain? — Nameless, Michigan City, Ind.

NAMELESS: It's true that it takes from five to 15 years for an adult to become an alcoholic, but according to therapists at Community Psychiatric Center in Santa Ana, Calif., a teen, by contrast, can become an alcoholic in 18 months of heavy drinking.

It's crucial that teen drinkers be aware of the risks they're taking while they are so young.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@galesburg.net. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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