Citrus County camp works to rehabilitate teen girls

Sunday, March 23, 2008

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Christy Loftis, a reporter with the Citrus County Chronicle, wrote about Camp E-Nini-Hassee for the paper.

CITRUS COUNTY (Bay News 9 -- Many teens may enjoy camping, but Camp E-Nini-Hassee in Citrus County isn't a place most would choose to attend.

The camp exists to rehabilitate teenage girls who have drug or behavioral problems.

Christy Loftis, a reporter with Bay News 9's partner paper, the Citrus County Chronicle, wrote about the camp for her paper and also talked about it for a broadcast segment with Bay News 9 anchor Jen Holloway.

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Loftis said many of the girls come from troubled backgrounds. At the camp, they live in wall-less cabins covered by a tarp and rough it in the wilderness.

About half the girls, whose crimes include battery and grand theft auto, are sent to the camp by the Department of Juvenile Justice.

The others are from the Florida Department of Children and Families. In some cases, there's no foster care home available. Other times, the girls have been removed from foster homes because of improper behavior.