There are 158 safe home beds, and the number will increase to 200 next year after three more homes open. Waterford Country School opened a safe home in October in two new buildings off Vauxhall Street Extension next to the school's 350-acre Hunts Brook Road campus. Another safe home for eastern Connecticut families is scheduled to open in Windham. Early last week at the Waterford safe home, a baby napped and a few children who were not attending school rested in bedrooms that had wooden furniture, brightly colored comforters on the beds and blue curtains. Hand-made snowmen and Christmas chains decorated common areas, and a fully stocked playroom waited for the return of the children.
Children eat meals at a long table adjacent to a small kitchen.
A couple of sniffling, older children watched television in the building for older children, which also had been decorated with special touches. The bathrooms, with curtained showers and separate toilet stalls, are bright and clean. Each unit has an intake room, where new arrivals are gently greeted and given an age-appropriate book that explains they will be safe at the house and that they can ask adults for anything they need. Children arriving at the safe home are often at the lowest point in their young lives, said Bill Martin, assistant executive director of the school. They're a mess,'' said Martin.