A Shelby County agency is hoping teens will use their cell phone texting skills as a tool when they're in trouble. Family Connection is tak­ing part in Txt 4 Help, a pro­gram that allows youths to type in the word SAFE and the street, city and state of their location to 69866 . In return, they will receive a text message identifying the nearest Safe Place spot where they can go for help.

Safe Place is a national program operated in Shelby and Jefferson Counties by Family Connection, which serves at-risk, runaway and homeless children and youth.

Family Connection part­ners with 73 locations, in­cluding several fire depart­ments, public libraries, grocery stores and gas sta­tions that have agreed to of­fer safe haven to youths who may be abused, are lost, have run away, or are in some other form of danger.

Each Safe Place displays a distinctive yellow and black sign and employees are trained by Family Connec­tion on how to respond when someone seeks their help.

Carol Williams is the Safe Place coordinator for Family Connection.

"We have locations in Shelby County, Hoover and Irondale, but if a young per­son is in a city with no Safe Place, they'll receive a text back with the phone num­ber of a local youth shelter or a national hotline," Wil­liams said. Statistics from the Na­tional Safe Place Office show that the Shelby County organization is the number four Safe Place agency in the nation based on the number young peo­ple helped in 2008, Williams said. The Shelby County or­ganization helped 342 young people in 2008.

Williams coordinates Safe Place presentations for stu­dents in grades 5-12 in the Shelby and Jefferson County schools and said Txt 4 Help is a valuable addition to the program.

"There are a lot of dan­gers a young person faces on the streets, like lack of food, health care, educa­tion, violence and even death," she said. "If we can prevent one youth from ending up on the streets we have succeeded in our ef­forts."

Family Connection an­swers calls 24 hours a day at 664-2273 . More informa­tion can be found at www.familyconnection-in­c.org or www.nationalsafe­place..org

The Birmingham News, Marienne Thomas-Ogle