The Antrim Girls Shelter

The Antrim Girls Shelter was established in 1988 with the purchase of the historic George C. Duncan House in the village of Antrim. Since that time, we have become one of the most respected and successful resources in New Hampshire for social workers, public guardians,school administrators, parents, and legal professionals who want to provide an adolescent girl with the chance to make a new beginning.

The Antrim Girls Shelter provides girls between the ages of 11 and 17 with a safe, caring, and compassioneately challenging environment where they can gain confidence, learn skills to become productive citizens, and start healing the wounds that brought them there.

A Safe Haven for Girls in Trouble
"Until I was 12, my life was kind of normal, I guess. Everything changed when my parents got divorced. I lived with my Mom and we moved alot. My Mom drank too much and was in the hospital alot. I started getting high when I was 13 and stole stuff to buy drugs. No one cared about what I was doing until one night when I passed out on the street and was taken to the hospital. Then they sent me here. I'm almost finished, and will be moving in with a foster family in in two weeks."  -- Brittany, age 16

Young women from every corner of New Hampshire find safety, structure and respite from abusive or fractured family relationships, chemical dependency, eating disorders and petty crime. During their stay at Antrim, girls work to regain control of their behavior, to catch up with school, to gain insight, and to begin to heal.

As the only residence of its kind in the State of New Hampshire, Antrim plays a unique role in the treatment of adolescent girls. Girls who have had brushes with the law, or have exhibited anti-social or self-destructive behaviors are given an alternative to being placed in secure detention or left on the streets.

"I came to the Antrim Girls Shelter after getting arrested. While I was angry when it happened... I am now grateful. I've been sexually and physically abused since as long as I can remember. Now I see that what happened to me impacted a lot of other choices I've made. The people at the Girls Shelter helped me to see that the abuse I experienced wasn't my fault, but that I do have to take responsibility for myself to have a good life." - Pamela, age 15