A charity for vulnerable women and children has pleaded for the public’s support as it faces getting ousted tomorrow from its home base of 24 years after a rift with its trustees ended with the breakdown of talks.

Officials at Teen Haven and Teen Services, which has operated from “Bay View” at 4 Happy Valley Road in Pembroke since its move in 2000, have acknowledged that the eviction order, served by property owner the Haven Trust, was fully within the law.

They also said the charity’s recently appointed board was contending with an unexpected level of debt.

Roxanne Christopher, the Teen Services chairwoman, said the charity was “definitely in a crisis”, with the decision to go public this week not taken lightly.

“We’ve been trying to negotiate and work with the Haven trustees for approximately a year and a half.”

She added: “What we’re faced with is we have been given an eviction order by the Haven Trust to vacate the premises on Thursday, October 31.

“This organisation was started by the late Olga Scott and Millicent Neverson, who fostered over 45 children in her own private residence and then partnered with Ms Scott.”

The group said they believed the Haven Trust was considering using the property, which is adjacent to Fort Hamilton at the eastern border of the City, for private development.

They said last-minute suggestions for halting the eviction had ranged from a petition to members of the public to forming a human chain around the building to block bailiffs.

A Family Court appearance is expected this morning, with the charity pleading for a six-month stay on a possession order served in March by the Haven Trust.

Ms Christopher’s accompanying affidavit said that the charity had “feverishly” sought alternative premises since the trust’s possession order was granted by the courts.

The document stated that “countless” efforts had gone without success.

The charity has also been given a letter of support from Ms Scott’s family to present in court.

The letter, which includes Alex Scott, the former premier, said that Ms Scott would have been “horrified and heartbroken” at the charity’s eviction.

It added that Ms Scott, who died in June 2022, had managed the Haven Trust for “many years, with guidance to the board and staff of Teen Services”.

Ms Christopher, speaking with executive director Wendy Augustus and clinical social worker Elaine Charles, said the eviction decision, upheld by the trust in a letter this month, meant that Teen Services was forced to turn away women in need to spare them the “trauma” of an eviction proceeding with police and bailiffs.

She added: “Bermuda, we need you to speak to your MPs, speak to your church members, family members, individuals you have known that have come through the doors of Teen Haven — we need you to reach out and work with us.

“A lot of people are aghast.”

However, Ms Christopher conceded: “Legally, they have the right to evict us.”

She said the paperwork setting up the Haven Trust was “so broad that it only says they had to support women and children — it didn’t say Teen Haven or Teen Services”.

Ms Christopher added: “That’s where the loophole comes in; we are not deemed as beneficiaries of the trust.”

Teen Haven represents the residential facility while its programmes, which have evolved significantly to include older women in recent years, are covered by Teen Services.

Ms Christopher said some of the people in need who had been turned away from the shelter included homeless women.

“We have been trying to work with the trustees with no success,” she added. “We have three men making decisions for a women’s organisation that supports young women and mothers.”

She said the three, appointed by Ms Scott, had “decided not to communicate with us any longer — they feel we are too aggressive”.

Ms Christopher said the trustees had had a meeting “recently” Tinée Furbert, the Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors, but had declined further meetings with her.

A lawyer for the trust told The Royal Gazette that the group declined to comment.

Ms Furbert said that the Government remained committed to supporting the charity, providing a grant of $450,000 annually.

She added: “The Government has been supportive of ongoing collaboration and communication between both parties — Teen Haven/ Teen Services and the Haven Trust.

“We will continue to offer our support to Teen Haven and Teen Services in their mission to serve our youth.”

Ms Christopher, who said that “we are David and they are Goliath”, added: “Our intent is to not make things difficult for the trustees. It’s to have a reasonable conversation.

“This would not be taking place if the late Olga Scott was alive. All these actions commenced after she passed away.”

Ms Augustus acknowledged the charity was in debt, although she could not provide a figure, adding that it was something the board “didn’t expect to find” when its members were appointed.

Ms Christopher said: “The debt was not increased by this current board. We inherited it.”

Asked what she believed was intended for the site, Ms Christopher said: “The only thing I can say is that we have been made privy that this facility is to be intended for private development.

“What that looks like, I can’t say.”

Ms Christopher claimed that the Haven Trust’s mandate was sufficiently broad that a modest donation of “$1,000 a year to any charity” could fulfil its obligations under law.

The relocation of Teen Services to its hilltop property by Fort Hamilton came shortly after the Progressive Labour Party assumed the Government in 1998, and decided to expand The Berkeley Institute.

The expansion meant that the school encroached on the former premises of Teen Haven and Teen Services, then located on Berkeley Hill.

The Government negotiated a swap with the Haven Trust, with its Berkeley property relinquished in exchange for the site by Fort Hamilton — formerly a 3,000sq ft private residence that was refurbished as a shelter and support facility.

Ms Christopher said that, as a result of the eviction order, the charity had recently been forced to turn down an offer of donated solar panels.

She added: “Let’s say this, I know a woman that dresses very well, but she has three children living in a tent in St George’s. We can’t risk them coming through our doors.

“We can’t risk the trauma which would come from the actions of bailiffs and police. It’s a horrific situation.

“There are people living in sheds because they are not coming in our doors. We can’t provide that support.”