SILVERHILL, Ala. — From the outside, it looks like a normal house in a normal Silverhill neighborhood. That’s just the way the staff of the Mattingly-Nesbit Group Home for Girls likes it.

Inside, the home has nine bedrooms, and as many or more bathrooms. There’s a large kitchen with two dishwashers, a huge electric cook top and an electric stove with a convection oven. The microwave hasn’t been installed yet, but that’s just a finishing detail. It’s ready to feed a small army.

The home, a part of Baldwin Youth Services, was dedicated on Tuesday, Nov. 18. It will be home to eight young women and their house parents. Each door and window is alarmed.

According to Janice Hendrickson, a counselor/coordinator with the facility, the home, the home was constructed with funds from “several sources” including the United Way, a sales tax the county imposes, the Department of Youth Services and community donors.

“The home can house 17 girls on the top end,” said Hendrickson.

Because of staffing constraints, the group home will house only eight young women. While they could be younger, Hendrickson says the usual range is 12 to 17 years of age. The youngsters attend area public schools.

“The girls are adjudicated here,” said Hendrickson, adding that while no young woman can come to the home if she has committed a serious crime, most at the home have had troubles with truancy, have been runaways or have been declared “incorrigible” by a court.

“We do our best work with truants,” said Hendrickson.

While at the home, the young women and their families go to classes and receive counseling with the idea that the family will be reunited, While there are exceptions, most young women stay for less than a year.

BYS has had a “girls” home in Silverhill for a while, but the new home will allow BYS to offer more services in a more comfortable surrounding. That approximately 4.400 square foot home replaces a smaller facility built in 1985.

BYS also operates a boy’s group home in Robertsdale and a crisis center.

And BYS offers support for families just going through normal “kids growing up” phases.

“We are having a parent-child training class in Robertsdale on Mondays at 6 p.m.,” Hendrickson said. Interested families should call 947-5149 for more information.

Not that the young women will have it easy at the Mattingly-Nesbit home.

“There’s at least one hour of study time a day,” said Jill Underwood, a BYS staff member.

Residents of the home are also expected to make their beds, keep their rooms clean as new, and have weekly chores like sweeping and laundry duty Underwood says.

“While here they have no phone, no iPod, no friends,” said Underwood. “They have to change schools. They begin to realize what they had at home.”

“There is some TV time, and everyone is in be by 9 p.m.,” she said.

For Sue Joy, the BYS program director, the home is a badly-needed addition to the program.

“We have seen a trend where a lot more girls are having trouble,” she said. “It's a disturbing trend.”

The program and needs varies with the needs of the young person, Joy added.

“The biggest thing is setting boundaries,” Joy said.

“We need more options like this,” said Judge Carmen Bosch, who serves as the Family Court Judge for Baldwin County. ”It’s the dedicated staff that makes the difference.”

Sylvia S. Mattingly has worked as secretary to the board of directors of Baldwin Youth Services for 32 years.

“I saw a need years and years ago,” said Mattingly, who has six grown children of her own. “The idea is to get children back into their home.”

The idea is seconded by Kim Wasdin, Silverhill’s chief of police.

“There are too many ‘throw away’ kids,” said Wasdin, adding that as far as she knows, there has been no trouble with the previous version of the home.

“They’re putting it in a more useable package,” she said.