Women and Children’s Horizons has closed its shelter’s doors to people in need after almost 50 years. Just today a woman and her children who called the agency were denied a place to be safe from her violent husband. According to the Executive Director, the closure will only be for a few weeks.
“The people on the board who wanted nothing more than to have their name on a website as being ‘important’ did nothing for more than six months, while they let a fraudster run this important agency into the ground,” said a past employee. “That’s why there is a staffing shortage.
(facebook.com)
The past employee was speaking about Jennifer Paine, the alleged fraudster who was disbarred as an attorney in Michigan.
Since being hired in July of 2022, the former Women and Children’s Executive Director Jennifer Paine found herself in hot water in her former state of residency – Michigan. According to Paine’s LinkedIn account, where she proudly displays her preferred pronouns of she/her, she became an attorney in Michigan in about 2009.
According to a 8-count findings document outlining an investigation into misconduct, Paine was disbarred May 20, 2023. The documents says in part, “After proceedings conducted pursuant to [Michigan Supreme Court Rules], the panel found, based on [Paine’s] admissions to all of the misconduct set forth in both formal complaints, that [Paine] committed professional misconduct during her representation of four different clients in their respective divorce and post-judgement divorce matters, while representing a client in adoption proceedings and in her own criminal matter…..”
Another past employee had the following to say after hearing the news of the shelter’s closing:
“To the victims, survivors, dedicated staff, and the community, I am deeply sorry the Board did not take the Mission and founders of Women and Children’s Horizons seriously and IGNORED all facts and complaints. Such choices resulted in one person changing the course of an agency that was hope for so many people. To the past and present board members, you let generations down due to ignorance.”
Women and Children’s Horizons is one of the oldest domestic violence and sexual assault services providers in Wisconsin. According to the IRS website, the tax-exempt organization has an annual budget of about $2,000,000 and the mission statements is “…To Provide support, shelter, education, training and healing services to victims of sexual and domestic abuse, their families, and the community.”
(File Photo from Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Paine was asked to resign or be fired in February of 2024. We first told you about her past misconduct on August 15, 2023.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
The Kenosha News knew about all of the misconduct and problems at the shelter. The far-left activist reporter for the Kenosha News, Terry Flores (D) ignored the misconduct, instead writing a fluff piece about her departure. Flores wrote:
Paine’s departure saying that she “I think she just … hit a breaking point. She had too much going on and she had trouble feeding control to other people,” said Dutter, who is a sergeant with the Pleasant Prairie Police Department. “It just became so that she was working way too many hours…Dutter, who was at her office building when she left, said Paine’s split with the nonprofit was amicable. Furthermore, he and the board felt Paine had conveyed the organization’s message and mission “appropriately.”
Plainly put, Dutter seemed to lie to the Kenosha News. He put a political spin on the fact that she was pushed out. Flores knew it, but didn’t challenge it. Flores knew it, because she reads this publication.
(LinkedIn)
Executive director Yvonne MacDonald-Hames has been the director for less than a month. She told KCE that the WCH shelter is closing “for a few weeks” so that the organization can hire and train new staff and the decision was made with the board. When asked why WCH wasn’t making this public, MacDonald-Hames, she told KCE that “[the notification] hasn’t happened yet. We will be putting something out soon.” MacDonald-Hames says she notified the County government and will be notifying that the City government today.
“We will be closed for as long as it takes to hire and train new employees to fix the staffing shortage. The women and children will be better served with the temporary closure because that we need to be fully staffed in order to serve them.”
MacDonald-Hames said that women who are in need of services can still call the hotline and WCH will give the callers other options.
“We are regretful that this has to be done, but will be be diligently hiring so we can get back open as quickly as possible,” MacDonald-Hames said.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Reached by KCE Friday afternoon, County Executive Kerkman had the following to say: “Women and Children’s Horizons has informed the county of its challenges and has reached out to partner organizations to ask for assistance at this time. The county is a willing partner in trying to help Women and Children’s and other agencies navigate through this.”
As expected, Mayor Bogdala (R) has refused comment as to if the City wil step up to help women and children needing assistance in the City of Kenosha.
18 Responses
Good article.
Thanks. If you’re not first, you’re last
We are eroding faster each day. What used to be a slow degradation of morals is now happening at a rampant pace. We are truly circling the drain approaching the big flush!
I am on their website right now and nothing about being closed. https://www.wchkenosha.org/
I’m sure updating their website for you was not a priority considering they didn’t notify the state or county either
They should fix that huh?
The foodbank will be next. This is what happens when you hire friends and cronies and not people who are actually qualified.
The shelter staff is more than qualified it is the admin building that is definitely not qualified. The admin staff never even go into the shelter but they tell the shelter staff how to do literally everything and nothing at the same time. They do not help in any way. The people who actually care about helping are the ones who actually work in the shelter and with the clients. The people who actually run the agency are just business people who try to find a way to line their pockets.
Call TMJ4 news
“If you have anyone that you think would talk on camera or with their identities hidden that would be great.
Feel free to call my cell if you have any ideas or info on why it’s closing. ”
414-294-9300
Megan
Amen! Some of the administration staff do an amazing job with outreach. I worked my ass off there and learned about from some of the former employees and the former manager who truly cared for everyone as of they were her own family. We need to get the agency back into a positive light in the community again.
Flores is one of the worst reporters there is. She absolutely sucks and needs to go.
Nicasio Cortes and Terry Flores. They are the same. That’s why the Knews went down so fast.
Is Dutter like 5 years old??
They should just place them all at the men’s shelter for the time being.
I am a past employee of WCH and I was fired by Jennifer Paine back in December for getting hurt on the job due to her and the board’s negligence. I have been fighting them in court now because I was out of work for nearly 3 months due to a torn meniscus and being fired. They never placed the claim with the insurance company and fired me for not coming in on December 30th even though my doctors note said I cannot work until I saw the orthopedic surgeon. I find it hilarious they are calling it a staffing shortage when the new board members have fired and ran out all of the shelter staff. I even told them that I would be willing to come back to the shelter because my issue was with Jennifer but they are refusing to rehire me. They are not doing anything for the community the way they are doing things! They also don’t protect their staff one of my old co workers was harassed by a client and the client got her phone number and was making threats and posting her pictures on social media. When the coworker told the manager about the incident she was told to “ignore it”. I would love to talk to the Kenosha county eye about my experience because I have a lot more knowledge about how messed up this place is.
Call TMJ4 news!!!
“If you have anyone that you think would talk on camera or with their identities hidden that would be great.
We can always have the camera focus on a hand or foot or another object to protect identity.
Feel free to call my cell if you have any ideas or info on why it’s closing.”
414-294-9300
Megan
TMJ4 News…”If you have anyone that you think would talk on camera or with their identities hidden that would be great.
Feel free to call my cell if you have any ideas or info on why it’s closing.”
414-294-9300
Megan
As a former employee, there were plenty of us who saw the decline of the agency coming, especially when the former ED was there. It was disgraceful when the board of directors chose to ignore serious concerns from staff. It was deliberate and unapologetic. I hope this is a lesson learned–listen to the workers on the front lines who work with clients. It doesn’t come as a shock that WCH has resorted to such a lengthy closure. They needed bodies in chairs rather than recruit the best capable for the job. Best of luck to the new hires at the shelter!