Program Rules

WE ARE NOT A MEDICAL FACILITY OR PROVIDE MEDICATION OR TRANSPORTATION.

APPLICANTS MUST BE MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES AND DO BASIC CHORES.

We are not a MEDICAL facility we do not allow narcotic medication. Med room will be locked and unlocked at med time. Resident is responsible for coming at med time and taking their meds under watch and recorded by key person. Any miss use of medication will be reported to Staff.

CHILDREN:

PARENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CHILDREN (of any age under 18) if at the HOUSE OF MERCY.

Children must follow rules also: attend classes, dress codes, no food in the bedrooms, etc. (Infants of course have some special privileges)

Parent must be able to attend classes and do chores to have children in the HOME.

WE DO NOT PROVIDE DAY CARE. Parents are responsible for saying who can and cannot hold their child. CHILD MUST NOT GO INTO ANY OTHER BEDROOM OTHER THAN THEIR PARENTS.

Residents can sit for the outside people if it does not interfere with the program at the house of the child or approved house. HOUSE OF MERCY WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ARRANGING OR TAKING CARE OF THESE EVENTS.

CHORES:   

Daily chores will be assigned and posted on the chore board. Residents are responsible for checking chore board every morning. (Chores are always subject to change with Staff approval)

Chores are rotated as the Staff sees fit. (Even if the Staff puts a resident in charge of the chore board the Staff that assigned that resident is still the one that approves the assignments) No chore on the board takes longer than 30 minutes to complete.

COLLEGE CLASSES:  NO college classes allowed while in the HOME program.  This has proved to take the place of the HOME program.   Remember we are a willingness program if at anytime you feel the need to take college classes before you complete the HOME program you are wished the best and welcome to leave our program.

CHURCH:

CHURCH ATTENDANCE REQUIRED EVERY SUNDAY MORNING. Everyone must leave building for church. Building will be locked up.

HOME will provide vehicle to take residents to the chosen church of the week for those wanting to attend the designated church. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR RIDES unless for HOME EVENTS. (A different church will be selected every week to help our residents find a church they would like to become a member.)  Everyone is encouraged to attend church of their choice.  PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS MUST attend CHURCH ON SUNDAY MORNING.

GRIEVANCES:

Anyone can write a grievance/incident report and turn into the Office Manager or any Staff member. The issue will be investigated and dealt with as the Staff feels appropriate. You may or may not be called into the office to clarify if found necessary. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU WILL ALWAYS KNOW what was said or how it was managed. THIS DOES NOT MEAN NOT TO HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE just because you did not get the response or get to know how it was managed. If necessary, the issue will be taken care of in 2:00 class (BEHAVIOR CLASS) so the whole class can get benefit from the situation. This is not to be a punishment or to embarrass anyone it is for teaching and learning from real life events. GRIEVANCES WILL BE KEPT IN THE RESIDENT FOLDERS, if necessary, it will also have comments from the Staff. Only Staff has access to these.  

MEDICATIONS:

NO LEVEL 5 MEDICATIONS/CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ALLOWED. (Exceptions would be after surgery, etc. and would have to be approved by the Director and Staff for limited time only).

Medication will be locked up in the med room and resident will have access at assigned times. Log will be kept for each resident and dosage recorded by our key persons.

WE DO NOT PROVIDE FOR MEDICAL SERVICES OR MEDICATIONS. WE ARE NOT A MEDICAL FACILITY.

PASSES:

Must be in the program for 30 days to ask for an overnight pass. (Exception to the rule will be made by Staff) Passes must be turned in 24 hours before the time of departure. If you have a chore you will need to cover that chore by asking someone to do your chore. The back of the pass must have your chore listed with the name of person covering and their signature. If you do not have chores while you are gone, still write on the back no chores assigned. (This keeps the Staff from having to track you down or look at the chore boards. THIS ALSO GOES FOR YOUR desk duties or kitchen duties. IF YOU DO NOT SEE YOUR PASS ON THE BOARD BY 2 PM CHECK WITH THE STAFF AND ASK WHY so we can explain why it was denied or we just need to clarify something. (Or I may have gotten busy and forgot to get it on the board.)

PHONES:

NO PERSONNAL CALLS ON HOUSE PHONE. (Brief calls from doctors or legal matters or emergency calls will be accepted) On occasion HOME cell phone can be used to make calls for those without a phone during assigned phone times with approval from Staff.  

WE WILL NOT CONFIRM IF A RESIDENT IS HERE unless resident tells us they are expecting a call from the doctor or legal, we will only take a message.  

CELL PHONE TIME CAN CHANGE AT ANYTIME. This is a privilege not a requirement or necessity.

BUSINESS CALLS CAN BE MADE AT CELL PHONE TIME BUT STILL REQUIRE A PASS 24 hours in advance unless it is of timely nature, and you just received notice of need to call. Staff will need to approve these calls.

PERSONAL CELL PHONE TIME IS OF THE EVENING HOURS AND CAN BE DONE IN YOUR ROOMS. (Be courteous of your roommate no speaker calls and keep voice down) KITCHEN DUTIES MUST BE COMPLETED TO RETURN TO PHONE CALLS.   

BY LEVEL 4 you should have earned the keep your phone privilege. DON’T ABUSE IT. FOLLOW THE RULES AND GUIDELINES. No unapproved music, videos, pictures, emails, Facebook, or other social media that is not of Christian standards. Fraternization rules still apply. CELL PHONE PRIVILEDE CAN ALWAYS BE TAKEN AWAY at Staff approval if it is noticed to be hurting your program and causing attitude issues. HOME PROGRAM COMES FIRST.

CELL PHONES IN KITCHEN only for Christian music and recipes for those that have cell phone privileges. HOME IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES. KEEP AWAY FROM THE FOOD. REMEMBER FOOD SAFETY MUST WASH YOUR HANDS IF YOU TOUCH ANYTHING WHILE PREPARING FOOD.  

SMOKING:  This is a privilege and not a requirement and is always subject to change.

NO SMOKING IN BUILDING. Smoke area is only place smoking is allowed.

VAPING AREAS ARE:  outdoors only. BE COURTEOUS OF NON- VAPERS. NO CLOUDS OF SMOKE. NO VAPING ON FRONT PORCH residents must go to back yard to vape.

SMOKE TIME WILL BE POSTED AND IS ALWAYS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

WILLINESS, PARTICIPATION, ATTENDANCE AND ATTITUDE can earn early privileges to be awarded by the Director with Staff agreement. Example: Level 3 being moved to the Level 4 side of the hall, always having cell phone, being a driver of HOME vehicles (after cleared driver license check), getting to use the zero turn mowers. Teaching or leading a class.  

WORK-Going to work is usually at the 9 -month mark. In some cases, this can be different and will be at the discretion of the Program Director and Staff of the HOUSE OF MERCY. There must be 100 % participation in the program, willingness, proper attitudes to earn any special privileges and the privileges can be taken away, if working keeps you from participating in the program as it is designed to be done.  

House of Mercy is a Transparent Nonprofit Organization that will have financial information available when requested. We have earned our Gold Seal of transparency from Candid GuideStar, and our website reflects as such.