MOUNTAIN HOME — Nathan's walk home from school took him down a long gravel road and through the woods to a chalet-style wood house built by Bill Cantwell on land his family has owned for a century.
But Nathan wasn't really going home.
He was staying with Bill and Dawn Cantwell under Baxter County's host-home program, which places troubled children in stable homes on a short-term basis, usually from 24 hours to two weeks.
Nathan, 13, had been in and out of host homes for seven months, the last two times with the Cantwells.
"I just couldn't get along with my family. Second time it's happened," Nathan said. "My dad was in the hospital, and I didn't know what was going to happen to him, so I was in a bad mood and took out my anger on everybody."
That anger exploded in an altercation with his brother. At the time of the fight, Nathan was home on a trial placement after having earlier been sent by a court to host homes because of parental neglect.
After the fight with his brother, Nathan's mother called the sheriff to have him taken away again.
He was gone for months.
This spring, Nathan, now 14, was back home with his family, out of trouble, and making As and Bs at school.
His time in the wilderness with the Cantwells taught him some valuable lessons, Nathan says.
"I'm doing a lot better than I was. It's a lot easier to get along with everyone. Before, I'd get in arguments every time I went home, but this time I'm not arguing as much, just normally, I guess, like a regular family," he says.
"I don't have a reason to. I know it's going to get me in trouble. The host homes aren't bad places, but I don't want to go back."
The Cantwells have taken in more than 450 children from the county's juvenile services department over the past five years. Their door is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
All that traffic requires some strict rules. It's lights out at 9 p.m., up for school at 6 a.m. School attendance is obligatory.
Phone time is limited to a few minutes each day. The children are responsible for preparing their own meals and have chores to perform around the house, from cleaning their first-floor room to chopping wood for the stoves that heat the Cantwells' house in winter.
The Cantwells aren't in this for the money: For each day they house a child, they receive just $15 from the county.
"This is our world, and we have to save it somehow," says Dawn Cantwell, 60, who teaches music in a studio next to the house and substitutes at the school in nearby Cotter.
"We have to start one kid at a time because if we don't help the kids, we'll have no responsible adults."
The Cantwells raised two children of their own. They also saw three teen-agers through their high school years under an "independent living" arrangement that kept the youths out of group homes and in Baxter County.
The closest group home is more than two hours away.
The interaction with young people keeps Bill Cantwell, 75, feeling young, Dawn Cantwell says. "The house is too quiet without the kids around. It doesn't feel good."
Carol Rogers and his wife, Lucrecia, began hosting youths two years ago. With seven grown children of their own, the Rogerses have plenty of experience. Carol, 64, and Lucrecia, 62, are both retired from the Air Force.
The Rogerses brim with energy, and Carol Rogers says hosting children gives them an extra spark.
"When you retire, you can become dull. I've seen that in too many old people. By staying involved with these teen-agers we stay active, and I think it helps us as much as it helps them," he says.
At heart, the Cantwells and the Rogerses are driven to participate in the host-home program by the belief that a day, a week or a month in their care will improve the lives of the youths they take in.
"With some of the children we can see a difference when they leave here. With others there's no change. But I don't go by what I see on their faces," says Lucrecia Rogers.
"I believe that something has happened, a seed has been planted. These children will meet somebody who adds to that, and it will build from there."
Judge Gary Isbell made the host-home program his first priority when he took office seven years ago. The network of reliable, emergency housing that he has developed allows the judge, in most cases, to avoid resorting to a more traditional -- and more drastic -- remedy: foster homes.
"I have an abiding fear of foster care," Isbell says. "It's a great thing for kids who will never go home. It is the worst thing for kids who will go back home."
The temporary homes also offer inexpensive, local alternatives to group homes and detention centers in Fayetteville and Jonesboro. All volunteers for the program undergo background checks by the juvenile services staff.
Baxter County has largely funded the program since 1989. When the county received a $23,600 grant from the state Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention in 1994, it hired a recruiter to sign up host homes across the district.
Now, Baxter County has eight host homes. Marion County has two host homes, but Boone and Newton counties still have none.
Cheryl Green, an intake officer with the 14th Judicial District, says the host homes are an indispensable resource -- especially in the middle of the night. Host-home parents agree to accept children at any time.
"Every one of our programs have come from the desperate need of our juvenile officers to find resources for our kids," Green says.