The announcement that KidsPeace Broadway Campus will house children caught trying to cross the United States-Mexico border caught Salisbury Township officials off guard.

Township officials are looking into whether or not KidsPeace is permitted by law to undertake the project.

"KidsPeace, working with funding from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, will begin offering a safe haven for these youth until they can be placed in permanent homes," KidsPeace Director of Public Relations and Communications Bevin Theodore stated April 24 in a press release.

Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano, Police Chief Allen W. Stiles, Director of Planning and Zoning Cynthia Sopka and the five-member board of commissioners said at the commissioners' April 25 meeting, they were not told of Kids-Peace's plans.

"I didn't know this was going to happen," Stiles told officials in his report to the commissioners. "It's kind of a surprise, so we're looking to talk to KidsPeace.

"I think they should have told us, but they did not. I think it's unfortunate."

"I didn't know about it," Sopka said.

Residences at the Kids-Peace Broadway campus have been unoccupied since 2008 when the youth were relocated to Kids-Peace Orchard Hills Campus, North Whitehall Township.

KidsPeace is to receive a grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement to house the refugee children, who were allegedly caught at the Mexican border attempting to cross into the United States.

Soriano said he and Patrick Slattery, of the KidsPeace Advancement Department, spoke on April 25.

Commissioners' Vice President Robert Martucci Jr. asked Soriano if a meeting was planned between township administration and KidsPeace officials.

"Yes," Soriano replied.

Martucci, a commissioner for the township's east side where KidsPeace Broadway Campus is located, said he would like to attend the meeting.

"If you meet with Pat [Slattery], I'd like to be part of that meeting because I know I'll be getting phone calls," said Martucci.

"I guess the question is: Are they allowed to do that?" Soriano asked.

"You're talking about kids who were caught," Soriano said. "You're not talking about our kids yet.

"Do they have to come in here and get some sort of approval to have kids there?"

"KidsPeace expects an average length of stay to be 45 days, with the ultimate goal of moving the children toward reunification with relatives, or when that is not possible, returning them safely to their home countries," the press release stated.

"Services include shelter care for up to 72 unaccompanied children at one time; daily education that will include core subjects, English language education, art, music, health and physical education and citizenship; counseling from a bilingual master's level clinician; recreation; medical and mental health assessments; and ongoing medical, psychiatric and dental care as needed."

KidsPeace plans to hire as many as 60 to work with the youth.

"Hiring and training of about 60 bilingual associates is still under way, and the youth are not expected to hit the Broadway Campus for at least another week," the press release stated. "It is estimated 20,000 children could require these services, a number that has grown 200 percent over the past three years."

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is an Office of the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the department's web site, "Through its network of caretakers, the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program helps unaccompanied refugee minors develop appropriate skills to enter adulthood and to achieve social self-sufficiency."