Improved staff morale and training that have stopped a wave of
resignations by front-line staff.
Maryville outlines plan to improve morale
and training
A thorough analysis of why kids run away and a treatment team that's called in to help when youths display
sexually problematic behavior. These are among the improvements Maryville Academy has outlined to
state officials in reports that map the child-welfare institution's case
to continue serving state wards at its main campus in Des Plaines.
But the improvements — while acknowledged by Gov. Blagojevich's
administration as a good first step toward reforming the main campus —
do not mean the mess surrounding Maryville will be resolved quickly. The
state said Sept. 19 it will remove all 130 of its wards from the City of
Youth campus to temporarily shut it down until several goals set down by
state monitors are met.
Maryville, run by the Archdiocese of Chicago but funded by taxpayers,
believes it has met those goals and is hopeful Blagojevich will
reconsider. Both sides are in talks about the 270-bed City of Youth. However,
“sending a letter is a start, but it's only a start,” a
Blagojevich administration source said. “Even if everything is done,
they've got to prove it.”
James Guidi, named Maryville's program and clinical director in July,
has admitted the City of Youth has struggled to meet the needs of as
many as 270 young people living on its 96 acres at a given time. He also
has said it has made great strides in recent weeks and is a safe
environment for children.
“There is no greater testament to the commitment and devotion of the
Maryville staff than the compliments that DCFS staff, who [have] been
monitoring Maryville Des Plaines for 24 hours a day for the past week,
[have] showered on Maryville,” Guidi wrote to Department of Children and
Family Services Director Bryan Samuels.
Guidi's six-page letter and an 18-page “corrective response” plan
state that the City of Youth is meeting state-required staff-to-child
ratios, that a 58 percent employee turnover rate has ebbed in recent
weeks and that Maryville is moving to train staff about how to properly
restrain children — something that hasn't been done regularly at the
City of Youth for several years.
Maryville also analyzed kids who ran away from the main campus
between Dec. 2 and May 3. It found that of 187 “run incidents” at the
main campus, 30 percent happened so youths could avoid negative
consequences for their behavior, 12 percent “occurred because the youth
wanted to engage in sexual relations,” and 5 percent took place because
“a youth was searching for illicit drugs.” Also, peer pressure influenced 17 percent of runaway cases.
Maryville installed or is installing decorative window grates to
deter kids from running away from some of its City of Youth cottages,
but it cannot do so at all of them because of fire code concerns.
Besides seeing reforms at Maryville, Blagojevich wants a clear
definition of what kind of kids Maryville will serve at the City of
Youth in the future.
“They have to say what kind of institution they're
going to be and work on a plan to implement that,” the source said.
“Then we'll be in a position to talk about the kids.”
By Chris Fusco
30 September 2003
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-mary29.html
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