PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
New role seen for children's shelter
When the new shelter for abused and neglected children in Santa Clara
County opened in 1995, its cluster of cottages, central ball field, art
studios and computer lab made it state of the art. With 132 beds, the
shelter was one of the largest in California.
Nine years later, a high-profile committee of child welfare experts
is plotting to transform the complex into a place where just a few
children sleep, and many more get services to help them live
successfully in the community.
Specifically, what the Union Avenue refuge will become is yet to be
determined. But what it has been a place where more than 100 children
at any given time often spent months in limbo is a thing of the past.
The sprawling campus is now operating at one-quarter capacity as
social workers strive to quickly place children with relatives, foster
families, group homes or psychiatric hospitals. After months of meetings
and focus groups, the Children's Shelter Use Committee representing
judges, mental health experts and child advocates will complete its
proposals today. Social services Director Will Lightbourne will review
the committee's ideas before presenting final options to county
supervisors on Feb. 18.
About 30 beds will be reserved for children awaiting placement, and
large sibling groups like the nine brothers and sisters who arrived
together last month. The county shelter will also continue running its
assessment center for children entering foster care.
The leading proposals for the rest of the shelter are expected to
include:
- A family visitation center, where children from the dependency and
family courts would have supervised visits with parents and siblings.
- A comprehensive family resource center providing mental and public
health services for children and caregivers, as well as an
observational, therapeutic preschool.
- An education center where children in foster care would receive
tutoring, assessment and help with homework.
The transformation is critical, said county Mental Health Director
Nancy Pena, a one-time foster parent who helped design the original
shelter. Pena and other county officials believe children who must be
removed from their homes are best cared for in homes not large
institutions. You've got to be willing to evolve so you are meeting the
needs of the children, Pena said.
Shelter supporters include Silicon Valley donors, volunteers and
in many cases the residents themselves. Many children who have
suffered abuse and neglect taste their first delicious meal or meet
their first caring adult in the shelter. The counselors are awesome,
and I wouldn't leave there if I had the choice to stay or go, a girl staying at the shelter wrote in an e-mail
note. All the bad talk about that place is ridiculous.
Yet a growing number of experts see things differently. Since arriving in late 2000, Lightbourne has made decreasing reliance
on the shelter a top priority. In December, a total of 121 children were
admitted, compared with 191 children in December 2002. January's average
daily population so far is 33 children. But the troubles that have plagued the shelter since it opened
continue. Last month, 16 young people ran away 19 times. One teen was
taken to juvenile hall for assaulting the staff and destroying property.
Because a smaller-scale shelter will remain on-site, any new programs
will have to be compatible with an unlocked, residential center where
children under court order must be protected from outside influences. There are potential legal entanglements, and in a county that
stretches from Palo Alto to Gilroy, extra resources will be needed for
transportation.
There have to be alternate uses, but they can't serve the whole
county,' said Tom Kinoshita, a committee member focusing on expanding
independent living skills for foster teens. If you centralize all in
one center then we're really looking at kids being left out.
Other committee members worry about funding new services when Santa
Clara County faces an ever-growing budget deficit. Sparky Harlan, director of a local youth services agency, recommends
shutting down parts of the shelter until the economy improves.
We're slashing funds left and right, and we're talking about
creating all these new programs at the children's shelter,' Harlan
said. I'm going to vote against them all unless they're funding
neutral, and none are.
By Karen de Sα Mercury News
23 January 2003
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7769061.htm
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