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Two of the state's leading child welfare advocates
are questioning the need for a proposed 12-bed treatment center
for girls in the juvenile justice system.
The treatment center was part of a juvenile justice
reform package presented to Gov. M. Jodi Rell last week by staff
at the Department of Children and Families.
The reforms called for closing the $57 million Connecticut
Juvenile Training School for boys in Middletown and moving the boys
into two smaller 45-bed treatment centers elsewhere in the state,
at a cost of $23 million to $40 million.
The secure girls' center was a last-minute addition
to the plan, and state officials have yet to say how much it will
cost. All three new facilities are expected to open by 2008.
While state legislators weigh the merits of the plan,
several advocates are already voicing their concerns.
Martha Stone, the executive director of the Hartford-based
Center for Children's Advocacy, said there is a greater need for
therapeutic foster homes, respite care, trauma counseling and other
support for juvenile girls.
"We already have enough secure beds," said Stone,
a Hartford lawyer whose two federal class-action lawsuits against
the state resulted in sweeping reforms in Connecticut's foster care
and juvenile justice systems.
"Except for a very small population of girls, most
benefit more by being treated in their home communities," Stone
said.
The number of treatment beds for girls is rising dramatically
this year. Planned expansions at four residential treatment centers
will provide an additional 30 beds for girls by the end of the year.
A new 14-bed secure unit for girls is expected to open by January
2006 at the Riverview Psychiatric Hospital for Children and Adolescents
in Middletown.
When all the beds come online, the state will have
106 beds for juvenile girls. As of last week, there were 88 girls
requiring residential treatment while on juvenile parole. Another
25 were on parole and living at home.
The 12-bed treatment center was not mentioned in a
December 2004 report from DCF outlining the future needs for girls
in juvenile justice programs, Stone said. The report said the state
should reassess the value of any residential facility providing
more than six beds. It also stated there was an "urgent and compelling
need" for many of the things Stone is mentioning now - more treatment
options, gender-specific services, respite care and trauma therapy.
Officials at DCF said better treatment options for
girls are in the works and the more secure beds are needed.
Donald DeVore, DCF's head of juvenile justice, said
Connecticut currently lacks a secure state-run program for girls
who act up or fail treatment at private residential centers.
"The fact of the matter is, at any given time [DCF]
has five, six or seven really troubled girls who are very, very
difficult to manage," DeVore said. "They have been in and out of
a number of residential placements and we just can't seem to find
a natural fit for them."
State Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein said she believes
there is a need for several more secure beds for girls, but she
is not sure a large 12-bed treatment center is the best way to go.
Milstein said the most important thing is that DCF
move carefully in addressing the girls' needs and not repeat the
mistakes it's made in the past. Milstein said the agency has a history
of ignoring girls in the juvenile justice system and they have suffered
as a result, often languishing in programs ill suited to their needs.
Girls are often placed in the next available bed, Milstein said,
regardless of where it is, rather than in a program specifically
designed to help them.
"These girls have been grossly, inadequately served,"
Milstein said.
Milstein said DCF continues to be "crisis driven."
She pointed out that the agency recently reopened a residential
program for girls in Hartford that had been shut down.
Officials at the DCF are not only re-opening the Maloney
Reception and Assessment Center run by Community Partners in Action,
it authorized an expansion that nearly doubles the number of beds
from eight to 14, Milstein said. DCF's director of girls' services,
Tammy Sneed, said the Maloney program has been revamped with new
leadership and staff and is "adequate" for the state's needs.
But Milstein is concerned that DCF is once again plunging
ahead without careful planning or forethought.
"There's been a complete system failure by DCF in
serving these girls," Milstein said. "They condone a program and
then put a Band-Aid on it. What you have once again is the fox watching
the henhouse. DCF is the agency that licenses these facilities and
they are also the consumer who relies on them for beds."
DeVore said he is confident DCF is proceeding carefully
in implementing the new services.
But Stone criticized the agency for moving too slowly.
She said DCF is already behind in meeting several of the goals outlined
in its 2004 report and that service needs identified as far back
as 2003 have yet to be realized. Two new group homes for girls scheduled
to open in July are still "being discussed," Sneed said.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant.
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