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Agency will treat highly troubled kids
Teacher Maggie Lander works with a resident of the Southern Oregon Child Study and Treatment Center girls' home in Central Point. The building will soon house a group of boys and the girls will be moved to a new home in Medford. Treatment center will take in 10 boys, ages 9 to 14, who are at high risk to commit sex crimes because they have endured terrible abuse By JONEL ALECCIA No question, it's a tough group of kids who are headed for the historic white house on Second Street in Central Point: Ten boys, ages 9 to 14, who have endured experiences that would harden the hearts and minds of most adults - and learned to lash out at the world in kind. One state agency calls them "sexually aggressive offenders," young people believed to be at high risk for committing sex crimes. But Tom Gunderson, director of the Southern Oregon agency that recently won the right to treat them, regards the youth as severely troubled children who need help untangling webs of abuse. "These are kids who, due to their own sexual abuse, are acting out in sexual ways," says Gunderson, of the Southern Oregon Child Study and Treatment Center. "But we're talking about young kids. We're talking about working with them early. I would say this is very treatable." That's the philosophy that recently granted SOCSTC a nearly $1 million state Department of Human Services annual contract to provide group home and foster care services to some of Oregon's most difficult-to-treat children. SOCSTC was chosen from among eight applicants in the state to run the program. Starting in April, the agency will open six foster care homes and the Central Point mansion that formerly housed a girls program to provide intensive residential therapy for "sexually reactive" youngsters. The foster homes will serve three girls and three boys, while the group home will include only boys, Gunderson said. The clients are young people who have committed no crimes that would land them in the juvenile justice system, but who have exhibited aggressive sexual behavior: exposing themselves, inappropriate touching, even sexual relations with other children. "These are young adults or children who have grown up in situations with sexual behavior," Gunderson says. "They certainly have potential for abusing people." Most of the clients will be referred from other counties in Oregon; about a third will come from Southern Oregon, Gunderson said. Bringing in kids with such severe problems might raise concerns in the community, acknowledged Gunderson and program manager Cydney Nestor. But someone has to treat them, says Gunderson, whose agency frequently encounters sexually reactive kids. "We've become really sensitive to the fact that there aren't resources in this area for this population," he says. Gunderson and Nestor are quick to point out that SOCSTC has implemented several measures to ensure safety at and outside the site. There will be a 2-to-1 ratio of well-trained staff to kids, Nestor said. The house, which sits on an acre of land, is being outfitted now with security sensors. All clients will receive intensive mental health services. Children enrolled in the program will participate in on-site schooling until they are determined to be ready for mainstreaming in local public schools, Nestor said. That's good news to Kirk Gibson, principal of Central Point Elementary School, located close to the group home site. "I'm not thinking we need to go to a higher level of alert," said Gibson, who found out about the new center Tuesday. "I think it's the kind of thing, sadly, that we're already protecting our kids from." Resources for treatment were made available before the last legislative session, after other state youth programs realized the need for this kind of treatment and relinquished a slice of their budgets, said Paula Bauer, a program analyst with DHS. "As we worked with those kids and realized that we had no options, it floated up as the number one priority," she said. Allocation of the funds occurred quickly, even too quickly. Hank Collins, Jackson County Health and Human Services director, said state officials failed to notify local Child Protective Service agents or the county Mental Health Department about the impending contract. "In this age of collaboration, I registered my concern with the state that they should have talked to us before they agreed to do this," he said. Clients enrolled in the girls treatment program that formerly occupied the 3,600-square-foot dwelling known as the Cupp House will move to a new SOCSTC site in Medford. After a month of intensive training, staff members, including new director Scott Mickey, expect the first boy to arrive in mid-April. That will be good news for Gunderson, whose agency will expand with the project to include 75 employees and an annual budget of $3.2 million. "I see it as we can have an impact on the lives of each of these kids," he said. "If this resource wasn't here, I don't know what they'd do." Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail jaleccia@mailtribune.com |
