Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jun 2000
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2000 The Register-Guard
Contact:  PO Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188
Website: http://www.registerguard.com/
Author: Bill Bishop, RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT OPTIONS DON'T MEET GROWING NEED

Lane County has ample outpatient treatment for young criminals hooked on 
drugs and alcohol, but it's another story for the ones who need long-term 
residential treatment.

They stand in line for six months to a year for a spot in one of 18 
residential beds available for juvenile offenders.

Twenty boys are on a waiting list for the 14 beds at Pathways, a 
residential center operated by Looking Glass Youth and Family Services. The 
average treatment period is six months, Program Director Sylvia Roehnelt said.

The nonprofit center, newly built on the John Serbu Youth Campus in Eugene, 
has 21 beds, but the funding to use only 14. The program gets general fund 
money through the Lane County Department of Youth Services.

For delinquent girls who use drugs, Willamette Family Treatment Services 
has four residential treatment beds, all that are available for them in 
Lane County.

"We've really been struggling to get funding for girls' beds," said 
Willamette Family's Executive Director Hillary Wylie. "The state did not 
fund us, even though they say all this stuff about the importance of 
children. They said it wasn't high enough priority."

Money for Willamette Family's four beds is only temporary. It comes from a 
three-year, $3 million federal grant awarded to the county. The grant, now 
in its second year, also pays for the RAP Court.

"We have many, many more youths in our community who need the services, and 
we don't have the beds," Roehnelt said.

Families that have good health insurance or money to spend can place their 
addicted children in private residential treatment programs. But uninsured 
and low-income families must depend on publicly funded residential services 
- - available only to kids charged with a crime in juvenile court.

The Oregon Health Plan pays for low-income and uninsured youths to get 
outpatient drug and alcohol treatment, so that's less of a problem.

But residential treatment is especially important for some kids who need to 
escape the peer pressure of living on the streets or in homes where others 
use drugs and alcohol, advocates say.

In Oregon, residential treatment programs for young criminals typically 
operate with a blend of county general fund money, special tax levy 
revenues, and state and federal grant money.

The Oregon Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs oversees contracts 
that dole out state and federal money to local agencies for drug education, 
prevention and treatment.

Currently, Lane County gets no money from the state office for residential 
treatment beds for young offenders.

The statewide program budget for the current biennium is $100.3 million, an 
increase of $21 million over the 1997-99 budget and $35 million more than 
the 1995-97 budget, according to state budget figures.

The number of residential treatment beds for juvenile offenders has held 
steady at around 60 beds statewide since 1995, said office Planning Manager 
Gwen Grams. The agency is attempting to stretch treatment money by 
providing addicts with housing so they can live in a drug-free environment 
while undergoing outpatient treatment, she said.

"We're a progressive state in that kids can get outpatient treatment," 
Roehnelt said. "With residential treatment, you need a facility designed 
for 24-hour supervision, seven days a week. It's expensive. But in the long 
run, for the taxpayer, it's cheaper than having these kids keep using drugs 
and doing crime."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart