Pubdate: Fri, 23 Sep 2005
Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Contact: http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203%257E23145%257E,00.html
Website: http://www.dailybulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/871
Author: Emily Sachs, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

COUNTY TO SCREEN AT-RISK CHILDREN

Program Hopes To Catch Issues Early In Growth

ONTARIO - No one disputes that drugs and alcohol in a pregnant 
mother's system can wreak havoc on the baby-to-be.

What hasn't been determined is who should be responsible to treat the 
developmental needs of the child that baby will become.

Right now, it falls under the county, and eventually the educational 
system, to help the more than 4,000 drug-exposed babies born each 
year in San Bernardino County.

Disjointed at best and ineffective at worst, it is akin to tossing a 
life preserver a little too late to children in need of help.

"We need to find out who's throwing them in and stop them," said High 
Desert educator Ronald Powell, who presented a new screening and 
treatment program for at-risk children Thursday, the last day of the 
19th annual Children's Network Conference at the Ontario Convention Center.

Starting next month, the Screening, Assessment, Referral and 
Treatment system will begin screening High Desert children from birth 
to age 5 for the kind of developmental and behavioral problems that 
will land them in special education, mental health treatment and 
incarceration if left untreated.

Already, 12 of 20 children screened early were found in need of 
occupational, physical, speech or behavioral therapy.

Supporters said Thursday that they believe they can remediate as many 
as 70 percent of the High Desert's at-risk children "simply if we 
catch them early," Powell said.

Just a year ago, at last year's conference, the program was a glint 
in the eyes of organizers.

What took five years to create in Fresno County was fast-tracked in 
just nine months here, said Kent Paxton, who runs the county's 
Children's Network, which coordinates public services and programs.

Today, Paxton will present a plan for a second screening center to 
school superintendents from the county's west end. Within a year, he 
expects the second center to be operating and planning to be under 
way for the third and final center, targeted for San Bernardino.

Cost estimates won't be known until December, he said. The program is 
being carved out of existing budgets of the county's Department of 
Children's Services, which is financing the effort with the 
Department of Public Health, First 5 San Bernardino, the Children's 
Fund and the Desert/Mountain Special Education Local Plan Area.

Throughout the two-day conference, social workers and others learned 
about other successful programs that can break the chain of at-risk children.

For example, the county's new Dependency Drug Court program allows 
parental drug offenders to make concessions, such as giving up 
temporary custody of children, to get clean.

After eight years of using methamphetamine, Adrienne Phillips, of San 
Bernardino, said she expects to graduate from the program next month.

Phillips, 43, once jobless and homeless with her children while 
using, realizes now that, while on drugs, "one bad decision would 
lead to another."

Her three youngest children, who are now back with her in 
transitional housing, see differences, too.

"They can tell that they have a mama," she said.

Public programs aren't the only solution, said Kiti Freier, associate 
professor of psychology and pediatrics at Loma Linda University 
School of Medicine and an expert in early childhood drug exposure.

Faith groups, mentoring programs, senior citizens, educators, doctors 
and the business community have a lot to offer children in need. And 
as individuals, she said, we can guide children in our everyday life 
by simply knowing them by name, offering them ways to stay busy and 
teaching them by modeling proper behavior.

"They are not doomed. We will not call this a throwaway generation. 
. They will be our children," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman