Pubdate: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: Brandon Bailey, Mercury News Staff Writer STATE DROPS ARIZONA GIRLS CENTER Program Doesn't Meet Standards; 7 Santa Clara County Teens Are Removed California officials have yanked their approval of an Arizona treatment center for emotionally disturbed girls -- much to the dismay of Santa Clara County authorities, who said local teens were doing well in the program. The action represents the first application of strict new standards for out-of-state group homes, enacted after investigators found that a California youth was physically and mentally abused before his death last spring at Arizona Boys Ranch, another program for troubled teens that is no longer approved by California authorities. While California is continuing to review other out-of-state programs, officials acknowledge they've only begun to confront a larger issue: They now must find alternatives for helping delinquent kids who face a variety of obstacles to straightening out their lives -- from broken families and gang-infested neighborhoods to drug addiction and more serious mental health problems. The state Department of Social Services informed Santa Clara County juvenile authorities last month that they may no longer send delinquent girls to the privately run Mingus Mountain Estate Residential Center in Prescott Valley, about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix. Officials said there were no specific allegations of mistreatment or abuse at the Mingus Mountain center, which has no affiliation with the Arizona Boys Ranch. But they said Mingus Mountain doesn't meet California standards for allowing residents access to telephones and the right to wear their own clothes. More troublesome, state officials said, is Mingus Mountain's use of a locked ward for housing some of its 65 residents. A spokesman for the center said that's part of an orientation program only, and that most girls graduate to an unlocked dorm after 30 days. Still, California officials said any locked facility is prohibited by state and federal rules for group homes. Seven girls removed Since the state's ruling, Santa Clara County officials have withdrawn seven girls from Mingus Mountain and are scrambling to enroll them in other programs. ``Not all kids belong in the (California) Youth Authority,'' said Thomas Edwards, presiding judge of the Santa Clara County juvenile court. He said some delinquent teens need close supervision as well as individualized schooling, vocational training and intensive counseling - -- services that aren't always available at county facilities or the California Youth Authority, where the population includes hard-core gang members and dangerous offenders. In some cases, probation officials say, out-of-state programs are a last chance for kids to avoid the CYA after repeatedly running away from county programs. While the county probation department operates three youth ranches and contracts with several private programs in California, it has about 60 teenage boys and girls enrolled at residential programs in Nevada, Colorado and Pennsylvania. California officials are now reviewing more than two dozen out-of-state programs, where nearly 900 California youths were enrolled by juvenile court authorities last year. Some local officials are worried that many will fall short of the new standards. ``As a practical matter, it's cutting off our ability to send kids out of state,'' said Edwards, who added that judges and probation officials are unhappy because ``these programs have been so successful'' in helping delinquent teens. Staying closer to home But many child advocates argue that it's safer, more humane and ultimately more effective to keep California's troubled teens in programs that are closer to home. That should be the goal for most kids, even if some out-of-state placements continue, said Eleanor Moses, a veteran youth services worker who is now a consultant to the state Assembly Human Services Committee. The issue erupted last year after the death of 16-year-old Nicholaus Contreraz, a Sacramento youth who was sent to the Arizona Boys Ranch after he was arrested for joyriding in a stolen car. While he was there, ranch staffers failed to diagnose or treat him for a massive chest infection; instead, they accused him of malingering and forced him to do repeated physical exercises, until the boy collapsed and died. Santa Clara County was forced to withdraw 36 teens from the Arizona Boys Ranch last summer after California authorities placed the program off-limits. Yet despite the reports of abuse, county juvenile officials -- and some of the boys themselves -- praised the program for helping them straighten out troubled lives. Now the same objections are being raised over the state's decision not to certify Mingus Mountain. ``We were sorry to lose it as a program,'' said Bob Creamer, a manager in the Santa Clara County Probation Department. ``We thought we had good results.'' In response to the new state rules, some California counties are working on developing programs that would serve as alternatives to sending teens out of state. Santa Clara County officials, for example, say they will try to revamp the services offered at their juvenile probation ranches and may open a new residential mental health ward for teens. San Mateo County is planning to build a new ``youth services campus'' with residential programs for teens who need help with drug addiction, sexual abuse and emotional problems. But the new programs will take time to develop. They also face regulatory and financial hurdles. For example, state Department of Social Services spokeswoman Sidonie Squier said the funds that are now used to send kids out of California can't be used to pay for locked facilities here, either. Mingus Mountain, while not a psychiatric hospital, provides schooling and intensive therapy for up to 65 girls who are ``seriously emotionally disturbed.'' Creamer said there are programs like it in California but they don't have enough room for all the delinquent teens who need that level of care. At Mingus Mountain, spokesman Brad Kaplan said the locked ward isn't used for punishment but is necessary to keep girls from running away when they first come into the program. Many of the girls sent to Mingus Mountain have ``extraordinary behavior problems,'' Kaplan said. ``Their impulse control is very limited. Their self-destructive behaviors and capacity to place themselves in danger is extreme.'' In declining to approve the program, California officials also noted that Mingus Mountain doesn't let girls make confidential phone calls to their families and doesn't let them wear their own clothing, ``as a form of punishment.'' But Kaplan said the girls are allowed to exchange letters and have monitored phone contact with relatives, after the first 30 days of their stay. He also said the clothing policy isn't intended as punishment. He said the center issues sweats and other clothing for the orientation period so there is no competition or stress over who has more stylish or expensive clothes. Mingus Mountain is unlikely to change its policies in order to win California approval, Kaplan said. As for the seven Santa Clara County girls who were brought back from Mingus Mountain last month, Creamer said officials have decided that two of them can live in relatives' homes, with a special program of intensive supervision by probation officers and counselors. The other five girls are staying in juvenile hall, which houses a variety of teens and doesn't provide the kind of intensive help that officials believe the girls need, Creamer said: ``We're trying to get them placed in California, in other group homes, but those are in short supply.'' - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea