TREATMENT CENTRE BEING REPLACED BY FOSTER HOMES

A psychologist says the province's new philosophy won't meet all the
needs of teenage drug addicts.

The first goal of activists Ray and Nichola Hall and Rob and Susie
Ruttan is to save Campbell Valley Women's Centre, B.C.'s only
long-term residential treatment centre for adolescent girls who are
addicted to drugs.

The well-appointed centre, which sits on pastoral acreage in south
Langley, miles from downtown Vancouver's mean streets, is losing its
interim government funding, even though all 13 of its beds have been
full since it opened.

Psychologist Carl Stroh, who heads the centre, said it will have to
close its doors by the end of the month.

It is being swept away, he said, by a new philosophy at the ministry
for children and families, which is responsible for addiction
treatment programs.

The new philosophy will put teenage drugs addicts into "therapeutic
foster homes," he said.

"Some foster homes are great, but that doesn't meet all needs," said
Stroh, who for 10 years was treatment director of B.C.'s drug and
alcohol treatment programs.

"These kids have serious medical problems" Eating disorders,
depression, high risk of suicide, serious alcohol and drug abuse and
oppositional behaviour.

"The [ministry's current] belief is that these seriously dysfunctional
kids, who really need help desperately, will get by with a cup of
cocoa and a nice foster home."

The Ruttans and Halls, whose drug-addicted sons have been in foster
homes as part of their treatment, say it is easy for a teen in
family-based care to slip downtown and buy heroin.

Pat Gilchrist, the ministry's Lower Mainland planning manager,
vigorously disputes the use of the term "foster home," as well as
Stroh's characterization of the new approach.

She said it calls for "family-based residential treatment, which has
proven successful in the U.S. and other parts of Canada.

Under the new model, addicted teens with serious problems will live in
families' homes. Non-profit agencies will send in professional drug
and alcohol staff to provide therapy to the teens and to train and
support the families.

Gilchrist said family-based treatment won't take the place of
facility-based treatment. However, she wasn't able to be reassuring
about the fate of the Campbell Valley centre.

"We hope Dr. Stroh doesn't have to close Campbell Valley," she said.
"We keep looking for possible ways that we could at least purchase a
few [of its]beds."

Gilchrist said the ministry is aware of the seriousness of these young
people's problems. In the new model, the average length of stay will
be four and a half months, she said.

The children and families ministry has announced it will supply 75 new
youth detox and treatment beds this year.