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Since the state's ruling, Santa Clara County officials have withdrawn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.''