Shelters to Get State Oversight

A California state court this week ordered county-run shelters for abused and neglected children to comply with the same strict licensing requirements imposed on privately-run facilities or cease operating.

The ruling gives shelters in nine counties, including Los Angeles County’s MacLaren Children’s Center, 60 days to eliminate overcrowded conditions, limit the use of certain physical restraints and establish minimum staff and training qualifications.

Previously, the state had exercised no oversight over these public shelters and they were largely accountable only to themselves and county boards of supervisors. The ruling, issued Tuesday by San Francisco Superior Court Judge David A. Garcia, said the state has a duty to require that county-operated shelters adhere to state-mandated health and safety standards.

The decision was a victory for the nonprofit Youth Law Center, which had sued the state for not enforcing proper standards of care and exposing thousands of children each year to overcrowded and dangerous conditions. Many of those youngsters are awaiting placements in foster homes.

“If it means kids will be diverted from public shelters to more family-like group homes, then it’s a huge victory. If it means the level of violence and incidents of hostile interactions with staff are limited, then it’s a huge victory. And if it means children are not exposed to overcrowding, it’s a vast improvement,” Youth Law Center Executive Director Carole B. Schauffer said Thursday from San Francisco.

The ruling could have broad ramifications for county-run shelters. Child advocates said it will probably advance the cause of moving children out of large shelters into smaller group homes.

The suit alleged that nine counties operate unlicensed shelters: Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Diego, San Joaquin, Sonoma, Kern, Placer, Orange and Humboldt. These range from small facilities to those that house more than 100 children. At least one county-operated shelter, that in San Mateo, sought and obtained licensing.

Los Angeles County’s MacLaren Center, the suit said, has a capacity of 125 children but averaged a daily population of 152 children at times last year. The center is run by a consortium of county agencies including the Department of Children and Family Services.

“We have begun an assessment of what it will take to bring the facility in compliance with the existing regulations cited in the judge’s order,” said Anita Bock, director of the county children’s agency.

She spoke from Sacramento, where representatives of counties affected by the court decision are meeting today with state officials to discuss the ruling.

“The time frame is extremely short and poses substantial challenges. MacLaren is an old facility and the population at times is quite high. There are issues we’re going to have to cost out. But we support anything that improves the health and safety of children and their quality of life.”

All private group homes and transitional living facilities must be licensed by the state. Some county officials had argued that they should not have to adhere to state requirements on overcrowding, for example, because they act as the primary emergency shelters and would have to turn some away.

Children’s advocates called such arguments attempts to evade responsibility for ensuring the well-being of all shelter residents.

Linda Riley, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Social Services, said her agency will need to determine which regulations will apply to county facilities.

State officials have no accurate estimate of how many of the public shelters are overcrowded, whether the court’s ruling will require extensive building improvements and staff additions, or the costs of any improvements, said Riley.

According to the Youth Law Center, some shelters routinely exceed their capacity by 50%. The lawsuit also alleged that children are held in shelters for months rather than a few hours or days as originally intended, that they sleep in hallways or overcrowded rooms, receive inadequate mental health care and are treated like juvenile offenders. The suit also charged that county-run shelters routinely use excessive force and unwarranted physical restraints.

San Diego County’s Polinsky Center was cited as an example of dangerously overcrowded conditions. The suit gave an account of a riot last April at a girls’ cottage that was built for no more than 30 girls but which housed 40.

Cathy Spearnak, a spokeswoman for the county of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, said the center has contracted to place youngsters in another facility if there are overflows.