Cedar House Is Looking for a New Home
From the outside, it looks like an elegant two-story home with a small playground in front. Inside, the impression is continued in the cozy living room full of cushy blue chairs and the dining area with its large wooden table.
There, however, the air of homeyness changes somewhat. At the table sits a young woman answering the telephone and taking messages. And what once was a service porch now serves as an office.
Since it was founded 13 years ago, Cedar House--a nationally recognized nonprofit neighborhood center for the prevention and treatment of child abuse--has rented this stately building at 605 Cedar Ave. on the city’s old west side. Last year, 87 families--299 men, women and children--came here to receive individual and group counseling, much of it court-ordered, to deal with the aftermath of physical and sexual child abuse. In addition, many others have attended parent education classes designed to prevent such abuse.
All that is about to change. Real estate agents say they expect to close escrow this week on a transaction that will transfer title to the building, built in 1914, from the local physician who has owned it since 1976 to a group of investors planning to convert it back into the four-plex it once was.
At the moment, Cedar House--which could conceivably be given a 30-day eviction notice once escrow closes--has no place to go nor the money to buy a new home. The new owners say they do not intend to evict the center before it has found another headquarters. Still, without the money, said Bob Treese, treasurer of the Cedar House Board of Directors, the center could be forced to move into inadequate short-term quarters or, worse, to temporarily close.
“It’s desperation time,” Treese said. “ Panic is the word.”
Fund-Raising Begun
In response, Cedar House officials have begun a major fund-raising campaign that will begin with a $70-a-ticket carnival Saturday. They hope to net at least $50,000 from the event.
“I would consider it a tragedy if we closed,” said Lynn Seiser, clinical director at the center. “A lot of these families have never been able to trust anybody to be there--Cedar House has (provided) that consistency. (Disappearing) would be a real blow; to close would be making a statement to society that we don’t believe in our kids anymore.”
The carnival--which will feature food, rides, a fortuneteller, magicians and clowns under a circus tent at the old downtown pike site--is patterned after a similar event in 1981 that attracted 400 people and raised about $20,000.
In addition to putting on the carnival, Treese said, board members are attempting to interest major supporters in contributing “shares” of $25,000 apiece (each divisible into smaller units) toward the purchase of a new facility. The board is now looking at several properties in the $400,000 range. After a property is bought, he said, it would have to be refurbished, which would cost an estimated $50,000 to $75,000 more.
Although Cedar House has historically operated on a balanced budget--it was nearly $300,000 last year, with more than half from United Way--there is little surplus to spend on buying or refurbishing property, Treese said. To date, he said, the board has firm commitments from donors for $50,000 toward a purchase and potential commitments for another $150,000.
‘Time Bomb’
“There’s a definite chance we’ll be out in the street,” said Joanne Pearson, a board member and fund-raiser. This campaign “has got to be a success.”
Said Treese: “We’re sitting on a time bomb, and we really don’t know when it’s going to go off.”
That time bomb seemed little in evidence, though, on a recent weekday afternoon as several children and adults lounged or played on the porch as they waited for their various group sessions to begin.
The number of people treated last year, board members say, represents a 68% increase over 1985, which Seiser attributes to better reporting of child abuse. Of the cases seen at Cedar House, Treese said, 59% involved sexual abuse, 29% physical abuse, 9% neglect and 3% the death of a child resulting from neglect or abuse.
In each case, the individual client or family is assessed, then assigned to one or more of the four staff counselors for therapy in a variety of settings. The therapy, which lasts an average of about nine months, is free to clients.
In the therapy, Seiser said, “what we try to do is get them to accept responsibility for themselves and . . . work on a plan to get their lives together.” By focusing on such issues as isolation, communication, self-esteem and acceptance, he said, counselors can begin to help families move toward healthier relationships.
“Our task is to help them get their lives in order and then one day say goodby,” he said.
Although success is difficult to assess, he said, a survey conducted last year indicated that of 200 families treated at Cedar House within the previous five years, only one was back in the legal system because of repeated child abuse. Seiser attributes such results in part to the informal atmosphere of the center.
“Rapport is everything in this game,” he said. “The site is important--it makes people feel more at home. By utilizing a non-threatening place, people have some sense of anonymity and safety.”
Board members say they hope that atmosphere will be re-created wherever the center may move. In the meantime, clients say, Cedar House counselors are helping them sort out some of the complexities of their lives.
“The people are nice to you,” said a 13-year-old boy who has been attending therapy sessions for two months there with his mother, brother and sister. “It’s taught me that it’s OK to talk about your feelings, that you don’t need to bottle them up.”
