Bill in Assembly : Child Crisis Center Sought for Ventura

Ventura County, faced with mounting numbers of abused children and limited facilities to care for them, is seeking legislation to allow it to purchase or lease 22.8 acres at Camarillo State Hospital for a children’s crisis center.

Under the measure, the county would sublease the land to a private, nonprofit group that would build an 85-bed home for abused, neglected and abandoned children.

Although it is opposed by a state employees group, the bill introduced by Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) at the request of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors is breezing through the Legislature.

Senate Approval

In May, it was approved by the Senate, 35 to 0, and sent to the Assembly, where on Tuesday the Governmental Efficiency and Consumer Protection Committee approved it, 8 to 0. The proposal now goes to the Ways and Means Committee, where it will be scheduled for a hearing.

Supporters say the measure would provide a way to deal with the increasing number of abused children in the county. Without a central facility, the children are sent to foster homes, said Helen Reburn, Ventura County’s deputy director for children’s services. She said foster homes are in short supply and lack the special medical facilities that many of the youngsters need.

Reburn estimated that 70 children a month, ranging from infants to 18-year-olds, are so abused or neglected that they must be removed from their homes and placed with foster families. Three years ago, she said, only 55 children a month needed care.

Reburn suggested that the increased caseload is due to several factors, including the county’s growing population and expanded public awareness of child abuse.

“The end result is that we are seeing more children and . . . children who are much more seriously disturbed and traumatized by the abuse,” Reburn said.

Even so, Penny M. Bohannon, Ventura County’s capital lobbyist, said the current problem is that the county “has no money to do anything like” build a children’s center.

40-Year Lease

If Davis’ bill clears the Assembly and is signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian, the county expects to enter into a 40-year lease for the property at a nominal sum, Bohannon said.

Then, she said, the county plans to sublease the property to the Youth Connection, a group that provides services to troubled Ventura County youths. Bohannon said the group has agreed to raise $3 million to $4 million, mostly from private sources, and, in about three years, to build a children’s center on the vacant hospital land.

The 541-acre hospital, which once held 7,000 patients, now serves 1,189 mentally ill and developmentally disabled patients.

The California State Employees Assn. objects to the Davis bill. Robert Zenz, a lobbyist for the group, on Tuesday told the Governmental Efficiency Committee “we think there may be a future need for that type of land” if the number of hospital patients should increase again.

In a letter to the committee, the association also said the bill “would put the state in an impossible position to restore its hospital system by leasing major tracts of hospital land.”