Where Kids Find Hugs and a Home

The blue ranch-style house on West Corrigan Avenue is typical of others in this upper-income section of North Santa Ana. It’s a neighborhood of happy children, immaculate lawns, well-kept gardens and lots of trees.

It is also where Sister Marie Jeannette, a dynamo from Orange County, operates Casitas de San Jose, the county’s latest alternative placement home for abused and battered children aged 10 and younger.

“One of the reasons why we got a home in a nice neighborhood was to try and keep it family style, and to make it easy for the children’s transition,” Sister Marie said.

Softening the emotional burden has not been easy, she said. Many of her young clients are referred from Juvenile Court, usually after escaping a violent family life. Many arrive angry and spend their days in moody silence. Others act out their aggressions.

“We’ve had holes punched in the walls, broken windows, and a couple of us have been bruised. And I’ve heard things from a 5-year-old’s mouth that would embarrass a sailor,” she said.

“But here we try to give them hugs, lots of hugs and lots of love,” she said, as a button-nosed 5-year-old in pigtails looked up at her with huge dark eyes.

“Sister, can you and I have a special time now? Huh? Please? Please?,” the child said.

“OK, but give me a hug first,” Sister Marie said, setting off a squeal from the young girl, who immediately sprinted to Sister Marie and wrapped her arms around her waist.

Less than two years ago, Sister Marie established the first Casitas home on North Westwood Avenue, about a mile west from the Corrigan house, which opened in May. Six children live in each of the two houses.

She had no money but managed to persuade five Orange County businessmen to buy a house and let her Catholic community, the Sisters of St. Joseph’s of Orange, lease it to operate the first Casitas home. The second home was bought by Rand Sperry, a real estate businessman from Newport Beach, and an associate.

Unlike Orangewood Children’s Home, the county’s only shelter-care facility for abused and neglected children, Casitas was designed to be as home-like as possible and a world away from any institutionalized setting.

Robert Theemling, Orangewood’s program manager, said Casitas offers an alternative for children who need more care than a foster home but for some reason may not show progress inside Orangewood.

With 76 so-called children’s group homes in Orange County, there are plenty of alternative settings, Theemling said.

“But most of them are geared to older kids,” Theemling said. “With Casitas . . . the therapeutic environment that they provide has only recently become a reality in Orange County.”

Obviously, the need is there, Theemling said. Estimates indicate that Orangewood will probably have more than 3,000 children pass through its doors in 1989, an increase of 200 from last year, Theemling said.

“Our bed capacity is rated at 166. But recently we’ve hit as high as 220. We aren’t in a position to say there’s no more room. We have to accept them. But we’re full because there’s no other place for these kids to go. The real need for places like Casitas is after the kids are assessed here and need placement,” Theemling said.

California has 1,609 such group homes providing living quarters for 15,226 children. There are about 687 children living in Orange County’s 76 group homes, a state Department of Social Services spokeswoman said.

Inside the four-bedroom house that Casitas operates on West Corrigan, the rooms are spotless. The walls are glossy with fresh coats of paint, the carpets clean, and new home decorations and furnishings are found throughout.

“Our places look, feel and smell like a real home,” said real estate businessman John Hazeltine, who is Casitas’ board chairman. “Some of these children don’t know what it’s like to be in a real home, but we’re trying to provide the right setting.”

On a recent afternoon, two staff child-care assistants monitored playtime activities for the six children who live there. Each child has his own bed and dresser, but shares a bedroom with a child of the same sex. A fourth bedroom has been converted into an office.

The homes attempt to stabilize the young lives of their clients in preparation for adoption, placement in a foster-care home or placement back with the natural parents. A child’s typical length of stay ranges from six months to two years, Sister Marie said.

Sister Marie said it costs Casitas an average of $17,000 a month per home to help pay for the lease, food and personnel, which includes a social worker and child psychologist on contract.

For members of Casitas’ board of directors, involvement with the special project is an opportunity to give something back to society, Sperry said.

“One of the programs we’re trying to do is identify people in Newport Beach and Orange County with vast holdings of real estate. Getting involved in a project like Casitas is a chance for them to buy a home and lease it back to Casitas for 10 years. During that period you cannot raise the lease,” Sperry said. At the end of the 10-year period, the owner can renew the lease, donate the home to Casitas or reclaim possession of it, he said.

In addition to finding the Corrigan Avenue property, Sperry said he donated his commission and also the down payment. He said he became involved with Casitas because of a personal vow he made to himself after his son’s cancer went into remission.

“He spent a year in St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital next door to (Sister Marie’s) home base. My child’s cancer is in remission now, but I made an agreement with myself when it was over to give something back to society for children,” Sperry said.