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ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Place for Troubled Kids

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Sometimes it seems that nothing much comes from committees but paperwork. But the recent success of a five-county committee belies that notion: It came up with the first regional plan to house and treat seriously emotionally disturbed minors who come in contact with the law.

The committee was formed by Orange County Chief Probation Officer Michael Schumacher and Timothy P. Mullins, director of the county’s mental health and drug abuse services. Several years ago, they brought together their counterparts from Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties to see what could be done to separate and treat youths who were incarcerated, but so mentally disturbed that housing them with other juveniles was extremely difficult.

These youths aren’t eligible for state hospitalization but act up in serious ways, including slashing their wrists, eating light bulbs or attacking staff. They are unpredictable, and require strict supervision not always available at a facility designed for handling large numbers of minors.

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There are a handful of such youths at any given time in each county’s juvenile facilities. By 1995, they will be housed together in the new, 30-bed Van Horn Regional Facility for Emotionally Disturbed Minors in Riverside. It will be the first of its kind in the state.

Such a regional facility was the product of good thinking for a number of reasons. It will remove these youths from facilities where they are a danger to themselves and others while also facilitating their treatment. It will spread the $5.2-million construction cost among five counties. And it will take advantage of a state bond act passed in 1988 that can provide most of the money for regional juvenile facilities.

Regional government brings to mind such areawide problems as air pollution and traffic. The facility for troubled youths is a creative approach to another kind of regional problem. It’s only a start, but it’s heartening to see the five counties working together for a change.

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