COUNTYWIDE : Children’s Welfare Focus of Program

Orange County and the Ocean View School District are pioneering an effort at Oak View Elementary School in Huntington Beach to identify children and their families who are vulnerable to abuse or neglect.

The program, funded with a $450,000 grant from the Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles, is called “Local Efforts to Address and Reduce Neglect” (LEARN) and could serve as a model for school districts throughout the state plagued by abuse problems.

“We felt that the Ocean View School District was an appropriate start for this pilot project because an average of more than 200 children from the Ocean View School District are referred to the Orange County Child Abuse Registry each month,” said County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, whose district includes the elementary school. Most of those 200 cases come from Oak View and schools on the east side of the 17-school district, officials said.

The program is designed to provide immediate counseling and prevention for substance and alcohol abuse, child abuse, gang involvement and medical problems. By locating at the school, the services become available in the community and not exclusively at county offices in Santa Ana.

While funding comes primarily from the Children’s Bureau grant, other resources will be contributed by the county’s Social Services/Children’s Services Division, Health Care Agency and Probation Department.

“Many people will be watching this and seeing how it works,” said John Thomas, the school district’s administrator for pupil personnel services.

Oak View Elementary, a kindergarten through sixth-grade school, is in a largely Latino immigrant neighborhood, which, in many cases, produces children who are deficient in English, have little experience in classroom settings or are the products of dysfunctional homes, school officials said.

“Many times families in need will go to the school first,” Oak View Principal Joan Buffher said. “If there is a language barrier, the school could help them and refer them (to proper authorities). Now we have an integrated service here.”

Larry Leaman, director of the Social Services Agency, said that countywide the volume of child abuse cases has been increasing 10% to 15% annually.

“The school has stepped forward to assume that responsibility,” he said.

The facilities, to be housed in two portable classrooms at Oak View, will also be made available to Westmont Elementary School pupils. But it is expected that the staff will be busy handling mostly Oak View students, said Carol Canode, an Ocean View School District trustee and school nurse who was instrumental in bringing the program to the district.

The Health Care Agency will provide on-site mental health programs for children who are emotionally disturbed, and the Probation Department will be able to more closely monitor students. The Ocean View district has about 150 students on probation, said Stephanie Lewis, chief deputy probation officer.

The Social Services Agency will investigate child abuse, while the Ocean View School District will coordinate the program. The Children’s Bureau will provide personnel for the child abuse portion of LEARN.