Help for Families Is a Phone Call Away : Television: On KOCE’s call-in program “Speakout for Children!” specialists will address viewers’ questions on subjects from teen-age pregnancy to parenting skills.

The mother of a boy living in a home for mentally disturbed children recently told the home’s director that she had no inkling her son needed his hair shampooed weekly, clean clothes to wear to school or medical attention when he was sick.

The woman, like other mothers and fathers of children in the facility, doesn’t “know how to be a parent,” director Sister Marie Jeannette Ansberry told The Times in a story about how the 1990 Census showed an increase in the number of children growing up in non-traditional households.

This facility, however, isn’t along Skid Row in Los Angeles, Watts or in some other depressed area of L.A.’s inner city, where such anecdotes have become a sad fact of daily life.

No, Casita de San Jose is in Orange County, which has long been widely considered as a bastion of the traditional family and a place some perceive to be affluent enough to elude the social ills frequently associated with poverty.

“We tend to think of Orange County, like Marin County, as a separate echelon where (family) problems wouldn’t crop up,” said James P. Steyer, founder and president of Children Now, a California-based advocacy group. Steyer is one of a several guests who will appear on “Speakout for Children!” a live, 90-minute call-in show on children’s physical and emotional health and family issues that will air Monday at 8 p.m. on Orange County public station KOCE Channel 50.

Steyer’s appearance on the show marks his group’s first venture into Orange County. Children Now is a prominent nonprofit organization that recently conducted a statewide, county-by-county survey on family and children’s issues. Results of that report, released in June, indicate that Orange County is far from immune to the kinds of problems that are besetting children and families nationwide.

According to the report, the county scored above the state average in every area it covered: health, safety, education, family life and teen years. But the county showed a 28% increase in the number of children living below the poverty level during the last three years, second only to Imperial County’s 30% rise, the report stated. Poverty, Steyer said in a phone interview from his office in Oakland, “is the single biggest cause of problems for children and families.”

Poverty “is often a precursor of other problems, such as the high school dropout rate and teen pregnancies,” Wendy Lazarus, author of the report, told The Times in June. It also is the “single most important measuring stick” for children’s general health and welfare, Lazarus said.

The 1990 Census indicated that the number of severely disturbed Orange County children living in group quarters staffed by professionals--including halfway homes for drug addicts, delinquent or mentally disturbed children such as Casita de San Jose--nearly tripled over the past 10 years, from 725 to 2,133.

“The aim of ‘Speakout for Children!’ is to bring awareness to the community that we do have a problem, as well as to be a forum for those who just don’t know where to go to address their problems,” said the show’s executive producer, Jo Caines, KOCE’s community relations director. “Maybe we can help them do that.”

Steyer, one of three main panelists answering callers’ questions, will be joined by Maureen DiMarco, secretary of child development and education for the state of California and Rudy M. Castruita, superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District.

They and other specialists will address callers’ questions on subjects ranging from prenatal care and teen-age pregnancy to divorce, step-families and parenting skills. The program also will feature taped footage on day care, cultural differences in parenting and other issues, and viewers may request free resource guides, printed in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, outlining Orange County services for families and children.

KOCE has produced about nine “Speakout” call-in programs since 1981 on such topics as alcohol abuse, women’s issues and the environment, Caines said. Several factors conspired to make the timing right for Monday’s show, including KOCE’s broadcast of the seven-part PBS series “Childhood” as well as Children Now’s report, she said.

To measure what issues are of greatest concern to community members, KOCE in mid-October sent 20,000 flyers, printed in English and Spanish, to youth and community service agencies, the United Way, the Orange County Department of Education and elsewhere for redistribution to families. Respondents were asked to pick from some 20 possible topics.

As of last week, about 500 flyers had been returned; of primary concern were, in order: parenting skills, child care and teen-age self-esteem, Caines said.

Steyer called KOCE’s survey results “on target” with the findings of Children Now. More and more people are “looking for help in being better parents,” he said. “I teach school one day a week, and quite frankly many of the parents need parenting skills. Frequently they are not aware of proper nutrition and health care, many lack the resources and knowledge. . . . The single most important institution for children is the family. We put a tremendous amount of emphasis on health care and child care, but we believe the parents have the most critical role to play.”

But can a 90-minute show on a local cable public television station help at all?

Absolutely, he said.

“It’s not CBS Evening News . . . but it’s very important, and we look for any opportunity to get the message out about children. Either we pay now or pay later, and right now we’re paying later and paying tremendous costs--in Orange County and throughout California.”

“Speakout for Children!” will air at 8 p.m. Monday on KOCE Channel 50. A joint presentation of KOCE and Coastline Community College in Huntington Beach. For call-in questions or a free Orange County Youth & Parent resource guide, call (714) 895-5050.