ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : More Help for the Helpless

The death of a 6-week-old boy at Orangewood Children’s Home this week was saddening, but it was also remarkable for being the first death there since the complex opened eight years ago.

Health officials said the baby died of sudden infant death syndrome, a condition that kills 40 or more children in the county each year and for which no effective screening has been developed.

Orangewood is the county’s only emergency shelter for neglected and abused children. Given the poor physical conditions of many of the children admitted each year, especially the younger ones, it is a sign of the staff’s care and expertise that there has been only one death.

But there is a troubling aspect to Orangewood: the increasing length of stay of children taken there. It’s a subject that the County Board of Supervisors has wisely agreed to have studied.

Orangewood had 164 beds when it opened, replacing the 88-bed Albert Sitton Home. Over the years, it has added buildings and now has beds for 235 children. When that number is exceeded, the staff has to scramble to find cribs and cots. Overcrowding also cuts down on the time workers can spend with children who desperately need attention and help. And the average stay at the facility has increased from 25 days six years ago to the current 33 days.

The planned nine-month study, whose director is likely to be chosen next week, will look into whether children are being correctly screened to limit admission to those really in need of an emergency shelter. If more children can be placed with foster parents, it will benefit both them and the ones remaining at Orangewood, who can get more individual care. The county has far fewer foster parents than it needs, and it must aggressively recruit new ones.

Orangewood remains a fine example of private-public cooperation. Private donors contributed the $8 million needed to build the complex and the county provided the land. It requires help now from the county to see that the children brought there get the care and counseling they need.