Camarillo Children’s Center Gets Leader

A La Crescenta man has been named executive director of a $10-million Camarillo facility for abused and neglected children.

Steven Elson, 48, now executive director of an Altadena residential facility for abused and neglected boys, was selected from among 110 applicants to head Casa Pacifica, which is scheduled to open in late spring.

Elson, who will begin work at the Camarillo facility March 1, holds a doctorate in counseling psychology from Michigan State University. He has headed the Altadena facility the past nine years and is president of California Mental Health Advocates for Children and Youth.

Casa Pacifica is expected to provide shelter and psychological help to an estimated 300 to 500 neglected children each year in Ventura County.

Currently, neglected or abused children are housed in various county facilities until they enter a foster home. Once Casa Pacifica is open, they will be housed there until they are reunited with their families or enter foster care.

Elson said Casa Pacifica, conceived nearly a decade ago, could become an example nationwide of how the private and public sectors can work together.

“I think that given that kind of partnership between the public and the private sector, it has a potential not only to serve the neglected children and their families, but it may also create some kind of national model so other communities will know how it can be done,” Elson said.

Casa Pacifica will be hiring additional staff members in April.