Crisis-Care Center for Children Hailed

After a decade of planning and a massive $10-million fund-raising drive, Casa Pacifica opened its doors to the public Saturday, revealing a network of bright, airy cottages designed to ease the anxiety of Ventura County’s foster-care children.

Although the crisis center won’t begin taking abused and neglected youths until July 18, a cadre of elected officials and project supporters wandered through the 22-acre Camarillo campus for a midday dedication ceremony and tour Saturday.

“What you see today is the physical evidence of a dream come true,” Richard H. Goodrich, president of the center’s board of directors, told the audience of about 200. “‘What you see before you is a new hope for the children of Ventura County.”

Construction of the facility began last fall, but the project has been in the planning stages for much longer. Elected officials and local business people combined forces to found the center and have committed to a joint effort to keep it running.

“There were times in the early morning hours when I wondered how to do it, but I never doubted we could do it,” said Supervisor Susan K. Lacey, who has been involved in the project since its inception.

Sandwiched between rows of Camarillo citrus orchards and farmlands, the campus redwood barn-style buildings and vast green lawns are meant to communicate a feeling of freedom and comfort.

The goal envisioned by Casa Pacifica’s planners was to create a safe haven for troubled children, while easing the burden on Ventura County’s crisis-care system.

Now, abused children are taken from their families and placed in foster homes. From there, they are shuttled to hospitals, counselors or sometimes the police.

Casa Pacifica is designed to change that process. The campus is set up as both an emergency shelter for children and a residential home for older youths who have exhausted the foster-care system.

The system is designed to reduce children’s stress by bringing social workers, police and counselors to them. The children will leave only for court appearances.

“It’s very exciting,” said Judy Adams, a social worker with the county’s children’s protective services agency. “Once we put the kids here, we know they’re going to stay here.”

Meandering through the new buildings, Adams talked about the frustrations she’s had over the past eight years wrestling with the county’s existing foster-care system.

“I’ve had to split up kids or place them (in a home) in the middle of the night,” she said. “This is going to relieve those anxieties. We can focus more on the children because we know there’s a place.”

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Adams said the recent incident in which a 6-year-old boy accidentally shot his 3-year-old brother while playing with a shotgun was a classic example of how a facility such as Casa Pacifica would have helped ease a problematic crisis-care situation.

The 6-year-old and three siblings were taken into custody by protective services after Wednesday’s shooting. The 3-year-old remains in stable condition at Ventura County Medical Center.

The county managed to keep the siblings together, but they had to be moved from one foster home to another. Casa Pacifica would allow the children to stay put, Adams said.

“I thought, ‘Thank God for Casa Pacifica because we won’t have to do this anymore,’ ” she said.

Casa Pacifica administrators have strived to make their campus as warm and welcoming as possible for the temporary and long-term children who will be staying there.

While the bedrooms in the four cottages are Spartan--containing only a bed, desk and closet--they are adjacent to a spacious central living room decorated with colorful posters and beanbag chairs.

With 85 beds, Casa Pacifica will house about 60 children and 25 babies and toddlers at any given time. Administrators expect to care for more than 500 youngsters each year.

Executive Director Steven E. Elson said he expects eight children, four girls and four boys to arrive July 18. By August, he said, Casa Pacifica should be housing about 24 youths.

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In his speech during the dedication ceremony, Elson said Casa Pacifica would be a place where children’s disturbing stories would be told, and new, happier tales born.

“We will hear the stories of 500 children each year,” Elson said. “The story of 10-year-old Maria who has been raped by her cousin . . . the story of Sara, a 4-year-old who has been beaten.

“And as they tell their stories, our task is going to be to add a different chapter,” he said.