A Calming Place for Kids in Need : Shelter: Casa Pacifica is the only county facility that consolidates basic services for foster care under one roof.

Lessons go smoothly most days in Kathy McAndrews’ classroom at Casa Pacifica, Ventura County’s shelter for abused and neglected children.

But there have been trying times since the shelter opened five months ago, McAndrews said. Like the day a 9-year-old boy started crying, saying he missed his father.

Then the child next to him started sniffling. Before long, all 10 students were sobbing, she said. Continuing with the lesson would be futile, McAndrews decided.

So she stopped academics and encouraged the children to instead make colorful cards for the person they missed the most. That diversion helped restore order and allowed the children to funnel their fears and sadness in a positive way, McAndrews said.

Such flexibility is necessary in a place where children are often overwhelmed by emotions brought on by years of physical abuse and neglect in the home, McAndrews said.

And despite the chaos at home, many children want to stay with parents rather than be placed in a shelter where they do not know anyone.

“Right now, their lives are in turmoil,” she said. “And I want this classroom to feel safe, to be a place that is all for them.”

From the time a child enters Casa Pacifica--often in the middle of the night, scared and alone--a team of psychologists, nurses, teachers and administrators works to make the child feel cared for and safe, spokeswoman Tanya Gonzales said.

Casa Pacifica’s staff has embraced that philosophy since the shelter opened July 18 in a park-like campus near southern Camarillo, Gonzales said. Already, the center averages 50 children in residence, approaching its capacity of 74, she said.

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Casa Pacifica is the only facility in the county for children that consolidates all basic services--food, shelter, medical screenings, counseling and schooling--in one place, said Frank Ferratta, director of protective services for the county’s social welfare department.

In the past, foster children in Ventura County were shuttled from one home to another as they awaited the outcome of custody decisions made by the courts and social workers, he said.

“The whole point of this place is to reduce the number of foster homes a child has to go through when they are taken from their parents,” Ferratta said.

A special family meeting room, which is gated and closely monitored by Casa Pacifica staff, also makes it easier to arrange meetings between parents and their children, Ferratta said.

To give the center a homey feel, children sleep in four spacious redwood buildings outfitted with single beds, toys, games, beanbag chairs and a common eating area. Staffers call the buildings cottages.

The shelter also has its own classrooms, a medical clinic, gymnasium and pool. A cheerful nursery houses infants.

For some of the kids, Casa Pacifica will be their home this Christmas. Staff members said they plan to decorate the cottages, prepare special meals and give gifts to children who cannot leave the campus over the holidays.

“It’s not a home, but the staff tries its best to make it a homelike setting,” said Jerome Smith, who oversees the children’s daily schedules and education.

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The shelter operates two programs. Children who are removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or abandonment are placed in the emergency shelter program.

Children, ages infant to 17, remain in the shelter program up to 45 days. During that time, the extent of their physical and emotional damage is assessed. Therapists also work with the child and their parents in the hope of reuniting the family.

If the child cannot safely be returned home, the child is placed with a foster family for long-term care, Smith said.

The residential treatment program is designed for youths ages 11 to 17 who have already exhausted the foster care system. Children in residential care stay up to 18 months and receive intensive therapy because many of them suffer severe emotional problems or learning disabilities, Smith said.

No matter which program they are in, the children follow roughly the same daily schedule, Smith said. They rise at 6:30 a.m., take turns showering, clean their rooms and eat breakfast, he said.

The morning meal is followed by a brief meeting where the children and their therapists discuss what they are going to do for the day. At 8:30, school-age children report to their classrooms.

Casa Pacifica operates two schools, one funded by the county superintendent of schools office and one by the shelter itself. The first is for kindergarten through sixth grade. The Casa Pacifica school is for upper grades.

At 2:30 p.m., school lets out and the children take part in activities--from dance and exercise classes to cooking lessons and other home arts classes, Smith said.

“I have several kids who are learning needlepoint,” he said. “It’s a very calming, relaxing activity.”

After dinner, children can go on outings accompanied by a counselor or choose to attend other evening activities arranged by the staff, Smith said. Therapists are always on hand to answer the children’s questions, from when they will be allowed to return home to the proper way to eat a meal.

“You’d be surprised how many kids have not eaten off a tablecloth,” Smith said. “They don’t have the social skills. It’s been either McDonald’s or nothing at all.”

Security is a top concern at Casa Pacifica. Locked steel fences surround the campus. Visitors are issued badges and are closely monitored.

Casa Pacifica also imposes a set of house rules for the children: no long phone calls, no physical contact with the opposite sex, no smoking, no leaving the shelter without a chaperon.

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It is a difficult adjustment for some, particularly older children who have had little or no parental supervision before arriving at the shelter.

Michael, 16, who has been in and out of foster care since he was 4, has been at Casa Pacifica since it opened. He doesn’t like the rules, Michael said, but acknowledges they are necessary to keep order.

“If we didn’t have rules, this place would go nuts,” he said one recent day in a library at the shelter.

Michael said he has trouble controlling his temper, but therapists at the center are helping him.

“When I’m about to get angry, I take a walk or go to my room,” the teen-ager said.

Michael recently told counselors that he wanted to get rid of some gang-related tattoos on his body. And he said he hopes to eventually return to his foster family in Ventura County.

While older children tend to chafe at the restrictions placed on them, many of the younger ones welcome the structure, McAndrews said.

Eight-year-old Troy is one who said he likes living at Casa Pacifica. He and his 10-year-old brother, Jimmy, were removed from their Ventura County home after authorities suspected that they had been beaten, McAndrews said.

Troy sat hunched over his desk one recent day, using a small calculator to work mathematics problems. Beside his desk sat a colorful yarn weaving the boy had made in an earlier art class.

“I kinda like it here,” Troy said. “I can make things that my mom can’t throw away.”