Orangewood Is Running Out of Room

A rise in the county’s population of young people and a continued high rate of child abuse have created a need for a second emergency shelter for abused and neglected children, county officials say. In addition to the new shelter, officials also propose to build a smaller residence for children in Tustin.

A second shelter would augment the services now provided by Orangewood Children’s Home, which was built in Orange 10 years ago to accommodate a maximum of 236 children. But in the past two years, Orangewood has exceeded its limit many times; at one point in June, the shelter housed 314 children, an all-time high.

And the population is going to keep growing. By the year 2000, officials project an average daily residence of 306 to 355 children.

For the new auxiliary shelter, county officials are seeking land at the 4,700-acre El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which the military will vacate in 1999. A newly released county study on the future uses of the base centers on building an international airport, but also includes space for the proposed shelter.

In addition to the shelter site at El Toro, the county also proposes to use four acres at the Tustin Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station for a smaller facility, possibly a group home.

The projects are in the earliest planning stages and the county does not yet know the projected cost of either.

“We still need to decide exactly what kind of facility it’s going to be and how it should best be used,” said Social Services Agency Director Larry Leaman.

“Do we just duplicate Orangewood? Should we make it a facility for teenagers? Do we just send the overflow from Orangewood there? All that still needs to be worked out.”

Both proposals will require the approval of the Pentagon; the county has to submit its proposal by mid-December.

Built as a refuge for children who must be removed from their homes for their own safety, Orangewood was meant to be a temporary stop until children were either reunited with their families or placed in foster homes.

But today, children are staying at Orangewood longer than ever before.

Five years ago, the average stay at Orangewood was 30 days, but because of a dearth of foster homes, children stay 60 days or longer while social workers try to place them.

In addition, the youth population in the county has been increasing, which has translated into larger caseloads for social workers.

“It takes a toll on the children and it’s hard for the staff, too,” said Gene Howard, executive director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation and former director of the Children’s Services section of the Social Services Agency.

“The staff, in my opinion, does an incredible job of dealing with overcrowding situations, but you can’t expect them to keep that up over extended periods of time,” Howard said. “We have to find a solution.”

When the Social Services Agency’s budget was cut because of the county’s December 1994 bankruptcy, many feared overburdened social workers would only take the most serious cases and simply transfer them to Orangewood, swelling its population. But Orangewood did not become overcrowded for that reason--only about 15 children are at the shelter because of bankruptcy-related budget cuts, officials said.

Right now, the shelter is seeing an increase of abused young children.

“We’ve been having high populations for 5- to 7-year-olds for some time, and while the current cottage holds 22 children, by the year 2000, there will be an average daily population of 38,” said Mary Harris, deputy director of Children’s Services and former program manager at Orangewood.

“And the year 2000 is right around the corner,” she added.

The development of a new shelter will mark the third time since 1980 that the county has had to build more space for children in its custody.

Orangewood was built because the county’s first shelter, the Albert Sitton Home, ran out of space. Orangewood was expanded in 1990 to meet the growing population, but has no more land to build upon.

Most of all, the continuing need for more space sends a strong message about the violence and neglect endured by many children in the county, several officials said.

“What it says is that abuse is still there and that the kids who are abused and neglected are being more seriously harmed than before,” Howard said. “It’s evident because the length of stay is increasing that these are kids who are being badly damaged.” Badly abused children often are unable to bond successfully with a foster family and occasionally are returned to Orangewood to await a new placement.

“But I think we do make progress,” Howard said. “If we didn’t have some of the home prevention programs that we have, the situation would be much more serious than it is now. So we are making progress, but you have a ton of societal ills out there and we’re fighting against a huge flow.”

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Troubling Trend Average daily population at Orangewood Children’s Home declined a bit last year after three consecutive increases. The 1995 number, though, is close to the maximum of 236 the home is meant to accommodate. And several times in recent months it has exceeded capacity. The average daily population: *

1991: 158

1992: 196

1993: 207

1994: 243

1995: 231

Source: Orange County Social Services Agency; Researched by LISA RICHARDSON/Los Angeles Times