Orangewood Kids Deserve Better

As I read “Overcrowding Cripples O.C. Children’s Shelter” (April 2), I kept thinking that the antiabortion, right-to-life groups should be so concerned about this terrible situation. They who so stridently support and demand that all children, no matter what the circumstances awaiting them, be born and be respected as human beings have the opportunity and the responsibility to make certain that not only at the moment of birth but as dependent human beings the children receive the care that they are alive and respected.

How wonderful and truly Christian it would be to see religious denominations, right-to-life organizations and caring people in Orange County contribute heavily to Orangewood. Then and only then would they really be complete and sincere and honest right-to-lifers.

It is so easy to care about an unborn baby, but so hard to take care of a real, living child. God help all of us to see the needy as real, live, respected creations of God. Then may God help us to help them.

MARY ANN SHEWMAN

Placentia

* May I suggest the gentlemen who intend to spend millions of dollars leveling the infamous house in Rancho Santa Fe and building a larger, more opulent mansion on the property spend their money enlarging and refurbishing Orangewood, Orange County’s home for abused, neglected and abandoned children.

There are 289 children crammed into a facility that was designed hold a maximum of 236. Toddlers are sleeping in the foyer of a gym. A conference room has been converted into a bedroom. Social workers and child-care employees are frantically doing their best for these children, but must be overwhelmed and overworked. Surely our abused, abandoned and neglected children deserve better.

The county’s Juvenile Hall is also overcrowded. With the proper facility, care and intervention, most of these teenagers could be saved from future lives of crime and destitution. If a sense of morality and ethics cannot sway the judgment of society, then the economics of caring for these children now as opposed to the cost of incarcerating them in our prison system later should influence present decision making.

Given these facts, I sincerely request that these multimillionaires reconsider spending money to “save” Rancho Santa Fe and instead save our children.

CLAIRE CRAIG

Anaheim

* Re “Children of Orangewood Need Public Help Again,” April 8 editorial:

Without a doubt, the children of Orangewood are in need of help. In addition to the children currently at Orangewood, there are hundreds of children in the care of other public and private nonprofit agencies who also need help. Without support from the public, it seems that there will never be an abundance of resources for agencies to care for children in need.

As an organization that is dedicated to preventing child abuse, Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children is doing everything in its power to care for at-risk children and their families in our community. But we are only as strong as the commitment level of our volunteers and supporters. Currently, Olive Crest operates over 20 residential group homes, a licensed foster family agency, an intensive residential treatment center and a school, all of which would not exist without involvement from the community.

Our children are what’s important. From a front-end organization like the Child Abuse Prevention Council to a county shelter like Orangewood, to a nonprofit agency with more long-term care like Olive Crest, there are numerous players in the fight against child abuse, each of them equivalent in their need for caring volunteers.

In observance of this National Child Abuse Prevention Month, I encourage people to help by giving a donation, becoming a foster parent, volunteering their time or just passing the word along about child abuse. After all, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

DONALD VERLEUR

CEO, Olive Crest Homes &

Services for Abused Children

* If Orangewood Children’s Home is running out of room for Orange County’s abused and neglected children, the blame, in my opinion, goes to the bureaucrats in charge of finding real homes for these children.

Orangewood’s standards for foster parents are stringent enough to frustrate a saint. To become foster parents to older children and adolescents (often difficult to place), Orangewood requires couples to baby-proof their homes! Additionally, teens are not allowed to be without adult supervision ever (not even during a quick run to the grocery store), even if they are going on 18.

Such regulations contribute to the two-inch-high pile of paperwork foster parents must complete before being considered for the fostering task.

I’m acquainted with an otherwise childless foster couple who tried--through Orangewood--to meet the legal requirements to become foster care providers to a 13-year-old family friend who needed a home. Like any teen, this one was required to help out with some household chores. Orangewood made the couple put their cleaning supplies out of reach of the adolescent, complicating his ability to clean the kitchen.

The absurd rules have nudged out this and other foster parents who don’t want to deal with [that] bureaucracy.

The children of Orangewood are being strangled in Orangewood’s own red tape.

BEA TIRITILLI

Santa Ana