Locked Facilities for Disturbed Kids

Re “State Moves to Create Locked Foster Homes,” May 19: The sad fact is that some children exhibit behavior that is so dangerous to themselves or to those around them that they require the kinds of interventions that are included in the Community Treatment Facility regulations.

Kids who need this level of care are now being sent to locked facilities out of state, leaving parents and child welfare officials with little or no ability to monitor their care. As one among many who has been involved in the development of these regulations, I know that every possible measure has been taken to ensure the safety and to protect the rights of any child who might be placed in a CTF. I have no such confidence about the programs that these children are being sent to now.

NINA M. GRAYSON

Interim Executive Director

California Assn. of Services

for Children, Sacramento

* As staff to my predecessor, Assemblyman Tom Bates, I worked on legislation to create Community Treatment Facilities for children with severe mental health needs. These facilities are intended to incorporate secured perimeters and locked doors in order to protect the children. The legislation includes protections to ensure that chil- dren’s rights are not violated. I have never advocated placing foster children in leather restraints and would argue that restraints are an ineffective treatment option.

There is a place for secured facilities within the continuum of care for severely emotionally disturbed children. My position continues to be that these facilities should be used as an attempt to treat a child before sending him or her to a more restrictive facility such as a psychiatric hospital.

DION S. ARONER

Assembly, D-Berkeley