Report Urges Reforms at Casa Pacifica

County officials recommended sweeping changes for Casa Pacifica on Monday, including new licensing regulations to care for the county’s abused and neglected children and closure of the facility’s infant care center.

These are two of the 35 recommendations in the Children’s Services System work group report, the result of two months of digging into the facility’s emergency shelter and residential treatment program.

The work group, consisting of seven county officials from the departments of Behavioral Health, the Chief Administrative Office and the Public Social Services Agency, was formed at the direction of the Board of Supervisors to review the system of care for abused and abandoned children in Ventura County.

The report indicated that state regulations impede Casa Pacifica’s ability to treat children with serious emotional and behavioral problems and recommends the Board of Supervisors and Casa Pacifica board members begin immediately to work with state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) to develop legislation “to correct and revise outdated and counterproductive licensing regulations.”

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The report urges that infants under 24 months no longer be placed in Casa Pacifica but instead be placed directly in approved foster homes. Exceptions would be if the infant had special needs that could not be met in a foster home or if an older sibling were placed in the emergency shelter and it proved beneficial to keep the family members together.

Despite recent criticism of the facility, the report states Casa Pacifica is widely recognized as a state-of-the-art model of comprehensive care.

Recently, the state Department of Social Services recommended revocation of Casa Pacifica’s license, citing inadequate supervision and inappropriate disciplinary measures. And the county’s grand jury report concluded that the facility is hindered by problems in funding, design and regulations.

Other work group recommendations include:

* Adopt the name Casa Pacifica Crisis Care and Treatment Center because the current characterization of the facility as a group home or shelter is inaccurate and has contributed to misunderstanding of the needs of the children and level of services required.

* Explore the cost of remodeling cottages, rather than building an additional one, to enable better segregation of children by age, gender and behavioral problems.

* Add $92,000 to increase intensive staff supervision for safety watches when children pose a danger to themselves or others.

* Increase other financial support through a $400,000 loan from the county to cover a portion of an anticipated $645,000 operations deficit this year.

* Increase the number of staff that Child Protective Services has on-site at Casa Pacifica to develop the potential of the facility as a hub of the system.

* Clearly define in a written agreement the role of each agency involved with Casa Pacifica, including Public Social Services Agency, the Behavioral Health Department, the County Superintendent of Schools and the Health Care Agency.

The report also recommends that several committees be developed, including a Casa Pacifica oversight committee to monitor staff performance, finances and children’s progress, on-site clinical staff to screen referrals and discharges, and a foster-care program to expand opportunities for foster parents to participate in the system.

“There will also be a process so that if any kind of problems or disagreements occur, we have a method in place for dealing with this,” said Barbara Fitzgerald, social services agency interim director.

The Board of Supervisors will consider the recommendations on July 15. If the report is approved, various county and Casa Pacifica officials would be charged with implementing these recommendations.

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“It is essentially the hope that these recommendations will facilitate Child Protective Services, Mental Health, Casa Pacifica and foster parents to work more closely and effectively, and that’s really the overall objective of having a system to start with,” said Randy Feltman, co-chair of the work group from the Chief Administrative Office. “We want to help these agencies, who have very difficult jobs to begin with, to be successful.”

Foster parents and mental health and social workers should also review the suggestions so that “everyone involved in the system can make sure that everyone can buy into this plan and then start working on accomplishing those steps,” said Fitzgerald, who is recommending the county extend its contract with Casa Pacifica for another four months.

“It would simply extend the existing agreement until the board makes some decisions about Casa Pacifica as a whole,” Fitzgerald said.

The supervisors will decide today whether to heed Fitzgerald’s recommendation.