Children’s Ward at Metropolitan

Regarding your Nov. 9 story about the children’s treatment program at Metropolitan State Hospital: As a former supervisor of the same program while it was at Camarillo State Hospital, I find myself still marveling at the attitude of so many of those who claim for themselves the noble title of child advocate. In my 20 years at Camarillo, I never knew a single advocate--not a court-appointed guardian, psychiatrist, attorney or other expert--willing to extend his or her repeated concern for the indescribably shattered children entrusted to our care to the extent of taking one home and providing the comforts and security of a middle- or upper-middle-class environment. Our treatment team encountered hundreds of caring volunteers over the years and I don’t mean to suggest that none of the advocates I knew cared about the children: I do mean to suggest that none of them would have stayed around more than 10 minutes after having been beaten severely around the head by a tragically disturbed child who was striking out at the only target he or she could get to.

The frightening truth is that there seems to be no end in sight to the growing epidemic of wildly dysfunctional families and parents incapable of parenthood. The pious “shock” registered after a visit to a place with traditionally inadequate resources and a nearly hopeless charge does little to advance a remedy.

TOM CONSIDINE

Grover Beach

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Your informative article about Metropolitan Hospital’s new children’s psychiatric unit neglected a vital bit of quantitative data: the staff-to-patient ratio. That basic statistic provides the foundation on which quality can be built.

SAUL ISAAC HARRISON

Pacific Palisades