Youth Placements Being Reviewed in Wake of Slaying

Citing last week’s alleged slaying of a 12-year-old group home resident by two much older youths, county officials said Tuesday that they are reviewing every case in which a youngster under 15 has been placed in a similar facility.

Acting Chief Probation Officer Walter J. Kelly told the Board of Supervisors that Rodney Haynes Jr.’s death highlighted potential problems in the county’s placement of troubled youths in such group homes, and promised a sweeping reconsideration of all current policies--and a host of improvements.

“Believe me, when we come back next, we will have enhancements,” Kelly told concerned supervisors, who had summoned him to answer questions about the case. “Clearly our business is one of life and death, on occasion, and this kind of tragedy focuses us on that even more.

“It is an event that we need to look very closely at,” Kelly added, “and we are taking a very close look.”

Haynes reportedly sneaked out of the Passageway group home for troubled teenagers in Calabasas the night of Aug. 26 with two boys, ages 16 and 17. Several hours later, he was found in a trash bin, apparently beaten to death with a rock and a stick.

The two teenagers, who are alleged to have admitted beating Haynes because they didn’t like his attitude, have been charged with murder. On Tuesday, prosecutors said they will seek to try the juvenile defendants as adults, but will not seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors said they want the youths prosecuted as adults “based on the information in the police reports and the criminal code,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Taklender. “Basically we looked at the seriousness of the offense and the age of the minors.”

The suspects had been scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at Sylmar Juvenile Hall, but that proceeding was delayed for 24 hours to give defense attorneys time to prepare their cases.

Since the slaying, probation officials have done a top-to-bottom assessment of their system for placing potentially thousands of troubled teenagers in such community homes. Such placements are done most often to avoid incarcerating youngsters in overcrowded county-run juvenile halls.

One particular concern, Kelly said, is whether probation officials know enough about the occupants of a group home before sending a juvenile there. Because of the need to accelerate such placements, many probation placement officers don’t know the ages of the other occupants or their backgrounds, which may include criminal activities, Kelly said.

That appears to be the case with the deputies who placed Haynes at Passageway, Kelly told the supervisors. “I believe the deputy in question did not [have that information],” he said, “and that’s an ingredient we need to enhance.”

Probation officials were still reviewing Haynes’ placement, however. “I know the deputy interviewed the 12-year-old,” Kelly said. “I do not know yet if the deputy knew who the other children in the home were.”

In the wake of the slaying, county officials have placed Passageway on a “non-referral” status, and will not send any youngsters there until an internal investigation is complete. But Kelly said that the home appears to have received good evaluations in the past for its work with children, and that there is “no substantive reason” to think the facility has significant problems.

Kelly also said he is rescinding a “budget-driven” proposal to have his placement officers handle as many as 100 cases each, rather than the usual 50, to make sure they don’t rush such assessments and put youngsters at risk.

Kelly, who recently took the helm after the retirement of longtime probation director Barry Nidorf, promised to report back to the supervisors as early as next week on the status of his internal investigation into both the Haynes case--and on how much change is required in the apparatus for placing youngsters in community homes.

The system works well, and has placed tens of thousands of children in safe environments, Kelly said. But, he added, there are clearly some problems that need to be addressed, especially as more and more youths come into the county’s care with drug, alcohol and emotional problems, criminal backgrounds and street gang affiliations.

Some of those problems are the direct result of two Probation Department policies that Kelly said Tuesday are now under review.

One allows “age mixing,” such as in the Haynes case. Critics have castigated the Probation Department for placing the 12-year-old with the older youths, one of whom weighs 200 pounds. Haynes was only 4 feet 10 inches tall and weighed barely 85 pounds.

County officials have cited state guidelines that say placement should focus on the severity of the offense and the needs of the offender, rather than on age.

But Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Kelly both said Tuesday they were concerned that age mixing might subject younger children to potential abuse. Within the week, Kelly said, he hopes to have an assessment of the more than 540 cases in which youngsters under the age of 15 have been placed in community homes.

Some of those children could be reassigned; Kelly said the department is considering grouping children by age.

Kelly also pledged a countywide review of all community homes to assess the level of mingling of juvenile delinquents--who have committed crimes--with juvenile “dependents,” who are the victims of abuse and neglect. Burke said those situations can be potentially disastrous as well.