Troubled Children Find Help and a Home at Canyon Acres

The 6-year-old blond bundle of giggles eagerly grabs a hand and walks through the room in a game to which only she knows the rules.

But she wasn’t playing earlier this year when she swallowed a handful of broken glass while slashing her arms with the remaining shards.

“She’s 6 and she’s been in and out of psychiatric treatment,” said Clete Menke, executive director of Canyon Acres Children’s Services, which now cares for the girl. The nonprofit agency in Anaheim Hills handles some of the most emotionally disturbed and abused children in Orange County.

The Holiday Campaign of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund raises money for groups like Canyon Acres. The agencies helped by the campaign provide a range of services, including programs to prevent drug abuse and violence, teen parenting education and early childhood literacy programs, and aid for abused children.

“It may sound shocking to you,” Menke said of the 6-year-old. “But unfortunately, her case is not that uncommon.”

Her case begins with a home broken by domestic violence and a journey through the county’s foster care system starting when she was 3 months old, until the suicide attempt this year at a group home landed her in the hospital and eventually at Canyon Acres.

The group receives some of the toughest cases to wind their way through the county’s Department of Children’s Services, which contracts with the agency. The children at Canyon Acres have proved too much for foster families and other group homes. About two-thirds of Canyon Acres’ children, Menke said, have been placed at six or more group homes or with foster families before they reach his agency.

At the group’s residential treatment center tucked in a canyon of Anaheim Hills, 60 staff members, including child psychologists, feed, clothe, educate and treat 30 boys and girls aged 6 to 12.

The 4.5-acre complex, called “the ranch,” resembles a summer camp more than a home for troubled children. There is a pool, a playground and even a stable with four horses that are used for therapy sessions to teach children to ride and care for the animals--care being the key word.

“They are always testing this notion of love,” Menke said. “They’ve been shuffled around so many times, they have a hard time trusting anyone. They are always asking, ‘How long will you last?’ ”

Taking on such challenges requires a decidedly even keel. One recent morning, as a small group of children prepared for lunch, a 10-year-old girl stormed from the table and into her room. She slammed her door shut, once, twice, three times, four. A staff employee calmly approached her room. Minutes later, they emerged and the girl joined the others at the table.

There, the 6-year-old blond girl, who had just been dragging a staffer around by the hand, was happily nibbling on a quesadilla. Next to her, an 11-year-old boy was writing a letter to his mother.

“Dear Mom,” he wrote. “Merry Christmas. I miss you.”

The letter was to his previous adoptive mother. He had lived with her for most of his life, but a recent family tragedy had made her unable to care for him anymore. He has been adopted by another family and will soon move to his new home.

“He’s one of the lucky ones,” said Junelle Cummins, the center’s morning supervisor.”Still, he’s having a hard time making that next step.”

The boy is among seven children adopted from the agency this year. Last year, five were adopted. Every year about 85 children go through Canyon Acres, which also runs two smaller homes in Anaheim Hills for children in transition from the ranch to foster family care. The agency also recruits and trains foster families in a continuous effort to move children to a family environment.

During its 20 years, Canyon Acres has attracted support from many local donors. They help the group with free services and, at this time of the year, enough toys and other presents to turn the agency’s office into a veritable Santa’s shop.

Nonetheless, “when Christmastime comes, it can be hard for our children,” Menke said. “For most of the kids it is just the end of yet another year that they are not home. . . . They would trade all the toys for a family and a home.”

Meanwhile, Canyon Acres provides the only stable home many of these children have ever known. The agency receives state and county funding for most of its $5.5-million annual budget, Menke said, but it still comes up short about $600,000 to $700,000, which must be made up by donations.

The current economic downturn worries Menke. “It will be a challenge,” he said. “But we’ll keep pressing on.”

Last year, the Times’ holiday appeal raised $35,787, including matching funds from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, for five charities in the five-county Southern California region.

The Holiday Campaign was established last year after the Los Angeles Times merged with Tribune Co. It is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, which includes The Times’ long-running summer camp program.

The McCormick Tribune Foundation will match the first $500,000 in donations at 50 cents on the dollar, and the Los Angeles Times will absorb all administrative costs for the campaign.

THE TIMES HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN

Tax-deductible gifts: Donations (checks or money orders) should be sent to L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File No. 56491, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6491. Please do not send cash. Credit card donations can be made at: https://www.latimes.com/holidaycampaign. Contributions of $25 or more will be acknowledged in The Times unless a donor requests otherwise. For more information about the Holiday Campaign call (800) 528-4637 (LA TIMES), ext. 75480.