Children still chasing their lost horizons
What I remember most about the place isn’t the neatly aligned wood-and-brick cottages or the well-tended gardens, or even the colorful mosaic tiles that gleamed in the autumn sunlight. What I remember most are the eyes of the children that reflected needs beyond one’s ability to measure.The boys and girls, ages 6 to 12, from broken homes or parentless homes or homes filled with fear and violence, were sent by the courts to Hollygrove, a residential treatment center for children who have become society’s responsibility.
The center sits on 3 1/2 acres off Vine Street in Hollywood, so near and yet so far from the film studios where dreams are made. It began in 1880 as an orphanage in what is now Chinatown and moved to its present location in 1911. Marilyn Monroe, then Norma Jean Baker, was a resident here in the mid-1930s, a frail little girl with a hesitant smile whose visage blends into a wall of pictures down a long hallway.
I visited Hollygrove because it’s partially supported by money from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign. The executive director, Judith Nelson, walked me through the grounds of the home, through its offices and assessment center, its cottages and cafeteria, its playroom and school room. A full-time staff of 157 professionals care for the 68 young people at the center and 30 more in foster homes.
“The children who come here almost always have severe behavioral problems,” Nelson said. She’s a handsome, middle-aged woman with a master’s degree in social work and a law degree. No child passed by that she didn’t speak to and hug. No child passed by whose name she didn’t know. “By the time they get here they’re either extremely angry or withdrawn,” she said. “They’ve been in five or six different places already and have failed, or have been failed by the system.”
The aim of Hollygrove is to give the children hope. Nelson calls it offering them horizons, something beyond their present circumstances. The center works toward giving them normal lives in rehabilitated homes, foster homes or adoptive homes.
One success story involves a shy, withdrawn 12-year-old boy who became interested in theatrical productions put on by the children. He was encouraged to join a show and ended up displaying an extraordinary talent for singing, dancing and acting. This won him a small part in a TV series and, more important, the heart of an actor who has begun adoption proceedings.
“I’ve been criticized for putting the boy ‘in movies,’ ” Nelson said, “but it wasn’t just about choosing a career. It was about giving him choices. Now he has a horizon, where once he had no sunrises at all.”
A cadre of volunteers helps at the home. Some adults become “special friends” of the kids, focusing attention on individual residents of Hollygrove. Grants and donations fuel the center’s $11-million annual budget. Almost 85% of it comes from county, state and federal agencies, and the rest, Nelson said, from “wherever we can find it” -- including monies from the Monroe estate for the care she once received.
Nelson calls Hollygrove a treatment facility, refusing to stigmatize her children as orphans or problem kids. But she teaches as she protects, insisting that both the youngsters and her staff adhere to moral tenets of respect, fairness, caring, responsibility and citizenship, “and the kids watch me like a hawk to make sure I do.”
I think of my 10-year-old grandson, whose eyes glow with a brightness not found in the faces of the lost children at Hollygrove. I can only wish for them what he has -- a family, a home and goals. I wish for them horizons.
Al Martinez’s column appears Mondays and Fridays. He’s at al.martinez@latimes.com.
*
How to give
Donations (checks or money orders) supporting the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign should be sent to: L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File 56986, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6986. Please do not send cash. Credit card donations can be made on the Web site: www.latimes.com/holidaycampaign.
Donations are tax-deductible. Contributions of $25 or more will be acknowledged in The Times unless a donor requests otherwise. Acknowledgment cannot be guaranteed for donations received after Wednesday. Information: (800) LATIMES, Ext. 75771.
