California surplus

Whenever I have a chance I make my way to the Program Director’s office. A cadre of staff manages an array of issues like tracking transportation, coordinating visits, and dealing with residents in crisis. More often than not when I visit during my late morning rounds, I find at least one of our residents at the PD’s office, who although enrolled in one of the area’s public schools, is never-the-less not able to attend school that day. Inevitably something has happened at school that accounts for their absence. It may be because of disruptive behavior or even feigned illness, but what is clear in speaking to these children is that something is not right. Many tell of being bullied or having been ignored.

The irony is that Hillsides has its own school where the majority of our residents attend classes every day in spite of the significant challenges they experience. Clearly, if the comprehensive and individualized instruction we offer is not required for a resident, he or she is better served in a more appropriate and less restrictive environment. However, conversations with our “expelled” residents from public schools convince me that it is a stretch for the local public school system to adequately address their needs.

All things being equal, the public school system attempts to address the needs of its foster care students. However, education for children who have been traumatized is best provided by teachers and other education staff who have a keen awareness of the emotional challenges the students face. Most public schools systems, while equipped to provide a good education, are at a loss to fund the many ancillary services that are necessary to make education a successful experience for these children.

Much is being written about the budget surplus in California nowadays. Recently, the Los Angeles Times weighed in supporting the Governor’s proposal to allocate funds to education as a result of the surplus. A formula is being proposed by the Governor that provides additional funding to school districts that serve “disadvantaged populations.” The problem, however, is school districts are given the discretion to use these funds as they see fit without safeguards to assure that the funds will be used to address the needs of these “disadvantaged” students.

By any definition, public education in California has been the object of draconian cuts in the last several years. Certainly to the extent that there is indeed a reliable surplus, funding should be restored to public education. However, I would be remiss if I did not advocate that funds specifically designated to serve certain populations should do just that.

It is bad enough that public education has been woefully underfunded. It would only add insult to injury if funds that are now being restored to the public school system short change the students who need it most.

Celebrities Step Up for Kids in Foster Care

May is Foster Care Awareness Month and it is important for us to make note of the more than 500,000 children nationally and 35,000 locally who are served through the foster care system and receive child welfare services. These numbers are especially overwhelming when you consider how difficult it is for a child to be separated from family and those things that are most familiar. A day for a child can seem like an eternity, let alone weeks, months, and years apart from family.

The decision to separate a family is a difficult one to make, but there are circumstances that warrant such a drastic action. For the children impacted by these decisions, we must provide safe, caring alternatives that are responsive to their needs and dedicated to their best interest. The foster care system at its best does just this and serves as an indispensable resource for both child and family to get through a challenging time.

The foster care system is often the focus of negative press. Inevitably the failure of an individual foster parent or an organization serving foster children can skew the community’s perspective of how effective foster care is. The truth, however, is that the vast majority of children and families served through the child welfare system appreciate how essential these services are in order to assure safety, well-being, and ultimately a stable future.

There is never enough we can do for these children, youth, and families, and as a result what we offer must be the best. No one organization can take on the responsibility of being such a resource without the extraordinary support of a generous community.

Once again during this month of celebrating foster care awareness, Hillsides is promoting a unique and fun way of generating much-needed support for the services we offer to children, youth, and families. This fundraiser, the Fifth Annual Hillsides Foster Soles, is an online auction of celebrity autographed items. The auction was launched on Wednesday, May 22, with a cocktail reception at Bar Celona in Pasadena. Co-chairing this event is Dr. Drew and Susan Pinsky, who have been supporting us for years and stepped right up to garner celebrity support for the auction.

Celebrity items can be viewed on eBay. The auction will last through the first week of June as we are continuing to list celebrity items throughout the weekend. To learn more about the auction, visit our website, www.hillsides.org. I encourage you to share this event with your family and friends. It’s an easy way to support what we do, bid on a few items you may want or give a gift to someone.

End of the cycle

There was not a dry eye in the room as a former resident, Walter Ramirez, shared his experience as a young boy at Hillsides 20 years ago. He spoke very compellingly of the impact that staff and volunteers had on him during his two-year stay here. He described his behavior as oppositional and defiant, but in spite of his problematic behavior, what he received in return was understanding, patience, and the opportunity to move beyond his anger.

Now successfully employed and the father of a 14 year old, he is dedicated to providing for his son all that he was denied as a youth. As he said to volunteers gathered for a biannual appreciation celebration, “the cycle ends with me.”

While the Los Angeles Times features articles focusing on the inadequacies and deficiencies of the foster care system, Walter’s story is one of success against all odds. Perhaps the most moving testimony he offered was that while he was at Hillsides he was so impressed by the care offered by staff and volunteers that he felt loved for the first time.

His ability to know that he was loved and to love in return was the greatest gift Hillsides offered him, a gift that has endured through these many subsequent years. His gratefulness is expressed in his efforts to be a loving and responsible dad to his son and to volunteer in his own community so that other young people like him might in return know the gift of kind, patient, and dedicated adults.

Studies show that the greatest differentiating factor pointing to success for children in the foster care system is an adult who can offer a stable, caring presence in their lives. This sense of unconditional love becomes the sustaining force that allows a child to manage the challenges and vulnerabilities of life with a sense of hope.

It was wonderful to have Walter share his story because it encouraged the many volunteers to persevere and know that what they do makes a difference in the lives of those we serve.

Never underestimate the contribution that you can make and how the memories created endure and serve as a touchstone in life. Hillsides is blessed with a strong and diverse volunteer core. Over and over again, I hear residents speak of their special friend or mentor and how they enjoy the time spent with them.

The needs are great and the presence of a dedicated volunteer community allows us to go beyond the limitations imposed by fiscal constraints to create significant memories for very vulnerable children and youth. The memories created are all pathways to hopeful futures. Please consider volunteering at Hillsides. For more information, please contact Laura Kelso at 323.254.2274 ext. 251.

Essential nursing

Ninety-five percent of the children in our Residential Treatment Services are admitted with some sort of psychotropic medication. A number of effective medications help children and adolescents address some of the behavioral challenges they confront. In spite of the effectiveness of these medications, our overall approach is to help our residents become less dependent on medication. Through the use of some cognitive therapies and a supportive environment, we are able to help our residents to rely less on medication.

That being said, medication is an essential part of the treatment we offer. Each resident is treated by a psychiatrist, and medications are dispensed by the nursing staff. All staff are educated on the effects of these medications and taught to recognize symptoms that might be associated with particular regiments of treatment. Our Residential Treatment Services is an ideal setting to determine the effectiveness of certain medications in combination with an array of interactive therapies.

In this kind of an environment nursing staff are indispensable. We are very fortunate to have a cadre of nurses that are essential members of our treatment teams. Not only do they oversee the use of medications, but they provide a great deal of education and support to our residents, from addressing childhood maladies to sensitive issues concerning pregnancy prevention. This integrated and comprehensive approach to care is absolutely essential to assure the overall well-being of those we serve.

Given that this kind of nursing care is a fundamental part of the treatment we offer children in the foster care system, it was somewhat surprising to see cited in a recent Los Angeles Times article on foster care that teenage girls living in foster care were two and a half times more likely to become pregnant by the age of 19. Avoiding teenage pregnancies is a complex and challenging issue, in a particular way for youngsters in the foster care system. It requires more than just education, but an orchestrated approach to address the emotional and behavioral issues that places adolescents, who have been traumatized, at risk of pregnancies.

No system of care can effectively address this issue without the support of many caregivers who collectively lift up a vulnerable adolescent and provide the resources to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. One of those indispensable caregivers for us at Hillsides is each member of our nursing staff. So in a particular way on this National Nurses week, we acknowledge the tremendous contribution they make to assure that those we care for are empowered and prepared to make better, healthier choices after experiencing trauma.

True foster care

Hillsides benefits from an extraordinarily generous community that supports our many initiatives to better serve those for whom we care. Recently, I was touring a group of representatives from a foundation that we had solicited. In the course of the visit, we ran into one of our residents. As I greeted him, he asks who these visitors were and took the initiative to introduce himself to them. I am always careful to conduct these tours in a way that protects the privacy and anonymity of our residents; however, this kind of unsolicited encounter is always great. Inevitably it is an opportunity to explain to guests the kinds of children we serve, their needs, and the services we offer. More importantly, the freedom of a child to approach any guest and introduce themselves is an indicator of how comfortable they are and how they perceive the organization as their own.

Contrast this to the recent article in the Los Angeles Times. The exposé of a small group home facility portrayed foster care services negatively.  Clearly, some organizations fail to meet the standards required to become a quality provider of foster care services. The existence of such an organization is inexcusable. Given the scrutiny from numerous regulatory agencies we experience routinely, I am amazed that such an organization is able to operate. Certainly this is unacceptable and warrants further investigation.

However, the problem with the article is that it does not distinguish the various kinds of providers in the foster care system. As a result, the foster care provider community is portrayed as “the child mill” rather than as the true resource it is for families and communities that are desperate to address the needs of vulnerable children and youth, who have experience trauma. This is an injustice to many agencies within the foster care system, both large and small, that provide good, quality care and more often than not at considerable financial risk.

These kinds of exposés are one way that the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets serve as a watchdog to safeguard the public interest. A provocative headline on the front page of the newspaper may increase sales. My hope is one day the focus would be not on the abuse of the public trust, but on countless organizations and individuals who make the sacrifices to serve foster care youth with no gain other than the satisfaction that they have made a difference in the life of a fragile and vulnerable child. That kind of selflessness is worthy of the front page of any newspaper.

 
May is Foster Care Awareness Month. In spite of the negative image reinforced by sensational articles in the media, fostering children, who are for whatever reason separated from their families, is an extraordinary public service that deserves our respect, admiration, and gratitude.