Juvenile
May 30, 2001
Officials Turn Blind Eye To Abuse, Lawsuit Claims
LOS ANGELES - It is nearly impossible to determine how many lawsuits MacLaren Children's Center is defending. And those in charge of defending them at the Los Angeles County counsel's office say they don't keep those kinds of statistics.
Those that can be found, however, give some indication of the conditions at MacLaren and the legal risks faced by it and other shelters throughout California.
Unlicensed children's shelters recently were ordered to comply with state laws or risk being closed down.
The taxpayer action in San Francisco Superior Court was filed by attorneys with the Youth Law Center, a public-interest law firm in San Francisco.
They claimed that state officials routinely turned a blind eye to serious problems at unlicensed children's shelters. It focused on the shortcomings of facilities run by the counties of Humboldt, Los Angeles, Orange, Placer, San Diego, San Joaquin, Santa Clara and Sonoma.
The suit charged that the shelters were not equipped to provide crisis intervention to children who were victims of severe abuse and neglect and claimed that "this total disregard for the needs of children" had caused immediate trauma and long-lasting harm.
"Already traumatized children move into institutional settings where they eat and sleep in large units, cannot maintain their possessions, are deprived of choice in food and clothing, and are exposed to children with serious emotional problems," the complaint states. "The longer they stay in shelter[s] the more they learn to exhibit unacceptable behavior in order to get attention."
MacLaren Children's Center in El Monte came in for a particular drubbing in the complaint. MacLaren was faulted for overcrowding, lack of mental health treatment services, the staff's excessive use of physical restraint and violations of personal rights.
"Confinement at MacLaren subjects children to a chaotic, violent and dangerous environment. Statistics for the first six months of 2000 show that police were called to MacLaren almost twice a day on average (339 calls in six months). Since January 2000, at least 53 children have been arrested at MacLaren," the complaint states.
The Youth Law Center also charged that the state Department of Social Services receives federal funds to support child-welfare services and that, by placing children in unlicensed county shelters, it is violating federal law. That practice violated the children's rights to due process and equal protection, the complaint claims.
On April 17, Judge David A. Garcia issued a decision in the case that could doom the shelters. Garcia ordered the county shelters to improve their facilities to comply with state licensing requirements or shut down.
Garcia's decision also ordered the California Department of Social Services to require that county shelter facilities be required to comply with state licensing requirements contained in the Community Care Facilities Act, Health and Safety Code, Section 1500, "within a reasonable time from the date of this Order."
The Community Care Facilities Act requires that facilities maintain the following standards:
• Not be overcrowded
• Routinely complete staff criminal record and child-abuse registry checks
• Provide training for staff so they are qualified to work with kids
• Strictly limit physical restraints and staff interventions to the most egregious situations
• Allow children to interact with the community and their families
• Separate vulnerable kids from youth that could pose a danger to them
• Provide infants and toddlers with special care consistent with their needs
• Establish regulations to ensure that all children have privacy and their personal rights are respected.
Los Angeles County officials are holding meetings with state officials to determine their next step in the lawsuit.
"It's up in the air and the state is trying to clarify to find out what the court order means," said MacLaren's director John Robbins, who said he doubts his facility's future is in jeopardy.
MacLaren also is being targeted with a class action by an attorney who already represents four children injured at MacLaren.
Sanford Jossen of Manhattan Beach is in the process of amending a lawsuit filed on behalf of a client whose arm was broken. He plans to refashion the suit as a class action seeking protection for all children at the shelter.
"What we are going to claim is that there is a pattern of conduct at MacLaren," Jossen said. "Even with a belligerent kid, when you restrain them, you shouldn't be breaking their arm. ... If these were isolated incidents, one would have a different view. But so many? There is something fundamentally wrong going on here."
All of Jossen's current cases were forwarded to him at random by the Los Angeles County Bar Association, which received them from the Los Angeles Juvenile Court. All the cases involve dependent kids whose last names are withheld:
• Jazzmon, then 13, was "assaulted, restrained and battered" by three MacLaren employees, according to a lawsuit. The adults allegedly used such force on July 12, 1999, that they broke the child's arm. The incident, according to the complaint, was "willful, wanton and despicable" and Jazzmon suffered fear, physical and emotional discomfort, damage, pain, apprehension, psychological trauma, loss of dignity, nightmares and, worst, a loss of trust. Jazzmon R. v. County of Los Angeles, BC237613 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 28, 2000).
• Polaroid photographs show a pretty girl with a huge bruise on her cheek and a black eye. Melanie, 15, allegedly was assaulted and battered by several staff members while in residence at MacLaren Children's Center. Melanie's claim against the county, which recently was rejected, indicates she suffered contusions and abrasions to her face plus emotional distress.
• Felicia, 16, allegedly was assaulted and battered by four MacLaren staff members in February 2000. The girl's claim for damages against the county indicates that staff told her to stop cursing; she claimed she wasn't cursing. When Felicia asked to use the restroom, she allegedly was slammed face first on the floor, and her front tooth was knocked out. She also suffered bruises and other injuries. The girl said the staff would not allow her to go to the infirmary afterward, even though she was spitting up blood. Felicia eventually was treated at USC Medical Center.
• Ruben, age withheld, reportedly was tackled to the ground by two MacLaren employees while another staff member twisted the boy's arm behind his back. While Ruben was on the ground, he claimed someone kneed him in the back. The boy was treated at a hospital and released. However, his injury worsened, and the next week Ruben's arm was placed in a cast.
Another bar panel member, Ron Eisman, a sole practitioner in Whittier, said he's had two recent excessive-force cases involving foster children whose arms were fractured at MacLaren. Kevin, 12, and Stuart, 13, (last names withheld) were injured during restraint procedures by shelter staff.
"These were just two young boys. And if you compare the size of the people who were restraining them, it was not equal," Eisman said.
Although Eisman would give no further details and cited confidentiality concerns, he said both incidents happened in late 1999 and recently were settled with the county for $4,400 and $4,000.
Robbins said each situation where a child is injured during a restraint procedure is fully investigated by an outside agency, generally law enforcement. Most situations, he said, involve a child attempting to harm himself or another.
Robbins said his staff always has acted appropriately.
"If I knew that this was [not] the case, I would be moving for termination," he said.
On the other side, Jossen and other attorneys who represent dependents of the juvenile court said they are beginning to wonder what's going on.
"By pure, random chance, I have received four cases, three of which involve females, of children who were injured at MacLaren over a relatively short period of time," Jossen said. "If parents were inflicting the injuries on their kids that they are doing at MacLaren, they would be removed for abuse and neglect."
Cheryl Romo
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