County Official Seeks to End Crowding at MacLaren Hall : 2 New Emergency Children’s Shelters Sought

Two new emergency shelters for abused and neglected children, to relieve overcrowded conditions at MacLaren Children’s Center, will be proposed to the county Board of Supervisors next month, the director of the Department of Children’s Services said Wednesday.

In a draft report presented to the Children’s Services Commission on Tuesday and circulated informally among the supervisors, director Lola J. Hobbs outlined a plan that would reduce the population at MacLaren to 100 and provide services to children from central and east areas of Los Angeles County within a year.

The other centers, which would be developed under contract with private nonprofit group home operators, would serve the southwest and north areas in which they would be located.

No estimates of their cost were included.

MacLaren would serve primarily as a facility for children who have had placement problems and need a short-term place to stay before moving to another foster or group home. Children removed from home for the first time would be taken to MacLaren only if no relative or foster home could be found.

Children under 4 years old would be placed in emergency foster homes through contracts with private home-finding agencies. A foster home recruitment campaign is under way, and licensing requirements are being re-evaluated with a view toward relaxing them. Older children with delinquent behavior problems would be placed in privately operated group homes. And emotionally disturbed children would be placed in an existing county facility for treatment operated jointly by the private sector and the county Departments of Mental Health and Children’s Services.

Discussions, Amendments

The report will be discussed and amended by the Children’s Services Commission’s MacLaren/At Risk Committee and the commission itself before being taken up by the supervisors.

The chairman of that committee, Sandra Serrano-Sewell, said her group is “real pleased” with progress made at MacLaren since Hobbs and acting director of MacLaren, Esther Cardall, took charge in December.

“However, we cannot give our seal of approval on all the long-term goals. We have some questions that need further exploration,” particularly about the cost, she said.

“Two more mini-Macs (MacLaren) may not be the way to go,” she added.

Hobbs submitted a one-page budget plan that appears to bring costs down but does not include the start-up costs of the proposed centers or indicate who would pay for the special mental health unit. Serrano-Sewell noted that one facility under consideration as a treatment unit for disturbed children who are county dependents is also being eyed by officials as a shelter for the homeless.

The report also lists improvements at MacLaren since The Times reported last year that the El Monte facility had become an overcrowded warehouse for neglected children, where care was impersonal, treatment non-existent and conditions unsafe.

Hobbs said that visitation and telephone policies at MacLaren have been relaxed, children are now allowed to keep some personal clothes or special toys, adolescents no longer have to go to bed shortly after dinner, staff training has begun, more recreational activities are being scheduled and the volunteer program has been expanded.

Efforts have been made to create a homelike atmosphere, the report said, and children and staff can report problems and make suggestions anonymously.

The admissions process is being revamped to minimize trauma to children already in crisis, according to the report. Each child entering MacLaren soon will have a children’s services worker assigned to help him, and a comfortably furnished “transition” unit has been created for new arrivals.

Hobbs said she is also working with the the Department of Health Services to develop a medical review process for psychotropic medications administered at MacLaren.

Serrano-Sewell said the changes described by Hobbs are “really happening. The new department has been responsive to the problems. There is a totally different attitude out there today.”

She said her committee will study Hobbs’ report carefully at its Monday meeting and recommend changes before the commission approves it and sends it on to county supervisors.

Members of the Board of Supervisors said they had not yet studied the planning report.