Children’s Home Planned at Olive View

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to set aside space on the grounds of Olive View Medical Center for the construction of a private facility for emotionally disabled children.

The board instructed county officials to search for qualified providers who could operate a facility for emotionally disturbed boys who have become unadoptable in the county system. Most of the boys, ages 9 to 14, have been abused and have bounced from one foster home to another. Typically, they have spent a great deal of time living at MacLaren Children’s Center.

The motion was made by Supervisor Mike Antonovich after a previous plan to build a home was abandoned earlier this year. A nonprofit provider, Guadalupe Homes, had agreed last year to construct a facility but was unable to meet the county’s timetable and was asked to drop out.

‘Something Had to Give’

“We finally decided something had to give or this project will languish,” said Barbara McGowan, an assistant division chief in the county’s chief administrative office. “It means too much to the children.”

The money to construct the facility would come from $2.5 million in federal funds given to the county after the Sylmar earthquake destroyed the old Olive View Medical Center in 1971.

The county envisions the children, who have various behavior problems, living in a collection of cottages on the hospital’s grounds.

“We don’t want to build anything that looks like a juvenile hall,” said Al May, assistant director of the county’s Department of Children’s Services. “The kids don’t need that; they get enough of that.”

Chuck O’Connell, an officer of Olive View Neighborhood Watch, said he was disappointed that the county had not consulted the community about the proposal.