The man from Texas wanted to show his wife and 4-year-old son where he grew up.
So the family made the trip to Schererville, stopping at Campagna Academy -- formerly known as Hoosier Boys Town -- where the man lived in the 1960s as a child.
"I would have been in gangs or in prison without Hoosier Boys Town. It made me a man," the man told Scott Sefton, the senior director of development and public relations for Campagna Academy.
Although the facility's name has changed, the stories of residents whose lives were improved are the same. Such as a 14-year-old boy who came to Campagna in 2002 and, after three years there, left with his GED. Today, he's in the Army and graduated in May from Murray State College, where he majored in criminology. His goal is to work with youth in a residential care facility, Sefton said.
But Campagna's and similar facilities' ability to help such children in the future may be in jeopardy. The Indiana Department of Child Services more often is shifting children into foster care rather than residential placement facilities such as Campagna.
About a dozen residential placement facilities are licensed in the seven counties in Northwest Indiana and roughly 140 are licensed throughout the state. A residential facility is a secure campus where children receive treatment services and 24-hour care after being removed from their homes or foster homes.
DCS officials say children are better off in the least-restrictive, most family-like environments.
Residential placement administrators agree children are better off with their families but, when that is not an option, administrators said their facilities are a good place for children to thrive. Administrators said they worry DCS' shift will leave behind children who need the more intensive services their facilities provide.
A culture of placement
Historically, children in Northwest Indiana stayed in residential facilities for multiple years.
DCS Director James Payne called it a "culture of placement" that existed among region case managers, probation officers, therapists and judges. In northern Indiana, 57 percent of children in out-of-home placements lived in residential care, while only 7 percent in the southern half of the state did, he said.
"It was just the way things were, and people were satisfied with it," Payne said.
But state officials were dissatisfied with the system and committed to reducing the number of children in out-of-home placement, as well as reducing the disparity among how different counties handled child welfare.
In September 2005, Payne told residential providers that DCS officials would focus on keeping children with families or in family-like environments such as with relatives, siblings or in foster homes.
He said extensive research at the national and local levels has shown that is what's best for children. Other states, including Utah, Maine and Virginia, made similar shifts in recent years.
"The goal is to look at residential placement not as a destination but as a service that has a limited period of time," Payne said.
DCS implemented its policy shift in May 2007 -- after first doubling its workforce, training its staff and implementing a standardized tool to help determine the best placement of a child. From May 2007 to August 2011, the number of children in residential placement facilities dropped 55 percent, data provided by DCS shows.
Administrators of residential facilities in Northwest Indiana told The Times they didn't see a difference in placement until earlier this year. Payne said it took longer to develop resources in Northwest Indiana to support keeping children with families.
"There's always going to be a need for residential placement facilities," DCS spokeswoman Ann Houseworth said. "There are children who are so physically and emotionally damaged that they're going to need a place with 24-hour care and services that these facilities provide."
But residential-placement facility administrators are concerned that, in their view, DCS does not see residential placement as a viable first choice for children.
Failing up
Some children in local residential facilities first bounced from foster home to foster home -- as many as 21 in at least one case -- before being placed in a residential facility. They are children with behavioral or psychological problems.
Residential administrators call it "failing up" -- placing a child in the least-restrictive setting available and, if that doesn't work, moving the child into more and more restrictive settings. Residential placement facilities are considered the most restrictive setting outside of a juvenile detention center or prison.
Administrators said the "failing up" mentality can further traumatize children who crave stability.
Patrick Oatis, executive director of Christian Haven in Wheatfield, said every time a child "fails," it makes the next step more difficult and disrupts any prior relationship he or she may have built.
"The certain harm of removing a child from a home is less traumatic than the potential harm of leaving a child in a home," he said. "Kids who've been shot, lost family and friends, (been) sexually abused ... these kids need respite and to see they have something to offer society. Having them fail in multiple systems makes that impossible."
DCS Director Payne agreed, saying his agency's goal is the fewest placements possible.
"When you talk about 16 placements (in a row for one child), my heart aches for those kids," he said. "That should never happen. ... We all hope that the first placement is the only placement."
Payne said those multiple placements likely date back to the years before DCS used CANS -- an evidence- and research-based assessment tool -- to help determine what level of care a child needs. He said caseworkers do the best they can to find the right placement first.
Children under DCS supervision in Indiana average 2.5 consecutive placements, DCS records state. In Lake County, they average 2.8 placements; Porter County children average 3.1 placements.
"I think we're better than we were 10 years ago," Payne said. "We're better than five years ago. In five years, we'll be better than we are now, but it is still going to be that there are some kids who do need multiple placements."
Realistic first placement
Oatis and other administrators said they believe residential facilities are realistic first placements for children with more intensive needs.
Residential placement facilities, which offer therapy multiple times a week, have staff available 24 hours a day. Some facilities offer special services, including psychotherapy and using horses or wilderness retreats to teach children from urban areas about nature.
Oatis noted it is cheaper to keep a child in a foster home rather than a residential facility, but he said facilities can provide more intensive, more frequent services. For example, a child living in a foster home may receive therapy once a week, while a child in residential placement may receive multiple one-on-one and group sessions, Oatis said.
Shirley Caylor, executive director of the Crisis Center in Gary, acknowledges DCS has a difficult decision to make when determining the best placement for a child. She said she believes DCS officials think they are doing the right thing by moving children away from residential facilities, but she disagrees.
"Cheaper is not less expensive when children's lives are damaged by multiple placements and disconnections -- cheaper in the short term, more costly in the long term," she said.
DCS Director Payne said there are children who need the security and services offered by residential providers. He said the state agency's decision to use residential placement more sparingly has nothing to do with dollars and cents.
"This is not about money," Payne said. "It is strictly about what is best for children."
Administrators of residential facilities, who rely on DCS reimbursements and donations, said DCS' shift away from residential placement has hurt their bottom lines.
Changing times
Elena Dwyre, interim CEO of Campagna Academy, said the shift in placements has been "devastating" to financial stability for placement facilities. Facilities have fixed costs such as buildings, energy and insurance, she said.
The money residential facilities receive from DCS per child per day doesn't cover costs, but it is steady income as opposed to donations, which can fluctuate.
"We have seen a decrease in planned giving and overall fundraising monies compared to the last three years," Dwyre said, adding there has been an increase in volunteer time and product donations as opposed to cash donations.
Payne said he realizes the state agency's shift has been challenging for residential providers who invested time and money into taking care of children in need.
"While we recognize that those who have been involved with residential facilities have a passion and commitment, our passion, commitment is not toward a facility," he said. "It is what's best for kids."
Payne said the average residential facility is at 53 percent occupancy.
"We have an overabundance of beds available in the state of Indiana for the demand," he said. "Eventually, some adjustments are going to have to be made in that."
Doing more with less
Cathy Graham, executive director of the Indiana Association of Residential and Child Care Agencies, said some residential facilities have closed cottages or wings of their buildings to adjust.
At Christian Haven, Oatis estimates he's working with a budget about $100,000 less per month than last year. He said he's making those numbers work because he has no other choice.
Sister Maria Giuseppe, administrator of Carmelite Home in East Chicago, said the nonprofit organization will face a $1 million deficit by the end of 2011. The facility serves about one-third the number of children it served a year ago.
Crisis Center's Caylor said the number of children placed by DCS and the number of days those children stay at Crisis Center, called units, are nearly half what they were last year. From January 2010 to June 2010, 4,433 units were reimbursed by DCS at the facility. By contrast, from January to June of this year, the number was 2,598 units.
Gina Arce, 18, of Hammond, was placed at the Crisis Center twice -- the first time when all of her brothers and sisters were removed from her father's home, and the second time after a fight with her mother in which she was kicked out of the house. Arce said her first time at the facility, when she was 16, scared her because she had never been away from home. But she credits her second time at the Crisis Center's Alternative House with getting her to stop cutting classes at school and helping her graduate in June. Today she is enrolled in a local veterinary science program and plans to be a veterinarian.
"It made me feel safer to be around a lot of people," she said. "They let me know I was safe. ... It's a good place. It made me realize a lot."
Stories such as Arce's are why Caylor believes the role of the Crisis Center is important and why she is worried about the facility's future.
"We'll probably have to make more cuts," Caylor said. "We'll continue to be a runaway and homeless shelter, and will continue to be an emergency shelter to children and youth. We'll turn off the lights and lower the heating bill if we have to."
*Times Executive Editor William Nangle is a board member at Crisis Center.
So the family made the trip to Schererville, stopping at Campagna Academy -- formerly known as Hoosier Boys Town -- where the man lived in the 1960s as a child.
"I would have been in gangs or in prison without Hoosier Boys Town. It made me a man," the man told Scott Sefton, the senior director of development and public relations for Campagna Academy.
Although the facility's name has changed, the stories of residents whose lives were improved are the same. Such as a 14-year-old boy who came to Campagna in 2002 and, after three years there, left with his GED. Today, he's in the Army and graduated in May from Murray State College, where he majored in criminology. His goal is to work with youth in a residential care facility, Sefton said.
But Campagna's and similar facilities' ability to help such children in the future may be in jeopardy. The Indiana Department of Child Services more often is shifting children into foster care rather than residential placement facilities such as Campagna.
About a dozen residential placement facilities are licensed in the seven counties in Northwest Indiana and roughly 140 are licensed throughout the state. A residential facility is a secure campus where children receive treatment services and 24-hour care after being removed from their homes or foster homes.
DCS officials say children are better off in the least-restrictive, most family-like environments.
Residential placement administrators agree children are better off with their families but, when that is not an option, administrators said their facilities are a good place for children to thrive. Administrators said they worry DCS' shift will leave behind children who need the more intensive services their facilities provide.
A culture of placement
Historically, children in Northwest Indiana stayed in residential facilities for multiple years.
DCS Director James Payne called it a "culture of placement" that existed among region case managers, probation officers, therapists and judges. In northern Indiana, 57 percent of children in out-of-home placements lived in residential care, while only 7 percent in the southern half of the state did, he said.
"It was just the way things were, and people were satisfied with it," Payne said.
But state officials were dissatisfied with the system and committed to reducing the number of children in out-of-home placement, as well as reducing the disparity among how different counties handled child welfare.
In September 2005, Payne told residential providers that DCS officials would focus on keeping children with families or in family-like environments such as with relatives, siblings or in foster homes.
He said extensive research at the national and local levels has shown that is what's best for children. Other states, including Utah, Maine and Virginia, made similar shifts in recent years.
"The goal is to look at residential placement not as a destination but as a service that has a limited period of time," Payne said.
DCS implemented its policy shift in May 2007 -- after first doubling its workforce, training its staff and implementing a standardized tool to help determine the best placement of a child. From May 2007 to August 2011, the number of children in residential placement facilities dropped 55 percent, data provided by DCS shows.
Administrators of residential facilities in Northwest Indiana told The Times they didn't see a difference in placement until earlier this year. Payne said it took longer to develop resources in Northwest Indiana to support keeping children with families.
"There's always going to be a need for residential placement facilities," DCS spokeswoman Ann Houseworth said. "There are children who are so physically and emotionally damaged that they're going to need a place with 24-hour care and services that these facilities provide."
But residential-placement facility administrators are concerned that, in their view, DCS does not see residential placement as a viable first choice for children.
Failing up
Some children in local residential facilities first bounced from foster home to foster home -- as many as 21 in at least one case -- before being placed in a residential facility. They are children with behavioral or psychological problems.
Residential administrators call it "failing up" -- placing a child in the least-restrictive setting available and, if that doesn't work, moving the child into more and more restrictive settings. Residential placement facilities are considered the most restrictive setting outside of a juvenile detention center or prison.
Administrators said the "failing up" mentality can further traumatize children who crave stability.
Patrick Oatis, executive director of Christian Haven in Wheatfield, said every time a child "fails," it makes the next step more difficult and disrupts any prior relationship he or she may have built.
"The certain harm of removing a child from a home is less traumatic than the potential harm of leaving a child in a home," he said. "Kids who've been shot, lost family and friends, (been) sexually abused ... these kids need respite and to see they have something to offer society. Having them fail in multiple systems makes that impossible."
DCS Director Payne agreed, saying his agency's goal is the fewest placements possible.
"When you talk about 16 placements (in a row for one child), my heart aches for those kids," he said. "That should never happen. ... We all hope that the first placement is the only placement."
Payne said those multiple placements likely date back to the years before DCS used CANS -- an evidence- and research-based assessment tool -- to help determine what level of care a child needs. He said caseworkers do the best they can to find the right placement first.
Children under DCS supervision in Indiana average 2.5 consecutive placements, DCS records state. In Lake County, they average 2.8 placements; Porter County children average 3.1 placements.
"I think we're better than we were 10 years ago," Payne said. "We're better than five years ago. In five years, we'll be better than we are now, but it is still going to be that there are some kids who do need multiple placements."
Realistic first placement
Oatis and other administrators said they believe residential facilities are realistic first placements for children with more intensive needs.
Residential placement facilities, which offer therapy multiple times a week, have staff available 24 hours a day. Some facilities offer special services, including psychotherapy and using horses or wilderness retreats to teach children from urban areas about nature.
Oatis noted it is cheaper to keep a child in a foster home rather than a residential facility, but he said facilities can provide more intensive, more frequent services. For example, a child living in a foster home may receive therapy once a week, while a child in residential placement may receive multiple one-on-one and group sessions, Oatis said.
Shirley Caylor, executive director of the Crisis Center in Gary, acknowledges DCS has a difficult decision to make when determining the best placement for a child. She said she believes DCS officials think they are doing the right thing by moving children away from residential facilities, but she disagrees.
"Cheaper is not less expensive when children's lives are damaged by multiple placements and disconnections -- cheaper in the short term, more costly in the long term," she said.
DCS Director Payne said there are children who need the security and services offered by residential providers. He said the state agency's decision to use residential placement more sparingly has nothing to do with dollars and cents.
"This is not about money," Payne said. "It is strictly about what is best for children."
Administrators of residential facilities, who rely on DCS reimbursements and donations, said DCS' shift away from residential placement has hurt their bottom lines.
Changing times
Elena Dwyre, interim CEO of Campagna Academy, said the shift in placements has been "devastating" to financial stability for placement facilities. Facilities have fixed costs such as buildings, energy and insurance, she said.
The money residential facilities receive from DCS per child per day doesn't cover costs, but it is steady income as opposed to donations, which can fluctuate.
"We have seen a decrease in planned giving and overall fundraising monies compared to the last three years," Dwyre said, adding there has been an increase in volunteer time and product donations as opposed to cash donations.
Payne said he realizes the state agency's shift has been challenging for residential providers who invested time and money into taking care of children in need.
"While we recognize that those who have been involved with residential facilities have a passion and commitment, our passion, commitment is not toward a facility," he said. "It is what's best for kids."
Payne said the average residential facility is at 53 percent occupancy.
"We have an overabundance of beds available in the state of Indiana for the demand," he said. "Eventually, some adjustments are going to have to be made in that."
Doing more with less
Cathy Graham, executive director of the Indiana Association of Residential and Child Care Agencies, said some residential facilities have closed cottages or wings of their buildings to adjust.
At Christian Haven, Oatis estimates he's working with a budget about $100,000 less per month than last year. He said he's making those numbers work because he has no other choice.
Sister Maria Giuseppe, administrator of Carmelite Home in East Chicago, said the nonprofit organization will face a $1 million deficit by the end of 2011. The facility serves about one-third the number of children it served a year ago.
Crisis Center's Caylor said the number of children placed by DCS and the number of days those children stay at Crisis Center, called units, are nearly half what they were last year. From January 2010 to June 2010, 4,433 units were reimbursed by DCS at the facility. By contrast, from January to June of this year, the number was 2,598 units.
Gina Arce, 18, of Hammond, was placed at the Crisis Center twice -- the first time when all of her brothers and sisters were removed from her father's home, and the second time after a fight with her mother in which she was kicked out of the house. Arce said her first time at the facility, when she was 16, scared her because she had never been away from home. But she credits her second time at the Crisis Center's Alternative House with getting her to stop cutting classes at school and helping her graduate in June. Today she is enrolled in a local veterinary science program and plans to be a veterinarian.
"It made me feel safer to be around a lot of people," she said. "They let me know I was safe. ... It's a good place. It made me realize a lot."
Stories such as Arce's are why Caylor believes the role of the Crisis Center is important and why she is worried about the facility's future.
"We'll probably have to make more cuts," Caylor said. "We'll continue to be a runaway and homeless shelter, and will continue to be an emergency shelter to children and youth. We'll turn off the lights and lower the heating bill if we have to."
*Times Executive Editor William Nangle is a board member at Crisis Center.
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