Proposed law might give voice to troubled kids
Tim Koors/The Arizona Republic |
Department of Economic Security Director Linda Blessing talks to the media Wednesday. At her side is DES colleague James Hart. |
By Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 27, 1998
No one would listen to Nicholaus Contreraz's pleas in the days before his death at Arizona Boys Ranch. But legislation proposed Wednesday by the state Department of Economic Security is aimed at lending kids like Contreraz an impartial ear.
Called the Child Placement Protection Act, the proposal would require anyone placing a child in a paramilitary, boot camp or wilderness program to see that child at least once a month.
"Here this kid was dying. He was literally dying, and because of this philosophy, this view of children that they all manipulate, that they all lie, no one listened to this kid's outcry," James Hart of DES said.
A nurse examined Contreraz just hours before he died March 2 and said he was fine. Boys Ranch staff decided he was faking.
In his two months at the Ranch Contreraz, from California, talked to his probation officer and mother only by phone. He had no one nearby, Hart said, no one close enough to see that he really was sick.
The proposed legislation also calls for a new position in the state's Ombudsman's Office to watch over children in such programs, and requires the children to undergo physical and psychological evaluations before placement.
As an added measure, DES wants the Legislature to give it the ability to impose fines on programs that do not comply or violate state rules.
Right now, programs are simply given warnings and the time to comply, Hart said. That process can take six months or longer.
"You act with a little more expedience if you are getting fined X number of dollars a day," he added.
Conversations with lawmakers Wednesday indicated that the proposed legislation may get a friendly reception in the Legislature.
Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe, a supporter of Boys Ranch, said Wednesday that she agrees Arizona should not have to monitor kids from other states, and that she would support the proposed legislation.
Still, Knaperek said she doesn't think the Ranch should lose its license.
Programs like that at the Boys Ranch can work for some children, Knaperek said, offering them a place to go when parents or juvenile authorities have run through all other options.
"These are not your typical dependent children," she said. "These are not your abused, abandoned, neglected child. These are juvenile delinquents who would otherwise be in a correctional facility.
"These kids have some real problems, and they've usually hurt somebody."
For those reasons, licenses for programs such as the Boys Ranch should be granted through an agency other than DES, which licenses foster and group homes, Knaperek said.
"It sounds to me that they have a valid reason to deny their license," she said. "I'm hopeful that they'll work together, sit down and see what they can do to work this out."
When Rep. Lou-Ann Preble, R-Tucson, was told by DES officials that the Ranch's license would not be renewed, she responded: "God bless you."
But Bob Burns, R-Glendale, suggested that the move may have been overzealous.
"My question is, would we do the same to our Department of Juvenile Corrections if the same situation occurred in that department? I have my doubts that we would," Burns said.
Certainly, he said, children also have died in the care of state Child Protective Services.
"I think they are running a very shipshape operation, and things got out of hand in one particular case, but I don't know that you take down the whole organization based on something that happened at a satellite site," said Burns, who has toured two of the facilities.
He said he questioned why the Ranch's medical staff was unable to determine the seriousness of Contreraz's medical condition, but he did not question the methods of the program itself.
