ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260068
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
Even in the best of circumstances, adolescence can be a challenging period for family life. When juveniles go wrong, it can be a severe burden for the entire community.
From counseling to incarceration, the range of options for troubled youths makes heavy demands on the social safety net. Experts say success - measured by lasting, positive changes in behavior - is difficult to achieve, and expensive.
On Thursday, social workers involved in dealing with juveniles gathered to discuss the dilemma, and exchanged horror stories that many agreed were routine or typical of their case loads.
They spoke of a 12-year-old pregnant girl, unkempt and abandoned teens living on the street, and youths in detention who stubbornly want to return to homes where they were physically abused or neglected.
Courts have been forcibly removing children from dangerous homes for years. Now, according to Montgomery County Social Services Director Dan Ferris, more parents are requesting courts to intervene and take their children.
"They're just throwing up their hands and saying, 'I can't take it anymore,'" he said.
Social service agencies are trying to handle the increasingly complex demands of troubled youths by becoming more efficient and creative. They're motivated by two forces: a desire to be more effective, and the overwhelming financial costs of even basic treatment options.
During a panel discussion sponsored by the Montgomery County Human Services Commission, Vicki Collins of the Community Services Board told of a Radford youth, removed from his home, whose detention and treatment cost $14,000 annually.
Others told of more intensive treatment facilities for juveniles with mental problems or violent tendencies that can cost taxpayers as much as $15,000 a month.
"We constantly battle with that dilemma," Collins said of the trade-off between treatment cost and effectiveness. "The reality is that we have minimal resources. The other reality is that it's not going to get any better."
Local juvenile treatment options range from counseling to full-time detention, depending on the severity of the individual problem. To coordinate the best options for success, agencies came together and formed the Family Assessment and Planning Team several years ago.
Composed of representatives from the Community Service Board, the Court Services Unit, the county Department of the Social Services, the Health Department, county schools and a citizen representative, the team meets regularly with troubled youths and their families. Members provide treatment referral and follow-up.
The unified method works because it provides better care and avoids overlapping responsibilities among the various public agencies that deal with juveniles, Collins said.
The team approach also promotes early intervention in the lives of trouble youths, increasing the chances of rehabilitation and reducing the necessity of using costly residential treatment, members said.
Home treatment, when possible, is increasingly considered as an option, with a combination of counseling and supervised care. Residential programs also can be effective, and several members of the panel praised the work of the New River Valley Detention Home for youths in Christiansburg.
What's missing in the local picture, they agreed, is an intermediate residential care facility in the New River Valley, which would allow youths to be temporarily away from troubled or dangerous homes, and placed in a structured environment without losing contact with school, friends or families.
Still, no method of treatment or amount of money can assure the successful rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
"Nothing is straightforward in this business," said Russ Rice of the county Office on Youth.
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