Treatment center
offers inside look

The Brown Schools will provide treatment to troubled children. The company says security will be a priority, but some residents worry.

By JIM ROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

LECANTO -- The Brown Schools officially unveiled its Citrus operation on Thursday, promising to serve troubled children and foster a good relationship with the community.

"This truly will be a flagship for Brown Schools," said Laura Schuck, the company's leader in Florida, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

[Times photo: Ron Thompson] Mike Colbert looks out a window at an exterior patio of the Brown Schools' new youth treatment center in the former Heritage Hospital. Officials say they hope to have clients in the facility for treatment by mid July.

The festivities began about 8 a.m. at the facility, which Heritage Hospital once called home. Business and government leaders assembled in the spacious cafeteria, sipping coffee and juice and mingling with Brown employees.

Before long, that cafeteria will be filled with adolescent boys and girls who are severely emotionally disturbed. The state Department of Children and Families is hiring Brown to provide residential treatment for 84 such children.

Brown would like to start taking in clients by June 26, but leaders concede that mid-July might be a more realistic target.

Brown needs that time to train staff and approve a contract with Children and Families. Officials said Thursday that they do not expect two pending legal challenges to delay them.

Black Diamond and its residents have argued through two lawyers that Citrus County government should require Brown to seek a change in the facility's zoning status. Such a change would require the Planning and Development Review Boad, as well as the County Commission, to review the project.

That simmering dispute didn't escape mention Thursday.

"I know that there is some controversy out there," County Commissioner Jim Fowler said when addressing the audience. "We're dealing with a lack of knowledge. You (Brown School employees) are going to fix that."

"I think that, a year from now . . . people will realize . . . the Brown Schoolsis here to do the right thing," said Mike Gudis, president of the Economic Development Council, which helped bring Brown to Citrus.

Gudis thanked Brown staffers for "putting up" with the controversy. "Good always comes out in the end," he said, "and I know we're on the right side."

Residents in Black Diamond, which abuts the Brown property, are concerned about safety. Other nearby residents share those worries.

Although secure, the Brown facility will not be a detention center, and residents fear that children could escape the grounds. Some of those children could be from the state's "incompetent to proceed" program, which means they stand accused of felonies but are unable to proceed in court because of their mental-health status.

Brown officials note that the children need help and treatment. They have pledged to make safety a top concern and to continue meeting with residents.

Toward that end, Brown announced Thursday that it will erect a privacy fence around the grounds. Though it will be aesthetically pleasing, the fence also will be constructed in such a way that scaling it would be difficult.

Schuck, the company's Florida chief, said Brown was considering a fence anyway. But if it will help allay community fears, then all the better.

"It helps both of us," she said.

Likewise, Brown has scrapped plans to make Citrus a primary site where it would treat youths involved in Florida's incompetent to proceed program. Brown holds the state contract to administer that program, but it has various other sites where clients needing residential services can go.

True, some adolescents from that program might make their way to Citrus if they meet the facility's other admission criteria. But Schuck said community fears, coupled with clinical factors, made her leadership team determine that the Citrus facility shouldn't be a place where Brown should deliver direct services for the incompetent-to-proceed population.

"It made sense," Schuck said.

Brown will divide the facility into four units:

A 16-bed wing for boys ages 12 to 17 who have suffered sexual abuse and are acting out sexually. These boys will have private bedrooms.

Two wings, each with 22 beds, for traditional residential treatment of emotionally disturbed children. One wing will be for boys, the other for girls.

A 22-bed unit for children who are mentally retarded or developmentally delayed (IQ of 50 to 70) who have mental health disorders.

The overall goal? To "make it a place where we can help children have a hope and a dream," said Sherry Thornton, president of Brown's behavioral group.

Some 452 people have submitted job applications with Brown. The staff will grow slowly and eventually number about 100, Schuck said. Although Brown operates programs throughout Florida, the company's state corporate offices also will be housed in the spacious Lecanto building, which also includes a lap swimming pool and minigymnasium.

Matt Leary, executive director of the Citrus site, praised his Brown colleagues and promised a bright future.

"This place," he said, "will be a star to the community."

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