Sacramento County to remove foster children from cells, avoiding state fines

Sacramento County will remove foster children from the cells of a former juvenile detention facility Friday, just in time to avoid fines from a state agency.

The county is moving the children to three single-family homes in residential areas, along with county staff, according to a Thursday news release from the county.

The county has faced backlash for housing foster children in the Warren E. Thornton Youth Center in Rosemont, including from state lawmakers, since The Sacramento Bee was the first to report in April that the county was housing kids at the Branch Center Road facility without a state license. The county has applied for licenses for each of the three houses, the release stated.

The county has been housing about 12 to 16 children, mostly teens, at the facility — frequently called the WET Center when it was operated by the county’s Probation Office — since August, despite several letters from state officials advising against it. State officials have been sending the county letters about the facility since as early as September, when California Department of Social Services Foster Care ombudsperson Larry Fluharty wrote that the environment could “retraumatize” youth and make them feel “physically and psychologically unsafe.”

As of Thursday morning there were eight children living at the WET center, which will be shut down by end of day Friday, county spokeswoman Kim Nava said. The county has found placements for several of them, but all of those offered placements have chosen to exercise their right to refuse them, the release stated.

“These youth have experienced significant past traumas with their families and in home-based family settings that have been unable to meet their needs,” the release stated. “Many have also been ejected from congregate care settings and may experience significant stress and difficulty when moving to new environments.”

While the children are at the three houses, called Welcoming Centers, staff will continue to work to find new placements for them that they agree to, the release said. The houses have room for up to six children in each one.

The county is leasing the houses, which are all in unincorporated areas of the county, for about $20,000 per month for all three, Nava said. She declined to disclose which neighborhoods the houses are located in, or their owners.

New lawsuit filed

An Oakland foster care rights advocate last week sued the county over keeping kids at the WET center. Sade Daniels, a former foster youth, filed the lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court, with the San Francisco-based Youth Law Center as the attorney. It alleges waste of public funds, violation of personal funds, facility deficiencies, failure to provide mental health treatment, and violation of the Community Care Facilities Act.

A stipulated settlement has been proposed, attorney Brian Blalock said.

Nava did not immediately provide a county comment on the lawsuit.

It’s not the first time the county is being sued over the facility. Sacramento NAACP President Betty Williams in April filed a lawsuit against the county, alleging a 14-year-old relative living at the facility fell victim to sex trafficking while in the county’s care. The county declined to comment on the lawsuit because it does not comment on pending litigation.

The county has declined requests from The Bee to enter the facility, blocked by Sheriff’s deputies, but a series of state letters provide an idea. The cells are about 16 feet by 8 feet, which is too small, state regulators wrote in a May 16 letter. The mattresses do not have springs and are “very thin,” and there are no drawers or closets in violation of state law. The metal toilets in the cells have been covered with wood and shelves while bedroom windows hinder privacy in rooms, the letter stated. The facility entrance’s metal detector “violates the right to be free from unreasonable searches of personal belongings and the right to be treated with respect,” the letter stated.

The state Department of Social Services threatened to fine the county $200 a day if they did not remove the children by Friday.

While the children are in the houses, county staffers will search for suitable homes and therapeutic programs for them, the release said.

The County Welfare Directors Association of California Thursday defended the county for placing children in the WET center.

“Sacramento County is not alone in facing difficulty finding safe, service-rich placements for youth with significant trauma and service needs that cross multiple systems,” Cathy Senderling-McDonald, head of the association, said in the county release. “This is a significant issue both statewide and across the nation. Several factors have contributed to a reduction in the availability of residential treatment settings for these youth, including changes in state and federal laws and regulations; a sharp increase in demand due to a behavioral health crisis facing children and youth across the country as a result of the pandemic; and workforce challenges throughout our public, private and non-profit health and human services systems.”

A recent survey found that over 600 foster kids have experienced stays in juvenile halls while under care of CPS agencies in counties across California, the letter stated. Fresno County in 2021 was housing foster children in an office building, where they were sleeping on yoga mats without showers and urinating into water bottles, the Fresno Bee reported.

The association supports Senate Bill 408, introduced by Sen. Angelique Ashby, D-Sacramento, aimed at helping Sacramento and other counties find better places for foster kids to live while awaiting placement. The bill would provide more state funding for counties to build better housing, and also to spark the creation of new desperately needed short-term residential therapeutic programs.

Prior to the WET Center, the county housed the children in an office building nearby, which the state also deemed unsuitable.

The county is also working to build a “comprehensive system of care,” and will be opening new emergency family homes in the next six months, the release said. It’s also working to develop prevention and early intervention strategies to help prevent children from needing contact with child welfare and juvenile justice systems in the first place, the release stated.