Group Homes

Concerned about the care, spending and staffing in state-licensed children's group homes, lawmakers plan to hold hearings beginning next month on making "significant" changes to the regulation of the privately run facilities. State Sen. Ulysses Currie, chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, said yesterday that the panel will study consolidating the licensing and monitoring of the 330 children's group homes under one state agency. "The goal is, one, to make significant improvement and, two, to see what taxpayers are getting for their money and are we making a difference in the lives of the kids," said Currie, a Prince George's County Democrat.

The body of a man found in a pool in Randallstown has been identified as that of a disabled man who'd previously gone missing from a group home, Baltimore County Police said Thursday. James White, 64, had gone missing from the home in Owings Mills on Feb. 26, and his body was found in the pool in the 8100 block of McDonogh Road on April 28, police said. White was pronounced dead at the scene. At the time of his disappearance, police had described White as being non-verbal and intellectually disabled.

Operators of private group homes that serve troubled youths across Maryland are asking the legislature to scrap a forthcoming requirement that their staff members be certified by the state, calling it expensive and unnecessary. But state regulators and some legislators, who imposed the new rule after reports in 2005 of mistreatment and lax management in group homes, say the certification is needed to help protect vulnerable children. A bill scheduled for discussion in two General Assembly committees Thursday would do away with the certification mandate — not set to take effect until 2015 — for employees at about 30 "therapeutic" group homes that care for youths with the most challenging array of emotional and behavioral problems.

A 57-year-old Randallstown woman has been arrested after video of her abusing an intellectually disabled man in her care at a Columbia group home surfaced online, according to Howard County Police. Donna Everett, of the 9900 block of Cervidae Lane, was arrested after her employer, Emerge, Inc., brought the video to the attention of police after discovering it on the website YouTube, police said. Everett, a house manager at the home in the 6500 block of Quilting Way in Columbia, "can be seen striking the man in the head, face and neck, and spitting in the man's face," police said.

While I didn't choose to move to my Baltimore neighborhood because there was a group home for adults with mental illness nearby, it helped to "seal the deal. " My daughter was being treated for mental illness, and I found some solace in the presence of this option for the care of people with this challenge. Twenty-four years later, this group home is still one of the best kept homes in the neighborhood. As the parent of a daughter with a mental illness, and as a citizen, I need to place my behavior in a much broader context than consumerism.

Declaring a renewed effort to hold group home operators accountable, the head of the state's Department of Human Resources, announced yesterday a handful of new regulations. Christopher J. McCabe, the department's secretary, said the new policies would send a message to the operators of the 187 group homes his agency licenses that they are being watched. "Maryland is raising the bar for residential facilities for youth," he said during the announcement at Aunt Hattie's Place, a northwest Baltimore group home that has received high marks from the state.

IN OUR postcard-pretty community, the neighbors include TC two men who do not live in a group home, although they could. They are mentally disabled. I'll confess they scared me a little at first.We learned soon enough that they were harmless. One likes magazines; you often see him sitting on the sidewalk, going through the recyclables.The other, George, used to bring the newspaper to us every morning; once he accidentally threw it through the glass storm door. Two years ago we found him lying, half-frozen, in a snowdrift in our yard.

The Davidsonville residents who are upset about the impending expansion of a group home for the elderly in their neighborhood are not NIMBYs. They have a legitimate reason to complain.Thanks to an egregiously liberal provision in Anne Arundel County's zoning law, the Kris-Leigh group home -- now a modest three-bedroom brick rancher -- is about to expand by 6,110 square feet to 18 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms. The finished facility will encompass more than 7,000 square feet in a community where the biggest home is about 3,000 square feet.

Baltimore County senior citizens and their advocates have long noted a frustrating irony about life in that jurisdiction.Among all 24 Maryland subdivisions, the county ranks first in number of residents over the age of 60. About 138,000 of them live in the county now, and by the end of the decade, the figure should reach 144,000. Only Dade County, Fla., has a faster-growing number of elderly citizens than does Baltimore County, according to Phillip H. Pushkin, the director of the local department of aging.

In a victory for recovering alcoholics, former drug users and the mentally ill, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that cities may not use zoning laws to keep out group homes for people who are considered disabled under federal law.The court's decision raised a legal cloud over zoning ordinances in communities across the nation, including Baltimore and other Maryland communities.Article, Page 3A

For the second time in recent weeks, The Baltimore Sun has highlighted the Department of Human Resources' "Ready by 21" program as evidence of significant strides in how Maryland is looking at new ways of improving the lives of youth aging out of foster care ("Ready for life," Sept. 4). As providers of services for children placed by both by DHR and the Department of Juvenile Services, we couldn't help but be struck by one particularly profound statement in The Sun's editorial: "Most of all, what the state's foster care system needs more of [is]

Shalita O'Neale and the Maryland Foster Youth Resource Center deserve much praise for their work to assist youth to prepare for life after foster care ("Preparing foster teens for life," Aug. 20). "Ready by 21" is just one of a number of initiatives implemented by the Maryland Department of Human Resources to improve its services to foster youth since Ms. O'Neale's time in care. Ms. O'Neale is also to be commended for publicly acknowledging that a group home provided much needed stability and helped her find herself.

The Town of Bel Air, and any other local government with zoning laws on the books, can regulate through those laws where apartment buildings, townhouses, single family houses and assisted care facilities go. Similarly, they can regulate where medical facilities such as doctors offices, professional centers and hospitals are built. Zoning laws were designed to protect land owners from being unreasonably burdened by potentially obnoxious uses of the land on neighboring properties.

A Towson attorney has filed suit to prevent Sheppard Pratt Health System from opening a residential group home in his Ruxton neighborhood, and is demanding that the state rescind a license recently issued for the facility. Thomas C. Costello claims the home is a "for-profit, commercial enterprise," a use forbidden by state law in an established neighborhood and one that violates Baltimore County's zoning code. He has asked the court to void a state license granted in January for the home at 1506 LaBelle Ave., which would house up to six people transitioning from hospital treatment programs for depression and anxiety.

Despite local opposition, Sheppard Pratt's application for a high-end group home in a residential Towson neighborhood has received state approval. Karen Black, director of public relations for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, confirmed Tuesday that approval for the group home in Ruxton was given by the Office of Health Care Quality and sent to Sheppard Pratt on Feb. 2. The home will be a temporary residence for patients who have completed the Retreat program at Sheppard Pratt, a voluntary program for individuals seeking mental health treatment, but are seeking additional support.

Sheppard Pratt Medical Systems is now the owner of the Ruxton home that it plans to convert into a controversial high-end mental health rehabilitation center. The hospital completed the approximately $1.4 million purchase of the six-bedroom, six-bathroom house on Labelle Avenue last week. The original asking price was about $1.7 million. Hospital officials said they plan to use the house as a treatment center for wealthy patients who are transitioning from treatment at The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt, a private mental health care facility.

The white Dutch colonial high on a hill in Linthicum is a mere 70 years old. Its inhabitants have been around much longer.They are Joe Anthoney, a former professional football player who is 78, and Nannie DuVall who is 90. Helen DuVall, no relation, can't quite recall her age but says, "it's way up there." George M. Wentz is 92. He does the gardening.When Mr. Wentz moved to a nursing home six years ago, his health began to deteriorate. His grandson, also named George, began looking for a group home, but couldn't find one in Anne Arundel County.

Jan and Michael Power fear the peace and serenity they find behind their secluded home in Davidsonville will be shattered when the owner of a group home next door begins construction to triple the size of the facility.The back yard, with its white granite fountain, is "our retreat from the world," said Mrs. Power, 45, of Whispering Oaks Lane. "Now, it'll be ruined."The controversy over the facility has led County Councilman John J. Klocko III to draft legislation to tighten controls on group homes.

While I didn't choose to move to my Baltimore neighborhood because there was a group home for adults with mental illness nearby, it helped to "seal the deal. " My daughter was being treated for mental illness, and I found some solace in the presence of this option for the care of people with this challenge. Twenty-four years later, this group home is still one of the best kept homes in the neighborhood. As the parent of a daughter with a mental illness, and as a citizen, I need to place my behavior in a much broader context than consumerism.

Sheppard Pratt's announcement of plans to purchase a residence in Ruxton, near our flagship campus in Towson, has provoked an uproar from a segment of homeowners in this neighborhood. The residence, which will be licensed as a group home, is designed as a transitional living setting for adults who have been treated on a voluntary basis for one to two months at Sheppard Pratt's main facility for conditions such as serious depression and severe anxiety. The "not in my backyard" response from some community members reflects misconceptions and fears about mental illness and its treatments.