Group Homes

Renewing debate over a controversial proposal that has failed twice before, the Baltimore City Council is again considering legislation that would permit live-in drug treatment centers to open in more residential neighborhoods. Though the same bill has faced opposition from neighborhood groups in the past, Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration is under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice to loosen the city's zoning laws - which critics charge are used to limit the centers - or face a federal lawsuit.

An Islamic school wants to build a small dormitory in Woodlawn. But in an area with the highest concentration of homes for foster children and disabled and troubled youths in Maryland, a boarding school for 20 teenage boys sounds too much like a group home to some community leaders. "We don't know where these kids are coming from," said Van Ross, president of the Woodlawn Community Education and Development Association. "We don't know if they are troubled young people or what. How would you like a dormitory or a group home next to your house?"

A counselor at a group home in Randallstown for abused and neglected youngsters was shot early yesterday while checking a noise at a door of the house, Baltimore County police said. The 46-year-old man was shot shortly after 4:30 a.m., Baltimore County police spokesman Cpl. Michael Hill said. He was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in serious condition, and was expected to live, Hill said. Three boys between the ages of 15 and 18 were at the home, in the 3700 block of Offutt Road, at the time of the shooting, police said.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge imposed the maximum punishment of three consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole, plus 100 years for gun offenses, on Derrick Taylor yesterday for his role in the killings of three recovering addicts at a Remington group home. Before imposing punishment, Judge Roger W. Brown said the facts of the case "shook me to the very core." He added: "No matter how long I live, I won't be able to forget that." Family members brought pictures of the victims to court, held hands and some said, "Yes!

The victims were middle-aged recovering addicts living in a group home in North Baltimore's Remington neighborhood. The gunmen, police believe, were young drug dealers who had come to collect. Nathaniel Gulliver walked to a nearby ATM and drained his bank account to help his friend, Antwon Arthur, pay off a $300 marijuana debt. But the $140 he had to offer wasn't enough. The gunmen corralled five residents into a second-floor room and fatally shot Gulliver, Arthur and Steven Matthews. Two other residents escaped.

Michael likes to give hugs and can be something of a night owl. Jenny bowls and is always up for an outing. Becky delights in music and enjoys shrimp and diet Coke. They are clients whom McDaniel College graduate students Melanie Soper and Ila Bryant care for as part of a two-year program. The students earn a master's in human services management in special education, while gaining practical experience through a simultaneous live-in internship with three developmentally disabled clients.

Legislation approved by the General Assembly this month that will beef up state oversight of some 500 group homes and establish strict performance standards, among other requirements, is a sound measure that should help protect foster children in these homes and get them better services. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. will sign the legislation into law "with great enthusiasm," according to the Governor's Office for Children, and no wonder. The state's 2,700 foster children deserve to be safeguarded from the unchecked neglect and mistreatment many suffered at the hands of unqualified or poorly trained workers employed by the homes.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is expected to sign into law a measure that would strengthen oversight of some 500 group homes caring for 2,700 troubled foster children across Maryland and reduce the heavy concentration of the privately run facilities in northwestern Baltimore County, state officials said yesterday. Arlene F. Lee, executive director of the Governor's Office for Children, said Ehrlich would sign the bill "with great enthusiasm." The measure, which the General Assembly passed last week, "does a number of things that are very important in terms of distribution of resources around the state and the quality of resources around the state," Lee said.

To Jerry O. Pittman, the dilapidated 148-year-old mansion known as "The Mount" offers an opportunity for staff members of his nonprofit group home provider to come together under one roof in an isolated corner of West Baltimore. But Pittman's plans to restore the mansion - fixing its slumping roof and gutting its interior to create office space for about 30 employees - is running into fierce neighborhood opposition. Many residents of the Fairmount community charge that his idea, particularly his proposal to build a community center on an adjacent piece of property, will bring in unwarranted traffic, noise and other unwelcome hazards.

State officials and legislators are moving to tighten oversight of some 500 privately run group homes caring for 2,700 troubled foster children in Maryland at an annual cost of $167 million. For the first time, the homes would face yearly performance goals set by the Governor's Office for Children and spelled out in their contracts, according to Del. Dan K. Morhaim, who has been leading the effort to revamp contract rules. The facilities would be required to report on the recidivism rates of residents, the number of police calls to each home and the percentage of funding that they spend on care.