In the Chicago Tribune today, Feb. 2nd 2012, there’s an article about a 23 year old male that is being held in Cook County jail for three murders from 2009 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-dandre-howard-dcfs-20120202,0,1201619,full.story ) The young man was a Ward of the State of IL since the age of 5 and has shown some rage issues at the age of 7. As I read the first paragraph I already knew what the story was going to be about and what agencies he was involved in as soon as I saw that he was sexually inappropriate. I really encourage you to read the article because it is important to understand why funding a program is SO important.
The young man was being treated at a center in Northern IL and it so happens to be a former employer of mine back in 2004. I loved my job and it’s the job I miss the most because it was really a different challenge each and every day. The problem with this center is not so much how it is run but the funding it lacked back then so I won’t make any assumptions about their funding today but I do know it’s not at the best it can be. This center was basically the last hope for a juvenile that had committed a sexual offense and was a Ward of the State. Back then we were allowed to physically restrain the clients after a process of verbal de-escalations and if that didn’t work then we would carefully and quickly restrain the client if need be to avoid them from harming themselves or others. It really is a tough job because at some point everyone finds themselves in a situation where they are the lead and have to make the decision if the client is restrained or not. There were times when it was obvious that the client was not going to stop throwing chairs across the room and a co-worker would freeze and someone else would have to jump in and take control. I take my hat off to all mental health workers that have to work in centers like this! I said all of that so people wouldn’t think that a job like this is a cake walk because it really isn’t so let’s not blame staff right off.
Now the agency has its issues just like any other place and sometimes you have administration that feels they know best regardless of how much time they don’t spend working the floor. Sometimes you have fresh out of college Social Workers that try to use a model of therapy with the clients and they are shocked that it didn’t work so it’s a constant trial and error.
The issue with this young man was that he was moved along in the system with the purpose to get him out of State custody no matter what and I believe it because I’ve watched it happen time and time again. A minor can be a Ward of the State until the age of 21 in IL after that they usually get transferred to an adult agency if they need it due to low IQ status or any disabilities they may have. As juvenile sex offenders start the process of going back into the community you want to make sure that they fully understand that they cannot touch someone randomly and that they are able to control their urges as best as possible or help they with a strategy to avoid making a mistake again. At this agency once they hit 18 the pressure is on to move them to the house which is an actual house and there they learn how to live as a group and appropriately with others. Once there if they improve quickly they move across the path to a large mobile type of building that has about 20 small apartments. When they get there then they really have a lot more freedom than before.
I really don’t have negative things to say about this center because they gave me a chance and I did well and they were happy with the outcome of my Unit. I had the toughest kids in the center and when I was given the Unit I was told to plan on sleeping there because I would most likely be doing restraints all week long my first week. I can proudly say that my first restraint on my Unit did not happen well over 45 days after it first opened. I know that I could have done better if funding was stronger for centers like this one because I used a lot of my own money to get certain things done.
Why did this young man kill three people with a butcher knife is an answer we can only get from him and there’s really no one to blame but ourselves if we believe that services provided to him was not enough. I know the centers Exec. Dir. and she always seemed to be on the edge because it was a constant asking for money from funders and the State of IL that kept her on that edge which kept us on edge as well sometimes. The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has a lot of weight on their backs and there are some that truly work hard and others that are just pushing paper but both types of employees are pushed to make sure that they are releasing Wards out of State custody as soon as possible. When a child becomes a Ward of the state at a very young age, as did this young man, the main focus is to stabilize them in foster care then they evaluate the child for potential adoption if there is no possibility for the child to go back to the family. So the child can very well stay in the limbo of trying to be adopted well into their teen years and by then no one wants to adopt a teenager. Then as the child grows up with possibly no stable direction, purpose, or care the child does not know what it is to be responsible, loving, focused, appropriate, etc. Many people have fought the odds and are great examples coming from the system but unfortunately it is less common to become successful coming out of these programs.
This young man has committed a serious crime and one that has affected the family of the deceased and many others including the staff at the center. The question will always be ‘what did we do wrong?’ and I think no one can truly be blamed for this young man’s actions unless he was completely ignored and people just used him to collect a paycheck from the State of IL. This young man is a product of our society not giving the importance to our children and youth that it requires. Basketball night is NOT the solution, opening up a recreation center is NOT the solution, field trips to a baseball game is NOT the solution, and there are many more ways we have wasted time and money on things that are not the solution. The center has an Art therapy session and it is amazing what they get out of these youth but it was so rag tag when I worked there that I wished I could win the lottery and build out an appropriate room for them. This is where funding needs to be it needs to be in Art programs, Music programs, Science programs, and many other programs that will teach our youth how to expand their minds and culture. As a child my Father would listen to Classical music and I would sit there with him and by the time I reached 7th grade I had already developed an ear for the music that I could tell who was who by listening. Then one day my 7th grade teacher put on Mozart and he saw me tapping away and he asked me if I knew who it was and I said yes it’s Mozart. Then he asked how I knew Mozart and I responded with “because my Father introduced me to his music” and my teacher became my biggest advocate but always harder on me than on others.
I can already hear someone saying ‘this is not my problem’ and the truth of the matter is that it is very much my problem to solve as it is yours. I say that because I know where youth are released from centers like this one and I will not disclose those areas but I will say it could very well be the building next to you and don’t think that because you live in Wrigleyville you are exempt from the list.
How do we care for our youth now so that in fifteen years they are not out there committing these crimes?
If you feel that it’s the parent’s responsibility no matter what condition the parent is in then I ask you, how do we help adults become responsibly parents?
If you care about humanity then the question is how do you ensure that our youth will be in a better place in the near future?
I know what I will do and I hope that you do too…if you don’t but want to then let’s talk.
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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