Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
2 <br />liability <br />fighting with peers in home or at school <br />physical aggressiveness with individual in position of <br />authority, teachers or foster parents <br />self-injurious, suicidal behaviors <br />3. Destructive to property because of angry outburst <br />taking car without permission, frequently causing <br />damage, deliberate planful destruction of property, <br />fire-setting <br />4. Sexualized behaviors -- sexually terrorizing younger <br />children, often combined with run-away and aggressive <br />behaviors, indiscriminate sexual contact in the community and <br />inappropriate sexual behaviors with foster family members <br />5. chronic drug/alcohol abuse - often combined with run-away and <br />aggressive behaviors including chronic lying and stealing <br />PLACEMENT CATEGORIES OF HARD TO PLACE CHILDREN <br />Gretchen Alysworth, Coordinator of the Guardian Ad Litem Program, <br />summarized the four profiles included in the material that was distributed: <br />1. young children with serious psychological/emotional problems <br />2. teenagers who run away <br />3. children with dual diagnoses of retardation and psychological <br />problems <br />4. teenagers with anti-social behaviors, some make a career of <br />running away <br />One problem is the definition of juvenile in that DSS is <br />responsible for a child until they are 18 years old. However, they may quit <br />school when they turn sixteen. <br />PLACEMENT RESOURCES <br />Sandy Fletcher, Director of the Children and Youth Services at <br />Orange Person Chatham Mental Health, said that the problem faced by a <br />community in trying to serve these children is their diagnosis. They are <br />not receptive and it is a real struggle to try to contain them in the <br />community. The question of whether or not it is safe to keep them in the <br />community is a big one. These children require 24 hour care. They have a <br />hard time dealing with authority figures. It is a hard struggle to find the <br />right kind of placement because foster homes are not qualified to handle <br />these kinds of behavior problems. Another problem is accessing services <br />when they need them. There is a waiting list for these placements with many <br />denials occurring. They need high management homes which are not available <br />or are limited. All have very long waiting lists. They know what the <br />children need but either cannot access the services or do not have the <br />resources to do what is necessary. <br />Marti Pryor-Cook mentioned that prevention must begin when the <br />children are small before they have a chance to escalate out of control. <br />Smart Start hopes to be able to address this issue. There are two <br />classrooms operating for behavior problems and they have a waiting list for <br />