SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento County officials have for six months housed foster children in cells in a former juvenile detention facility, in violation of state law.
A state agency in February sent the county a letter, obtained by The Sacramento Bee, requiring them to remove the children from the Rosemont “jail-like” unlicensed facility.
County officials still have not done so. Instead they’re asking the state for a license to keep housing children in the facility while they await placement, despite receiving a letter six months ago from a state official strongly advising against it.
“The physical space of the facility and the facility environment has potential to retraumatize or trigger youth, leaving children to feel physically and psychologically unsafe,” a Sept. 26 letter to the county from the California Department of Social Services Foster Care ombudsperson Larry Fluharty stated. “The (Warren E. Thornton) center violates the youth’s right to live in a comfortable home ... Housing children in the WET center is inappropriate and unacceptable.”
The county has been struggling with where to keep the children after it stopped housing foster children in a county-owned building on the campus of a large nonprofit group home called the Children’s Receiving Home. Weeks after a Sacramento Bee report exposing rampant police calls and runaways at the nonprofit’s campus, the county stopped housing children there in September 2020. It then put foster children in a Rosemont office building. But the state sent letters raising concerns about the conditions there, prompting the county to move them yet again in August 2022 — to the former detention facility.
The county plans to apply Monday for a state license to allow it to legally keep using the former detention facility, at 4000 Branch Center Road, for foster children while social workers search for more permanent placements for them, said Samantha Mott, a county spokeswoman.
“While none of the (challenges in finding appropriate foster care programs) negate the fact that youth are waiting for placement in an unlicensed setting, the county believes it is the safest and best option at this point while we continue to seek viable solutions for placements in licensed settings,” Mott said in an email.
Mott declined to allow The Bee to tour the facility, citing youth privacy concerns. The children there on average are ages 13 to 17, though sometimes they are younger, Mott said. On any given night, typically about 12 to 16 youth are there.
The DSS September letter from the state ombudsperson states the jail-like setting “shortens the pipeline” from foster care to juvenile justice. The county’s youth probation office is housed in the same facility, though in a separate wing.
“Some foster youth have incarcerated parents or have been incarcerated themselves and housing children at a former youth detention facility has long-lasting impacts on youth,” the letter stated.
Children sleeping in cells
During a visit in August, state officials observed children sleeping in cells with metal bunk beds and toilets covered with wood, the letter stated. Other cells were converted into bathrooms with metal toilets. The showers have unused timers and there are many security cameras. A uniformed security guard was watching the main large room.
A child told a state official that the facility reminded them of the county’s current youth detention facility, which is just a half mile away, the letter stated. Another one said it reminded them of a “rehabilitation center.”
Although it’s a former youth juvenile detention center, the cell doors are not locked, and the children can come and go on their own accord, as well as use a full size gym to play games, play basketball and exercise, Mott said. A variety of professionals come to the facility to help youth with mental health, substance use, trauma from sexual abuse, and anxiety. Staff also take them to outings such as dinners and movies.
Prior to living in the former juvenile justice facility, the county had the children awaiting placement living in a county office building down the street at 3701 Branch Center Road, sleeping on cots, according to an Oct. 20 county letter to the state.
In May, the state ombudsperson received complaints about that building and investigated, finding it was not appropriate for housing children, the letter said. That prompted the county to quickly move children to the WET center, the letter said.
“Sacramento County responded to (the ombudsperson’s) summary of complaints regarding foster youth being housed at our 3701 Branch Center Road location by quickly moving our youth to the location at 4000 Branch Center Road,” the county letter stated. “... it is a difficult situation and the current location is better than the previous location.”
But at least six months after placing children there, the county still does not have a state license for the facility. In February, the state Department of Social Services sent the county another letter, this time not from the ombudsperson but from the deputy director of the community licensing division, ordering the county to remove the children from the WET center or apply for a state license. It threatened fines, “civil and/or criminal action.”
DSS spokesman Jason Montiel did not respond to emails seeking comment.
“You are hereby notified that the facility at the (WET Center) is operating without a license in violation of California Health and Safety Code Section 1508,” the Feb. 13 letter, obtained by The Bee, stated. “... your continued operation without a license could result in civil and/or criminal action being taken against Sacramento County.”
Shortage of group homes, foster families
Part of the problem, Mott said, is is a shortage of licensed group homes where foster youth can be placed in Sacramento.
“There are numerous challenges with finding appropriate placements for our foster youth,” Mott wrote. “One of the biggest barriers is a lack of appropriate placements in California, including near Sacramento, able to meet the complex needs of our youth. We have a number of youth that have been rejected by multiple placement options and/or ejected after being placed.”
Not many group homes in Sacramento can house the county’s foster children, said David Myers, a Sacramento attorney specializing in dependency. In addition, the state is increasingly encouraging counties to place children in foster homes rather than group homes.
“It was the convergence of not having a shelter facility and trying to move away from shelter facilities that created a tremendous need,” Myers said. “The intentions were good, the execution has been less than. There just aren’t too many group homes in Sacramento. And there are not enough foster families in Sacramento.”
Several counties across the state are grappling with the same problem. 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.
Myers said state lawmakers should remove some of the strict barriers for relatives to adopt foster children, and said several pending bills would help do so.
“The right answer to this,” Myers said, “is better accessibility to relatives.”
In the meantime, Mott said county staff work hard to ensure the children at the WET center find placements, and sometimes they are only there for one or two days. Those that are there longer often are part of a sibling set, or have significant medical conditions such as autism, diabetes, cerebral palsy, and mental health diagnoses.
“The county has a team of social workers that search for appropriate placements all day, every day in efforts to not have kids at the WET Center,” Mott said.
The county issued a request for proposals seeking providers to operate a so-called temporary shelter care facility for foster children on Feb. 10, Mott said. It has not yet signed a contract.
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