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Article published Jul 7, 2010
Residential treatment site to open at JJC
FCC facility to target disruptive behavior.
BY ERIN BLASKO Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- The Children's Campus, a division of the Family & Children's Center, has reached an agreement with the St. Joseph County Probate Court to operate a residential treatment facility at the Juvenile Justice Center.

Consisting of 34 beds, the secure facility will provide clinical, psychiatric, medical, educational, recreational and vocational services to adolescent males with disruptive behavior disorder.

The facility will not be a replacement for the former Madison Center facility at the JJC, which closed in January.

"It's not going to be the same program," JJC Director Bill Bruinsma said. "It will focus more clearly on disruptive behavior disorder" as opposed to substance abuse and truancy.

Also known as conduct disorder, disruptive behavior disorder is characterized by "aggression toward others and serious violations of rules, laws and social norms," according to the Centers for Disease Control.Family & Children's Center CEO Bruce Greenberg said treatment for the disorder will focus on peer pressure as a way to influence behavior, a strategy

that has proved effective in other settings.

"The treatment will involve peer pressure monitoring," Greenberg said. "It will focus on peers either rejecting client behavior or positively reinforcing it."

Bruinsma said the facility will provide judges with an alternative to boys schools, where the majority of juvenile offenders in the county with behavioral problems are now sent.

"We will be able to treat them here in the community," he said, "and have families involved in treatment."Under the agreement, The Children's Campus will operate out of the space formerly occupied by Madison Center. It will pay $55 per day per child for rent, with half the money going to the Friends of the JJC and the other half to the county general fund.

Bruinsma said Friends of the JJC plans to use the additional revenue to reinstate full-day classes at Central Academy, the center's alternative school for at-risk kids. The center cut those classes last year due to lack of money.

In order to move forward with the new facility, The Children's Campus must first obtain permission from the state to expand its current residential program to include the 34 extra beds slated for the JJC. Greenberg said the organization has submitted necessary paperwork to the state and is awaiting a response.

Asked when the facility might begin operating, he said: "Certainly I hope by mid-August, though it's out of our hands right now."

Staff writer Erin Blasko:
eblasko@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6187