MODEL CHILDREN'S HOME FALLS SHORT OF EXPECTATIONS

In a foster care system where abused children are shifted from home to home, where siblings grow up apart and where nothing is forever, SOS Children's Village of Florida has been touted as a rare place.

On a quiet cul-de-sac in Coconut Creek, adults made long-term commitments to rear the youngsters as their own.

Brothers and sisters lived together in neat, cozy houses, and youngsters were told they would not have to leave, that they were "home at last."

"It may look like your average Florida neighborhood, but it's really a bold new way to help kids," Oprah Winfrey said on her show in 1998, five years after SOS, an offshoot of an international program, opened its doors.

But like other group homes for needy children, SOS has struggled since the mid-1990s with some ugly realities. Records provided by the Broward County office of the Department of Children & Families show numerous incidents of child-on-child sexual activity; allegations of improper supervision of children; and frequent police involvement at SOS.

In March 2001, DCF refused to place additional children there after a 16-year-old girl claimed her housemother's boyfriend impregnated her. The girl miscarried and later ran away, taking a 15-year-old girl from the village with her. The housemother was fired, the girls returned and the moratorium was lifted.

The same month, a grand jury investigating foster care in Broward County began meeting. The panel completed its work in early October, but a report of its findings has yet to be made public. The Broward State Attorney's Office said the report was being challenged in court, but refused, under penalty of law, to name the person or organization blocking the document.

Earlier this month, in a case filed against the state by SOS, the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach denied the state's request for permission to publish the report, according to the Clerk of Court's Office. The proceedings remain under seal.

SOS executives and board members declined to discuss the investigation or their interest in keeping the report sealed.

It's clear from other documents in the public record, however, that SOS has faced serious allegations in recent years, raising questions about the agency's ability to shepherd the 48 children in its care from adolescence to adulthood.

"It's a nice idea, what they're trying to do there," said Coconut Creek police Detective Robert Bryner, who has investigated problems at SOS. "But in theory it's one thing. In practice it's something else. You have a bunch of disturbed kids. You throw all these kids together with the baggage they're carrying around their whole lives, you're bound to have a lot of trouble."

A measure of the trouble is evident in DCF records, which show that:

An SOS house parent found a 14-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl having sex in February 2001. "The girl reported that this had been going on for two years through a turnover of house parents," according to an e-mail message to DCF Secretary Kathleen Kearney. The children had been the subject of a report submitted to the Florida Abuse Hotline in 1999, yet the house parent apparently was not aware of the children's prior sexual activity, a memo states.

A day after DCF was advised of the 16-year-old's pregnancy, the department learned another child in the same residence was sneaking a male friend into the house and "engaging in sexual activity," according to a letter written by top DCF officials.

A 16-year-old girl attempted to disable an alarm system in July 2001 by putting gum on the window sensor so she could slip out at night. Police, responding to the alarm, found five carloads of boys waiting outside. "It is believed that [the girl] has been going out at night and having sex with various boys," according to an incident report.

A 17-year-old boy hopped out of his bedroom window in August 2001, stole an SOS van and was clocked driving 83 mph by police who chased him. The boy had no driver's license.

A house parent was fired in October 2001 after a child claimed to have engaged in sexual behavior with at least two other children.

Coconut Creek police arrested an SOS youth last January for allegedly withdrawing $300 using a stolen ATM card. Alarmed by the events in February and March 2001, DCF ordered SOS to develop plans to provide "clear oversight" of SOS staff, outline performance standards for house parents and improve supervision.

"I have grave concerns about the structure of SOS, what kind of understanding they have about their present population, and what they are doing to address the issue," Diane Steward, then DCF District 10 director of child welfare, wrote in a March 7, 2001, e-mail to Kearney.

Broward Circuit Judge Susan J. Aramony threatened to move the 11-year-old who had been having sex from SOS and ordered DCF's Inspector General's Office to investigate the child's sexual history, documents state. The office referred the matter back to DCF district administrators.

Aramony, who is on leave from the court, was not available for comment.

During a recent interview, DCF Deputy District Administrator Mary Allegretti said the department has provided additional training to the agency, made behavior analysts available to give advice on managing teenagers, and had conversations with SOS about its mission. DCF caseworkers also visit the children regularly and participate in weekly SOS treatment meetings.

"Are we concerned? Yeah. We remain concerned," Allegretti said. "It's not like we're ignoring it. We're continuing to work with them."

DCF, however, knew all was not well at SOS years ago.

Allegations of abuse

In February 1995, an abuse report alleged "excessive corporal punishment," claiming children were frequently hit with a comb in the palm of their hands and were confined for long periods to a garage. DCF records do not note whether the allegation was substantiated.

The following month, a report contended that a child was made to walk around a house naked as punishment. In that instance, a house parent was fired, DCF records state.

In June 1998, a house parent allegedly offered a child money in exchange for sex.

DCF found the risk of future harm to the child was low, most likely because the house parent was dismissed and was no longer in the home, according to records and DCF officials.

Another set of house parents resigned in January 1999 after eight children admitted having consensual sex in the woods. An investigation found no signs of neglect.

Thirty-three abuse reports involving children at SOS were called in to the state's hotline from 1999 through 2001, according to DCF.

Of those, seven were deemed to be true, 14 showed some credible evidence, and 12 were unsubstantiated. A handful of the reports involved a single incident.

Throughout the years, DCF continued to license SOS, sometimes issuing "provisional" six-month licenses until the agency supplied missing paperwork in personnel files or made repairs to the houses.

But the licensing files before August 2000 included no references to abuse reports or findings, according to a department analysis. "It appears that these reports and incidents were never factored in the decision to relicense this program," states a Sept. 18, 2001, memo from Bill Doble, DCF facilities licensing unit supervisor.

"Those things are taken into consideration now," Allegretti said. "I'm certain of that because I sign licenses, and I look at those things."

Incorrigible teens

Marjory Bruszer, SOS's executive director since 1999, said allegations of impropriety "tear at me."

"Always, when we hear there is any incident when a child's safety is compromised it's very alarming," she said, and the agency quickly terminates staff in those cases.

"We never promised or intended to be perfect," she said. "But we do our darnedest to be near it, and to minimize risk and ensure safety for the kids."

In August, Bruszer and SOS Program Director Jillian Smath were called to testify before the grand jury investigating foster care, according to SOS board meeting minutes.

Bruszer declined to comment on the grand jury investigation to the Sun-Sentinel.

But she said during an interview that SOS is not alone in dealing with inappropriate behavior by children, especially teenagers. They steal cars, run away and engage in sex in other group homes and in traditional neighborhoods with intact families, she said.

"I don't think our kids are any different in terms of interest in sex than kids in the general community."

In a May 20 memo, however, Lee Johnson, DCF district administrator at the time, wrote that it did not appear that SOS was prepared to deal effectively with the "emerging sexuality" of children who have grown into young adulthood at the village.

When SOS started in 1993, the children were all under 11. The agency now has 31 teenagers, Bruszer said. About half of the children at SOS were victims of sexual abuse before their arrival there.

A team of behavioral health experts assigned to review SOS last year noted that some children were "severely emotionally disturbed and in need of a therapeutic environment."

The review team found that some children at SOS saw two or more therapists from different outside agencies, yet the therapists did not appear to communicate with each other.

Bruszer agreed that the mental health services for the children were "not as integrated as we'd like." In response, SOS brought a clinical coordinator on staff to provide counseling and to coordinate therapy offered by outside agencies. In addition, SOS arranged for a therapist from Family Central to treat SOS children four days a week in the village.

In interviews with the behavioral health review team, most children at SOS reported being happy, though some expressed anxiety and "a lack of a sense of permanency," the report states.

Some youngsters said that ill-behaved children were "messing it up for the rest of us."

Nobel nomination

Begun in Austria after World War II, SOS Children's Village provided homes for orphaned children throughout Europe. More than 400 villages have been established in 135 countries. In 1999, SOS's international parent organization was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

The nonprofit organization opened its first American village in Coconut Creek in 1993, with seven houses. There are now 11.

Its fame grew with sympathetic newspaper articles and the attention of luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey. Last year, a Saudi Arabian princess sent representatives bearing gifts for the children and a $50,000 donation.

"I think it's tremendous," Florida Marlins pitcher Ryan Dempster said of SOS, where he has befriended several of the families. "It's a lot better than I ever thought foster care could be."

Dempster was unaware of problems at the agency. "Everything I've ever heard has been good," he said.

SOS employs a community relations coordinator to promote the agency. About $835,000, or roughly 35 percent, of SOS's $2.4 million operating budget comes from private and corporate donations and fund-raisers. (The Sun-Sentinel Children's Fund is a contributor to SOS, and the paper's attorney, Kathy Pellegrino, is on the board.)

"The children thrive in traditional single-family homes, with nurturing parents who are dedicated to raising the boys and girls as a family," states a publicity brochure for an upcoming SOS Invitational Golf Tournament.

But former house parent Bill Sauve says SOS's image is "sugar-coated in a lot of ways." Sauve and his wife, Amy, were house parents for three years before resigning in 2001 when the stress of dealing with caseworkers and Dependency Court judges became too much.

"We were led to believe the children would be like our own and we would kind of have sort of a family setting with them," Suave said. "However, in reality, you have all the responsibilities but none of the authority."

The couple also feared a child would make a false allegation of abuse against them.

"The kids will look at you and say: 'I can get you out of here,'" Sauve said.

Turnover at SOS is high.

From 1999 through 2001, five house parents were fired and eight resigned, according to SOS.

In the same time period, eight parent assistants were terminated and six resigned. Since November 1999, three people have left the role of supervisor of direct care staff.

The agency's original intent, to hire people who would raise a generation of kids, today is considered unrealistic, Bruszer said.

"Things happen in people's lives that take them away from a job," she said.

What's more, under state and federal law, SOS cannot promise kids permanency anymore.

The system must try to reunite children with relatives, or place them for adoption.

Said Bruszer: "We're no longer telling children, 'This is where you're going to grow up.'"

Ensuring safety

In March 2001, SOS delivered an action plan to DCF outlining steps the agency would take to ensure children are safe.

SOS hired a second supervisor to oversee house parents and their assistants, reinforced its operating policies and tightened curfews, Bruszer said. Under the rules, children cannot be left home alone, regardless of age, without advance permission.

Visitor logs were placed in each home, and families submitted written schedules to SOS administrators.

House parents were reminded to set burglar alarms, and a security force was hired to patrol the village.

The patrols later were deemed too costly and unnecessary.

"Am I satisfied? I'm satisfied that the children are safe," DCF's Allegretti said. "I am also certain that there are more quality improvements that can be made."

Megan O'Matz can be reached at momatz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4518.

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