DuPage to vote on youth home’s future

With the fate of the DuPage County Juvenile Detention Center expected to be decided in two weeks, some county board members are making a final push to win over colleagues who have expressed apprehension about keeping DuPage’s most troubled youth at a Kane County facility.

Officials for months have discussed the possibility of transferring detainees from DuPage’s youth home to the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center, a regional facility in St. Charles.

The DuPage board’s finance committee is slated to vote Nov. 8 whether to enter into an agreement with Kane and close DuPage’s facility in Wheaton.

In the meantime, board member Robert Larsen said he’s planning to speak to board members individually about any concerns they may have with the proposal. On Tuesday, he gave board members a packet of information that included a chart comparing the programs offered at each facility.

“We think this is an important issue that has the potential to save the taxpayers of DuPage County over $1 million a year while providing excellent services for the youth of this county,” Larsen said.

He said Kane officials have expressed “a tremendous amount of flexibility” and a desire to address concerns about a variety of issues, including the facility’s processing procedure and visitation policy.

“We can improve Kane County’s program,” Larsen said, “by bringing our principles together with their principles to make sure that we’re providing the best available services.”

While an additional $400,000 to operate the youth home was set aside in DuPage’s proposed 2012 budget, the facility needs that extra money just to stay open because of state budget cuts.

Larsen said the youth home still would be “significantly” understaffed.

“We’ve already had incidents where detention officers have been attacked, and there’s been difficulty responding because of the lack of staffing,” Larsen said.

DuPage Chief Judge Stephen Culliton said he is “adamantly opposed” to only spending enough to keep the youth home open at a bare-bones level.

To best protect the heath and safety of the detainees and detention officers, Culliton said DuPage would need to spend at least $630,000 annually. That amount would allow for the hiring of detention officers, social workers and nurses positions that previously were eliminated.

Several judges and local law enforcement officials have said additional money should be spent to keep the youth home open and restore its reputation as an award-winning facility.

Still, county board Chairman Dan Cronin said the way to create an award-winning program is through the proposed partnership with Kane. “I remain hopeful that we can reach a final agreement with Kane County to eliminate this expense and provide a better quality of service for our youth,” he said.