DuPage youth home supporters still trying to save it

Supporters of DuPage County's youth home are making a last-ditch effort to get county board members to change their minds about closing the facility.

Fourteen people on Tuesday urged the board to abandon a plan to send youth detainees to Kane County. Instead, they are asking that an extra $630,000 be budgeted next year for the DuPage County Juvenile Detention Center so it can stay open and add more staff.

“That would enable this award-winning program to operate as it was meant to be operated,” said Florence Estes, a staff representative with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the union that represents the facility's employees.

The public plea came a week after board members voted 11-7 to enter into an agreement to transfer DuPage's youth detainees to the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center, a regional facility in St. Charles that provides services to youths from DeKalb, Kendall and McHenry counties.

If the four-year contract is approved by Kane's board, DuPage County would pay $110 per day, per minor. The transition would take place next year. Officials estimate the deal eventually could save DuPage at least $800,000 annually.

But Estes and others pointed to the fact that judges, public defenders and other law enforcement officials have said that closing DuPage's youth home would be a mistake.

“I truly hope you don't go through with this,” Estes said. “The taxpayers deserve better than this, and our kids deserve better than this.”

One major hurdle to keeping the youth home open is funding.

Board members next week are expected to approve a 2012 budget plan that would eliminate the $400,000 in additional funding the youth home needs to overcome state budget cuts. The facility would need another $230,000 next year to hire more detention officers, social workers and nurse positions that previously were eliminated.

Estes said DuPage “is not broke” and has an estimated $49 million in its reserve fund.

“The $600,000 needed to keep open a youth home which gives kids a chance to get back on track is a drop in the bucket compared to your reserve fund,” she said.

Several residents asked the board to fund the youth home for 2012 so officials can take time to further study the issue. The residents said they would like to see more data that proves the deal with Kane would save money and benefit DuPage kids.

Board member Jim Zay, who opposes the agreement with Kane, agreed.

“Through this short time period, this is shortsighted,” Zay said. “This is not taking what's best for the children of our county. These are the children that are most at risk — that need our help — and we should be standing up for them.”

But supporters of the outsourcing idea insist there hasn't been a rush to judgment.

“The reality is that this is an appropriate option,” said board member Robert Larsen, adding that he and others have explored all the facts.

“Those who have been out to Kane County understand that Kane County is not some horrifying place where we're going to send our youths to be tortured,” Larsen said. “It is an outstanding facility. It has won some of its own awards. And this is the right thing to do for the people of DuPage County.”

Board Chairman Dan Cronin has said the deal would spend taxpayers' money in a responsible way while maintaining juvenile programs “in a compassionate and efficient manner.”

DuPage's 87,000-square-foot facility originally was built in 1999 with a 96-bed capacity. Now it has an average daily population of about 23, which costs the county $357 per youth, per day.

Officials say the center's population numbers fell because efforts to deter juvenile crime, including neighborhood resource centers, are working.

Meanwhile, expenses at the youth home continued to climb even though the staff was reduced and the facility was reconfigured to have 32 beds. Late last year, the youth home's 64-bed tower was turned over to the DuPage sheriff's work release program during a downsizing of the facility.

Still, some say closing the facility would cause DuPage to lose control over some of the services used to help kids.

“I haven't seen one person from the judicial branch of this government of DuPage County who says they support sending our kids (to Kane County),” board member Dirk Enger said. “Everybody has spoken out against it. It has nothing to do with politics. It's about belief in that program.”

Enger said there's talk of organizing a protest sometime before next week's final budget vote to raise public awareness about the youth home issue.

Resident Siobhan Burke says she's going to help spread the word.

“Will we make a difference by next week? I don't know,” the Aurora woman said. “I don't know if we'll pack this place enough or get enough phone calls to (board members) to make a difference. But we're not going to just let another bad decision go through this board and just let it happen.”