Edythe Jensen
The Arizona Republic
March 17, 2007
Parc Place, a lockdown rehabilitation facility for troubled teens in north Chandler, is under fire from former employees who say the place is plagued by violence, poor management and lax care.
Several say they are in talks with child advocates at the Arizona Center for Disability Law and are seeking legal action against the facility and its operators, Austin, Texas-based Youth and Family Centered Services.
But CEO Michael Puthoff said the youths in his facility "are as safe there as in any place they could be in the state of Arizona." advertisement
The ex-employees disagree. "We're lucky we haven't had any dead kids on our hands," said former Parc Place counselor Heidi Miller,who now works for the non-profit Child Protection Project. "There are serious problems with racial gangs and gang initiations. We have kids getting beat up," Miller said. "One was tied up all night with sheets and the staff didn't find him until morning."
Puthoff said he doesn't recall the sheet incident and declined to discuss individual employees. Ed Myers, litigation director for Arizona Center for Disability Law, said the agency "does not comment on pending investigations."
Parc Place is a state-funded for-profit institution charged with housing, treating and educating up to 87 teenagers with mental health, substance abuse or behavior issues. Many of these kids are wards of the state and placed there by welfare agencies.
Facilities such as Parc Place are under intense scrutiny by the Arizona Department of Health Services and Child Protective Services and any complaints by employees to those agencies would trigger inquiries, Puthoff said.
DHS records show the Chandler site was cited and fined $500 to $750 three times last year for violations. Two were for "failure to ensure a restraint or seclusion does not result in harm to the client" and one for failure to document staff training. DHS officials would not say if there are pending investigations.
Puthoff said the low fines show the offenses were not serious.
High turnover and complaints by ex-workers isn't unusual for facilities that treat 13- to 17-year-olds with histories of abuse, serious addictions and behavior problems and who are not suitable candidates for less secure group homes or foster homes, he said. "We care about the kids."
Miller said she was fired last month "for standing up to ethical issues" and challenging elements of some proposed new programs at the facility.
Former Parc Place School Principal Dan Bradfield and teacher JoAnne Dangel resigned in recent weeks, and both said every member of the teaching staff has quit during the past two months. Dangel said the administrators have for years refused to buy textbooks for students, the rooms are dirty, and the facility has become so dangerous that she feared for her safety.
"The gang thing has gotten out of hand and kids are getting the hell beat out of them. But not too much is being done about it," she said. Dangel said she was assigned, alone, to a classroom of 20 boys.
"I didn't feel safe there," she said.
Puthoff said no teachers are alone in classrooms without behavioral health aides.
Bradfield said he left because he had been hired to run the education program but wasn't allowed to do that, and because he couldn't convince management of the seriousness of problems.
Maria Ross, former risk management director and a member of the governor's Economic Security Advisory Council, said she quit last month because she was appalled by the conditions there.
"Most of these kids are wards of the state and don't have parents to go to bat for them. Parc Place has no reason to want to discharge them because of the revenue. They're growing up in a locked setting with no activities, no books. Anyone in that setting would go nuts." According to city records, Chandler police were called to the site 100 times during the past 12 months and reported 30 assaults.
Puthoff, a psychiatric social worker who said he has worked in residential treatment facilities for nearly 30 years, said police are sometimes called for documentation and reporting purposes or to transport a patient accused of criminal behavior to a detention facility.
Rohno Geppert, team leader for behavioral health licensing at DHS, said children sent to facilities like Parc Place have such serious behavior problems that seclusion, restraints and calls to police are not unusual. The trend is away from having staff members confront violent clients; "instead they call 911 and have the police deal with them," he said.
"It's a tough business," Puthoff said. "You have kids in a lot of pain and a lot of anxiety" and some act out violently.
Parc Place, which operates a similar facility in Casa Grande, recently raised staff salaries to be more competitive with other health care institutions, Puthoff said, and he is seeking additional state funding for treatment.
