State Rep. to Call for Emergency Executive Order Regarding Curfew Violations at Youth Service Center
Located at 5001 S. Michigan Ave., Aunt Martha’s Youth Service Center, a state-funded, short-term, facility that is supposed to keep troubled youth safe, has been in the news in recent weeks after it was revealed that kids who were removed from their homes for various reasons and placed in the Center’s care, were leaving the facility past curfew hours, including an 11, 15 and a 19 year-old who all suffered a gunshot wounds last month as they stood outside the facility.
Illinois State Rep. Ken Dunkin said he’ll call for an emergency executive order following the shootings of three youths last month. The Center’s executive director, Raul Garza said they’re doing everything they can within the law to prevent children from leaving the center after curfew and have seen a big drop in recent weeks in the number of kids doing so.
“My issue is they allow kids 13 and over to come and go as they want and I have a problem with that,” Dunkin told The Chicago Citizen Newspaper. “The kids are already traumatized and placed there and the Center is going against the City of Chicago ordinance in terms of curfew."
The Chicago City Council in 2011 passed a curfew ordinance that applies to children ages 16 years and younger:
· Weekday curfew for minors 12 through 16 years of age is 10:00 p.m.
· Weekday curfew for minors younger than 12 is 8:30 p.m.
· Weekend curfew for minors 12 through 16 years of age is 11:00 p.m.
· Weekend curfew for minors younger than 12 is 9:00 p.m.
Dunkin initially spoke out on the matter on a local talk radio show saying the kids who are wards of the Center were outside at all times of the night and getting into fights with kids in the neighborhood where Dunkin happens to reside.
According to Garza who also spoke on the local talk radio show, the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act and the 1982 Illinois Children and Family Law Rules 384, prevents the Center’s staff from physically restraining or locking in children who want to leave the facility.
“Doing that is only allowed in state psychiatric facilities and jails,” Garza said. “Children in short-term facilities are not supposed to walk out, but state rules say if a child demands to leave, and they're not considered dangerous to themselves, no one can stop them.”
When asked if children are still leaving the facility whenever they want, Garza told the Chicago Citizen Newspaper on Monday, “There are instances where kids are going out but they are rare. The number of kids who are getting out has been reduced by 70 percent and they are the older kids, 17, 18 and 19 years of age. What we’ve done is add more staff (7) including off duty Chicago Police.”
Garza said with more staff talking to kids about the dangers of going out at night has helped a great deal.
“We’re using a system of wearing them down when we talk to them,” Garza said. “We’ve spent anywhere from one and a half to three hours talking to a child who wanted to leave. Wearing them down doesn’t always work.”
When asked whether the Center is safe for children, Rep. Dunkin said, “An 11-year-old, a 15-year-old and a 19-year-old were all shot on the same night. They say we can’t lock them in. I’m saying you have to protect the kids. Here’s what they do; they bill the state every month. They have a $64 million facility. I’m not trying to hear ‘they don’t have custody over the kids.’”
When asked what if a five or six-year-old wanted to leave the Center and whether or not parents had a right to restrain children from leaving their home whenever they wanted, Garza’s spokesperson, Tom Owens replied, “It applies to all of the children in our care, regardless of their age. It’s important to remember that child welfare professionals are not working within the same parameters that parents have in their own home. A parent in a private home is allowed to restrain their child, as long as it does not cross the line and become physical abuse. The children at the CRC are there because they have been removed from abusive homes, they’ve already been traumatized."
The Chicago Citizen Newspaper asked Rep. Dunkin what he as an Illinois State Rep. can do to help rectify the situation, “I will introduce legislation to address their excuse (that they cannot physically restrain or lock the kids in). If the kids are leaving the facility, there will be a financial penalty.”
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