Spokane7
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July 17, 2011 in City
State’s foster care system discharges ill-equipped young adults
Despite program’s good intentions, teens are out on their own and unprepared
Andrew Wattles, 18, eats a bowl of oatmeal at Jenny’s Diner in downtown Spokane on July 13. He has aged out of child welfare and now lives in a group home in the West Central neighborhood.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
On his 18th birthday, a boy with a history of behavioral health problems was turned out of the Spokane group home where he had spent the previous two and a half years in the state’s care and started a life on his own for which he was unprepared.
Recently cut off of the powerful psychotropic drugs that had been used to control his aggression, Tyler Dorsey ended up in the Spokane County Jail on a domestic violence charge six weeks after aging out of child welfare.
A new state law, which takes effect on Friday, might have protected Dorsey, who was turned away by numerous agencies because of his juvenile record of assault.
HB1128 entitles foster youth without a high school diploma or GED to remain in foster care until age 21 by opting into the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act.
Local, state and federal government officials know they have to help more teenagers who through no fault of their own have been taken out of abusive or neglectful homes and placed in foster care or institutions. Many of the approximately 500 children who age out of the Washington system each year end up on the street.
A recent report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness in America 2011 estimated that 1 in 6 young adults who age out of foster care is likely to experience homelessness.
While the number of federal, state and privately funded programs available to Washington foster youths transitioning into adulthood has increased in the past decade, it’s still not enough, people familiar with or who work in the foster-care system say.
“Washington state, as well as every state in this nation, has a history of discharging people who are unprepared and ill-equipped to be on their own,” said Jim Theofelis, executive director of The Mockingbird Society, which advocates for children in foster care.
Theofelis said the foster care system contributes to the youth homelessness problem, which he described as “one of the most egregious behaviors our country has engaged in.”
Long-term studies of former foster children are rare.
One study, published last year by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Chicago, looked at about 700 former foster children in their teens and 20s in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin.
A quarter of them didn’t have a high school diploma and only about half had jobs. Nearly a third said they sometimes went hungry. More than 17 percent of them were likely to be incarcerated or homeless with mental health or substance abuse problems.
Stories like Dorsey’s are familiar, said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, whose jail is so filled with mentally ill inmates he calls it the state’s second-largest mental health facility. “The mental health system needs to find a safety net for these individuals,” Knezovich said. “The street is not a safety net.”
Without blaming the Children’s Administration or Spokane Mental Health, who he thinks are doing the best job they can with available resources, Knezovich said the Dorsey case makes him wonder what the priorities of government are.
“It comes down to this,” the sheriff said. “How effective can an organization be if you don’t have the funding to deal with a problem?”
Knezovich said Spokane County’s is the only jail in the state that has a certified mental health program.
“The jail should not be in the mental health business, but until somebody picks up that responsibility, the only thing we can do to ensure the safety of the community is try to help address these mental health issues,” he said.
Treated since age 7
Anyone could have guessed that without close supervision Dorsey would end up in jail, or worse.
His mother, Theresa Stapleton, started raising the alarm months before Dorsey was released from Helping Hands Residential Treatment Center, a behavioral rehabilitation services provider contracted by the state to care for troubled youths.
Dorsey’s records were made available to The Spokesman-Review after he and his mother authorized their release by the Department of Social and Health Services.
Dorsey first came to the attention of CPS in 1999 when it was determined he was at risk of abuse or neglect because of his mother’s ongoing substance abuse and mental health concerns. His estranged father, who has an extensive criminal history, was prohibited from contacting the boy by a restraining order.
Since age 7, Dorsey, who has six brothers and sisters, has been treated at Spokane Mental Health or Lutheran Community Services for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and a variety of psychiatric and personality disorders.
On April 1, 2008, when Dorsey was 15, he entered Helping Hands because of “problems with aggression,” according to court and DSHS records.
Stapleton said CPS offered her “a Sophie’s Choice”: Either Dorsey had to go or she would lose her younger children to state dependency.
During his time at the group home he was kicked out of two Spokane high schools because of assault. He received independent and transitional living services through Volunteers of America.
Spokane Mental Health began prescribing lithium to stabilize his mood and reduce anger, as well as the antipsychotic drug Abilify.
Children in foster care are 16 times more likely to receive a psychiatric diagnosis and eight times more likely than their peers to take psychotropic medications, according to a study by the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute.
But the drugs didn’t stop Dorsey from lashing out. On several occasions during his 32 months at the group home, he was arrested and placed in juvenile detention for fights with staff and other boys, as well as property damage.
While in detention in November 2010, Dorsey was assessed by Dr. John Jaccard, a psychiatrist at Spokane Mental Health, who determined that Dorsey’s behavior improved in the structured environment of detention.
Jaccard increased Dorsey’s prescription of Adderall, an amphetamine used to treat ADHD, and stopped the teen’s dose of lithium. DSHS records show that Stapleton had worried about her son’s high dose of the lithium. Dorsey’s prescription for Abilify was halved and soon thereafter stopped as well.
“He just did better,” Jaccard said in an interview, “cognitively sharper with no instability of mood.”
On Dec. 29, his 18th birthday, Dorsey was released from Helping Hands. In the weeks leading up to his being discharged, Dorsey said, the boys and staff members would bet $1 each in a pool on how long it would take teens aging out of the group home to end up in jail.
“I won $20 once,” Dorsey said.
No adult homes would have him
For months, Stapleton had expressed concern that she did not know what to do with her son after he aged out of child welfare. She had been warned by a social worker that if Dorsey moved back in with her, it would mean an automatic CPS referral for her two younger children, ages 8 and 14, living in the home.
By law, DSHS must have a transition plan for children aging out of its care, and it has the authority to provide continued foster care or group care to youths ages 18 to 21 if they wish.
“There was no foster home that was able to be located that would be able to serve Tyler based on his level of need,” said Josh Koutecky, a social and health program consultant specializing in independent living programs for the Children’s Administration.
Records show that the plan for Tyler was to move him into an adult group home, but none would have him.
Notes from a Feb. 8 team meeting of Dorsey’s social service providers show that the Division of Home and Community Services, which provides long-term care for persons with disabilities and the elderly, explored 16 placement options. All declined to place the teen either because of his behavioral history or because there were no openings. Dorsey’s IQ was high enough to disqualify him for care through the Division of Developmental Disabilities.
Stapleton, worried about her son’s increasing agitation, asked that a psychiatrist re-evaluate Dorsey’s medication.
Koutecky called Dorsey’s one of the more difficult cases he has seen, but he believes the Children’s Administration did everything that could have been done for him.
“Yeah, I think we exhausted the resources we had available to us, absolutely,” said Koutecky.
So Dorsey moved in with his mother, who sent her younger children to live with their seriously ill grandmother.
“They told me to take Tyler to the mission,” Stapleton said, referring to the Union Gospel Mission, a homeless shelter for men.
Stapleton said her son needed supervision to keep him safe. While he was staying with her, she said, Dorsey used part of his Social Security disability checks to buy two realistic-looking BB pistols, which she quickly took away from him.
“I don’t want him to end up in prison or shot by police or beat up on the street,” she said.
Jaccard said Spokane Mental Health continued to manage Dorsey’s medication but that he missed a critical appointment on Feb. 2.
On Feb. 14, Dorsey was arrested by Spokane police responding to a domestic disturbance at Stapleton’s south Spokane home after Dorsey had exploded in a rage. He remained in the Spokane County Jail until May 5 when he pleaded guilty to third-degree malicious mischief, his first conviction as an adult.
Dorsey currently lives at the Carlyle Care Center, an assisted living facility in downtown Spokane, under an arrangement worked out by the Carlyle’s former administrator.
Psychiatric unit last stop
While at Helping Hands, Dorsey had a couple of fights with another boy his age with a similar story.
Upon turning 18 on Oct. 23, Andrew Wattles was discharged from Helping Hands, the last of a succession of facilities that had tried to care for him since he was taken from his mother at age 9.
He is the eighth and youngest child born to Mary Wattles to be placed in state care because she was unable to protect them from abuse and neglect.
Wattles entered Helping Hands on May 20, 2009, with a diagnosis of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder resulting in episodes of anger and aggression.
In April 2010, six months before aging out of state care, Wattles moved in with his adult sister with support from the Division of Child and Family Services. But things didn’t go according to plan.
Within a month, Wattles returned to Helping Hands. The new plan was for him to remain at the group home until he turned 18 and then go to a foster home under a voluntary program, but this would require a foster home willing to take him.
Wattles says no one would take him and there was no transition plan for him.
Since October, he has gone back to live with his sister in Spokane and another sister in Tacoma. But these relationships were strained by the teenager’s behavior, so he bounced from homeless shelter to homeless shelter until he landed at the psychiatric unit of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. He was released this week into an adult group home in west central Spokane.
Jason Gregory, executive director of Helping Hands, said social workers try very hard to accommodate children like Dorsey and Wattles.
“We are trying to make sure that when they are 18 we are not dropping them off at the mission,” Gregory said. “There is a huge need for kids 18 to 21 and not enough resources.”
Rights panel poorly understood 
Krash on July 17 at 3:34 a.m.
know the road he is heading down….peace…
drywitt99 on July 17 at 3:57 a.m.
RESOLVED:
Cases such as this are a legitimate responsibility of state and local government, even if it is necessary to increase taxes.
Okay boys and girls…..have at it!
But politely.
oneanddone on July 17 at 6:50 a.m.
NOT state and local gov’ts responsibility. Business should pick up the tab. After all it’s their pollution and poisons which create these illnesses.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 17 at 7:16 a.m.
A large percentage of the homeless men and women that we feed at House of Charity, and Shalom daily “got their start” in situations not dissimilar to the one outlined here. The draconian cuts to state budgets is/has thrown a mix of people into the homeless population that is not safe, is very volatile, and not healthy for our community. Sheriff Ozzie has his hands full, and is doing the best job possible from my vantage point. It is like the old STP commercial “You can pay me now for maintenance on your car, or you can buy a new engine down the road”…. The CPS and Foster Care system is at the breaking point, and we all are going to suffer the consequences of ignoring the plight of so many drug and alcohol dependent families in our basin. John
mikeln on July 17 at 8:46 a.m.
I want to thank the people that help these poor souls. I agree with oneanddone, one only has to drive into spokane from the north in the morning to see the pollution spokane sits in. It can’t all be cigarette smoke, maybe it’s the 50,000 cars and trucks that start up each day. It bothers me to think of the vultures that run the private prison system in this country drooling at the chance to profit from these broken humans. Chefgus is right, pay a little now to give these people the chance and digity they deserve or pay a lot more to the vultures that traffic humans for profit down the road.
The_Seer on July 17 at 8:50 a.m.
John: The nightmare scenarios you paint are accurate and perhaps exactly what is needed for people to wake up and quit voting to cut their taxes EVERY time Tim Eyman puts an initiative on the ballot.
The groups who were against repealing the taxes on bottled water, candy, etc. last November should have shown citizens what they could expect: Severely mentally ill people, some dangerously so, who won’t get treatment until they are incarcerated.
How many parents who’ve raised their children to 18 just turn them loose on their birthday? How many really believe they are ready to whip everything on their own at that age, even ones who had the good fortune to be raised in stable environments?
robert1964 on July 17 at 9:02 a.m.
look i have been through spokanes system as a constant runaway myself - i probably have one of the biggest runaway records of the state - i started running away at 7-8 years old and continued till 14 - i went through foster home after foster home - runaway shelter - and finally figured out at 14 that i wasnt wanted anywere because i didnt want to be told what to do - i worked at labor pools and camped out all over the country - for min. wage and belive me the tough streets are no joke out there - you get robbed - jumped - police take you to jail for tresspassing even though you are just homeless not bothering anyone - not panhandling - and working at labor pools - i have seen it all and the problem is we are not accepted as normal even when not doing drugs or alcohol - we are still trash on the street because we have no shelter and then the real criminals take advantage of this - and then it turns out if you dont fit in because you dont party or whatever - you are forced into a bunch of people who could care less that do party - drugs - alcohol - then with no place to go except maybe to the librarys - and the street - there is really no hope if there isant any jobs - and welfare seems to be the only option - of course if you are as smart as i was - never had kids after all this - still not marryed - and wont - and defanatly wont have kids - yet we singles pay the most taxes - and i finally figured out i am just a loser - and have accepted it - why have a kid if the same kid goes hungary out on the cold street - i am not going to burden the tax payer with not being able to care for my own kids - i figured out if i am not smart enough to make it on my own - why bring anyone else in that will have the same nightmare - its no wonder its not a pretty picture out there anymore - at least back then you could get a job - i feel sorry for the kids now - but people that keep having kids to get more welfare - i dont feel the least bit sorry - that will change soon - then these people that shack up will get a huge eye opener when it all gets cut off - then the poor kids will runaway again and it will be way worse then now - and its a wonder why i wont vote after all i have seen out there - yes i do belive in america - but after what i have seen - it aint all cracked up to be with all the white wash - its going to get worse - and again not taking responsibility for own actions do apply - the kids are the ones who lose - take it from a runaway that has little chance of making it unless the job corp - or military - and yes i was raised in spokane and as a runaway - it was alot harder back then - but its going to get worse unfortunatly - its pretty bad when there is no hope no where to go - i know - i have been there - after 23 years - it looks alot worse on the street now then the 70s 80s poor kids
gonzomo on July 17 at 11:04 a.m.
Thank you the the SR for doing this piece. I feel qualified to comment as I have know both of the youth mentioned in the article since they were about 14. John is right. The system is at a breaking point and the people who deal with the problems are doing their best. The real problems are systemic. Much of the fault, in my opinion, lies at the feet of Lisa Brown, Frank Chopp, and Chris Gregoire. When I began in this field 5 years ago, many of these programs were properly funded. The last 2 budget cylcles, the leadership in Olympia has made a conscience choice to defund these programs. The budget for DSHS goes up every year, but the payment formulas for those in care are reduced.
Here’s a solution: ELIMINATE DSHS. There is a bill in Olympia that would do just that. It would make the Dept of Children and Families its own agency (it is now currently under the aucpices of DSHS) and break the state up into 4 regions rather than 6. It would reduce admin costs by a third while ensuring that people in care get the help they need. But that bill has never even gotten a hearing.
Maybe if these kids started a union, Lisa brown would pay attention.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on July 17 at 11:27 a.m.
Sorry things wont change since we as a country thought it was more important to make as much money as possible over helping the poor and needy. For many people in the tea party and the republican party they don’t believe spending their tax dollars helping these people while there are so many private jails and other for-profit corporations can make tons of money on these people when they eventually break the law.
misjustice on July 17 at 11:41 a.m.
@robert1964, thank you for telling your story. Not everyone looks on you as trash; I know that I don’t, Chef Gus doesn’t, mikeln doesn’t, gonzomo doesn’t , the seer doesn’t, liberal in right wing land doesn’t, and many other people like us do not think of you as trash.
The problem is that many of us that care are basically just as powerless to effect real and lasting change in a society which values secluded gated communities and those which live inside them more than we value having shelters for folks that struggle to get by.
idahocity on July 17 at 12:16 p.m.
this is one of the cases where i feel ashamed to be an american, that we would allow this to happen to our neighbors.
TheresaAnn on July 17 at 12:46 p.m.
my name is theresa stapleton, I am Tyler’s mom. I have been Tyler main supporter for 18 years.On December 29 he turned 18 I thought the state would place him in a safe enviroment, where I could visit him and he could visit my home. But this is not what happend ! All state officals were notified of his release by his mother and how he needed more services than he recieved. we have put a good fright for 7 months. We need help now.If anyone can help me hepl my son Tyler. please contact Kevin at spokesman review, or e-mail me @ theresa_stapleton@yahoo.com
Squid on July 17 at 1:46 p.m.
Robert has remarkably good spelling and punctuation for someone who didn’t attend any kind of school.
Rand on July 17 at 2:08 p.m.
You are all correct this is societies failure. BS
TheresaAnn on July 17 at 2:15 p.m.
THIS WAS ON FACEBOOK FROM A FRIEND OF MINES PAGE PLEASE READ HER COMMENTS “athorities” in “what’s best for the children” in this city/state. We’ll all be spending the rest of our lives repairing the “long term” damages, which us…ually far supersede the, quite often “alleged” short term threats, incurred by the break-up of a family unit. Instead of taking the bonuses that a CPS worker is awarded for placing a child (It’s true, look it up!) Another child filed under ‘Forget It’; only to have that child doubly troubled down the road to a world where he doesn’t even know his family any more, they aren’t educated in ways to help him anyway, so the calming effect that a family member could have in an upset is also lost. It pains me to know that this case is more common than the common sense it takes to realize that the family unit has taken enough hardships before the state becomes involved… state support would save these children so much pain. Alone, then alone, and finally… Alone? Good lookin’ out!! This kid is obviously better for having had state intervention, don’t you agree? (dripping sarcasm). ~A biased opinion from a mother who sees the aftermath every day in the adult world where few care and even fewer help the Lonely Ones…See More
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gonzomo on July 17 at 4:55 p.m.
This is one issue that is not ever seen by the public. And the demand for services for kids aging out is growing. While it has always been a hole in the system it has grown worse during the current recession. There had been independent living and transitional living programs, but the current leadership in Olympia has made the purposful choice to defund them.
Most republicans are not aginst funding these types of programs. They see the State of WA funding vast, often useless, bureaucracies. They see them funding government liquor stores. It is sad that this is where the cuts come from.
If people really want to do something about this check out Cup of Cool Water.
Here is their website: http://cupofcoolwater.org/
FB link: https://www.facebook.com/#!/CupofCoolWater
They are out there helping those who fall through the cracks. They also have a bike store to help fund their operations. They get little to no money from the government, and they are on the front lines. Please help them any way you can.
greenlibertarian on July 17 at 5:49 p.m.
My wife at the time ran a group home for severely emotionally disturbed kids along with a foster care program, back in the mid-nineties. It is some of most difficult work in the country and absolutely important. This program had existed for 15 years before she was brought in to revamp it. Altho they’d always had comparatively good outcomes with comparatively low costs, the state was reorganizing DCF and her organization did not get a contract.
Yes, it did cost the state more than “regular” foster care because these kids were severely emotionally disturbed and required much more attention and interaction in order to help them improve.
I shudder to even think what eventually happened to those kids.
And depending on what sort of nearly inevitable incarceration they get, that “treatment” may be worse than being on the streets, i.e. they’ll learn new criminal skills while in there.
Robert, thanks for sharing your story.
Squid, your observation is pointless and untrue (read Robert’s other posts,) so your accusation is troll behavior.
D Statler on July 17 at 9:24 p.m.
It’s all about priorities. There are so many needs and causes that tax payers can’t afford to fund them all. All these kids and young adults never received proper training to succeed in life before turning 18. There are programs in place to get these kids working in high school right now. Seems pretty clear that enhancing those successful programs before graduation is a good answer. Lets get more of these kids to work during school hours.They may actually learn something valuable in High School. Buisnesses love cheap,subsidized labor.Buisnesses will also train if the price is right. Alot of todays High School graduates do not even how to work.
This is a very sad story and some very heart felt comments afterwards.
SpeakStr8 on July 17 at 9:52 p.m.
Apparently it has nothing to do with money if the kid(s) were living just fine for the past several years in “the system”. …Then all of a sudden they age out and now it’s a funding issue because there is no direction?? It’s the programs’ responsibility to guide that future and find a positive situation and outcome for each individual. What does money have to do with that? Unless it’s going towards tuition.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 17 at 10:42 p.m.
One of my several wives, and one dear friend over the years of my life were both CASA employees… and the first year I was retired I took the Guardian Ad Litem (CASA) training in Seattle.. contiguous with my training on the King County Crisis Line. I served five years on the crisis line…. but only “lasted” one year as a Guardian.. because it was TOO hard… too sad, too tear provoking, to upsetting to actually visit the homes of children and their parents that were in the “CPS” system. People like the young man in this story may or may not be fortunate enough to have a “third party” outside the courts and medical care, and educational, and family systems to help the Commissioners and Judges make sound decisions with regards placement. A further “wrinkle” that was present in one of my cases was the much needed federal act that included the tribal system in the cases involving Native Children.
So… a potent and not so tasty “brew” of all these competing forces with but one advocate actually looking after the child’s welfare…. ??? this does not portend a great outcome, and happiness for all involved.
These issues and this problem is endemic, and pathognomonic of our current societal malaise and we better be spending some money on it…. and encouraging and supporting the families where it all starts… cause that is the ONLY place that it will move toward some reasonable solution… with a good outcome for the affected children. john
BeachBum2U on August 30 at 10:34 p.m.
This has been the same story since the inception of foster care, nothing new.. nothing will ever change, if you’re over the age of 12 it’s hard to place a child and to find a family that really wants teens is almost impossible. These studies are about as bogus as they can get, the same studies & results published for 40 yrs. that I know of, most of them are bunk. If for any reason they are not, then obviously State, County & City Agencies are not doing thier jobs because the same problems still exist. The comparison of foster children to those that are not in regards to mental health, education, employment, etc. is also bunk.. I guess to say these things makes someone get the warm fuzzies. Shame on every State that turns a child out onto the street with no meds, a place to live and the essentials we all need to live!