GROUP HOME MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Over the past two decades, Jim Davis has seen a lot of changes in the treatment of troubled youth.

But one thing that hasn't changed is the kids, says Davis, who manages the Missouri Division of Youth Services' Girardot Center for Youth and Families. The center deals with youth, ages 12 through 17.

"I don't think things have gotten any worse. I still see it as kids making bad choices," said Davis.

The agency is celebrating its 20th anniversary of residential treatment in Cape Girardeau with an open house Oct. 29, from 2-5 p.m., at its new facility at 609 N. Middle. The public is invited.

Davis said a special invitation has been extended to former staff, clients and others who have been involved with the programs here over the years.

"During the open house, refreshments will be available as well as a good dose of nostalgia," he said. A number of pictures and articles about the youth services operations will be displayed.

Davis said the agency has treated over 1,500 youth in its Cape Girardeau facilities over the past 20 years, with a 70 to 80 percent success rate.

That's something Davis is proud of. Davis said he and the staff enjoy seeing clients, who have become productive citizens, return for a visit.

One such person returned last year to treat the staff to lunch. "He came back in a three-piece suit," recalled Davis.

The state-run treatment center, consisting of two residential cottages and an administrative building, opened in December 1991. Previously, the Division of Youth Services' operations were scattered among several buildings in Cape Girardeau.

While kids may not have changed over the years, how they are treated has.

"One of the big differences is we used to treat the kids in a very isolated fashion," said Davis. "We would work with them, get them feeling good about themselves, and then we would send them back out.

"What we did was exclude the family and the community they came from," said Davis.

Today, he said, there's more community and family involvement in the treatment programs.

Twenty years ago, the state changed to a system of residential care in treating troubled youth as opposed to institutional care.

Missouri used to deal with its youth in institutions called training schools. "There were those big places where you would treat 60 or 70 kids," said Davis.

"A lot of times there wasn't a lot of treatment going on there. It was more like a little jail," he said.

So the state moved to a system of group homes. One was established in a rented house on North Frederick Street in Cape Girardeau in October 1973. The site is now a vacant lot.

A second group home opened its doors about a year later in a rented house at the corner of North and Pacific streets. That site is now a parking lot.

"We were trying to make it more like a home setting rather than an institution," said Davis, who has been involved with the youth services programs here for 19 years.

"In the last five years, we took another whole new shift and said, `OK, we can even become more community-based and take care of kids within their own home and their own community,'" said Davis.

"If a kid can stay home and maintain his progress with just family therapy and a case manager, that is great," said Davis. "That is what we want."

Residential treatment, however, is still a key component of the agency's operation. Combined, Girardot Center's two cottages can house 22 boys.

In addition, the center houses everything from family therapy to its day treatment program, which involves both boys and girls.

The center serves 22 counties in Southeast and southern Missouri, handling youth committed to the facility by the courts.

Davis said the center serves both status offenders, such as those who violated curfew or ran away from home, and delinquent offenders, primarily youth who have committed felony theft.

Davis said those who initially went through the program helped get the group homes up and running.

"The first three or four years we were open we didn't really have a clue of how to work with the kids," he said. "The kids taught us a lot."

The youth who have gone through the program since then have also contributed to its success, said Davis. "I feel like every staff member and every kid kind of put a brick in this new program."

Davis attributes much of the agency's success here to its experienced staff and community support.

Some of that support has come from the Cape Girardeau Evening Optimist Club, which set up a Junior Optimist Club in the 1970s for the youth housed in the group homes. Today, the club's members are the residents of Girardot Center.

The success of the treatment programs here has attracted the attention of youth services officials nationwide, intent on pursuing similar ventures, Davis said.