The county Board of Supervisors is pushing ahead with plans to create a boarding school for foster children in the San Pasqual Valley.
The board voted Oct. 10 to allocate an additional $4 million to the plan to transform the traditional dormitories on the campus into “family living units.”
In a public/private partnership, the county will spend slightly more than $19 million to purchase and renovate a 238-acre abandoned private school east of the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
Private donations amounting to $2.5 million were collected, another $1.5 million was allocated from the governor’s 2000-01 budget, and $4 million in proceeds were garnered from the sale of the county’s Deer Park property.
Metabolife stepped up with a $5 million pledge over 10 years, along with $5 million from the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation.
“We’ve been extremely pleased with the support we’ve received from the private sector,” said county Supervisor Greg Cox. “San Diego has been extremely progressive, and I think forward thinking, in dealing with the issues of foster care. We have a vision of this being a best of class residential, educational center.”
Cox said there are 7,000 foster children in the county and only 1,500 foster families. The academy, he said, will focus on housing older children (ages 12 to 19) who have not succeeded in traditional foster placements.
A steering committee of representatives from public and private agencies with expertise in residential programs, foster youth and education, along with state and national experts, decided the current dormitory layout was not the best housing solution for foster children.
They recommended modifying the living spaces to resemble a “family living unit” environment.
“Family units will provide important elements to the foster youth, including learning and understanding the dynamics of living in a family, integrated independent living instruction, and more individualized attention and support,” according to the county staff report.
Each living unit will consist of a four-bedroom space with two children per bedroom. Each unit will share a living room and kitchen. A house parent will be assigned to each unit.
The academy, called by many the best viable solution for the county’s foster care system, is expected to be fully operational by September 2001.
