Top

news

Stories

 

Abused kids may mingle with delinquents at a privately run facility

Comments (0) By Melanie Asmar Thursday, May 17 2012
...continued from page 3

But the Ridge View boys who testified said the kids there are not hard-core. "There isn't necessarily a lot of bad kids there," a boy named Cody said. "I have a friend who was picked up because he was drunk one night and he decided to break into a building and go look at stars on the top of the roof, and that ended up getting him committed."

*****

Senator Nancy Spence sponsored a bill to expand access to Ridge View.
Anthony Camera
Senator Nancy Spence sponsored a bill to expand access to Ridge View.
Linda Weinerman doesn't want abused kids at Ridge View.
Anthony Camera
Linda Weinerman doesn't want abused kids at Ridge View.

Related Content

More About

The bill passed both houses of the legislature and was signed into law on April 12 by Governor John Hickenlooper. But afterward, some people found out they'd been duped.

At stakeholder meetings, bill opponents had asked Spence to add language to the bill specifying that counties could only send adjudicated youth to Ridge View, those kids who had committed crimes but weren't committed themselves. They wanted abused and neglected kids left alone — or, barring that, they asked for an additional step in the process of placing an abused kid at Ridge View: a hearing before a judge to determine whether it was an appropriate placement.

So Spence drew up an amendment that struck the phrase "or who are in need of out-of-home placement" so that the bill simply read that Ridge View could house juveniles "in the tempory custody of a county department of social services." When she offered it on the Senate floor in February, she told fellow lawmakers that it restricted access to adjudicated boys only. Many senators liked the sound of that.

"Thank you for bringing this amendment," said Senator Jeanne Nicholson, a Black Hawk Democrat. "It addresses the concerns that I had. I think we need to move in the direction of out-of-home placement into homes as much as possible. And when we can't, it's not wise to commingle children who have been abused and neglected with the children at Ridge View. I think it is not in their best interest."

But it turns out that Spence was mistaken. The wording she used did nothing to keep abused and neglected kids out of Ridge View. Abused and neglected boys are still technically "in the temporary custody of" the counties. And although Spence says now that she didn't understand the complexity of the words, she says, "It doesn't matter to me, because of the trust I have that only appropriate kids will get sent to Ridge View."

Weinerman and Saltzman were angry. "We got played," says Saltzman.

And she's not the only one who feels that way. Senator Joyce Foster, a Denver Democrat, says she took Spence at her word and, as a result, voted for something she doesn't actually support. "I assumed when I was voting for it...that there was an amendment Senator Spence said she put on it that wouldn't commingle the children," she says. "But weeks later, someone said to me, 'By the way, that's not the case.' It was my fault for not actually doing my own research on it. I should have asked more questions. I should sometimes be a little less trusting.... That's the frustration I'm feeling right now."

But Ridge View plans to proceed with caution. Moe is adamant that the facility won't accept kids who wind up in the system "through no fault of their own." In most cases, that means abused and neglected youth who've committed no crimes, though Moe admits there might be those one or two kids that could benefit from the structure.

"I don't know if I would accept that kid next week, just because people would say, 'See?'" Moe says about the law's opponents. "But over time, being able to explain that, yes, this kid is in the system through a fault of his own because he is willfully menacing his mother, because he beat up his little brother but his mom simply chose not to press charges against him — I think we'd be able to help that kid."

In order to place boys at Ridge View, counties must contract with the facility — just as they would with any other RCCF. Moe says Ridge View is currently in talks with the two counties that pushed for the bill the hardest: Arapahoe and Jefferson. He hopes the contracts will be signed by the end of May.

Lytle, of Arapahoe County, says she doesn't have a waiting list of kids she'd like to place at Ridge View. But she adds that once the contracts are set, "I'm sure one or two might come through here pretty quickly that we'd want to have the ability to consider Ridge View."

Johnson, of Jefferson County, doesn't have a waiting list, either. "If we use it in a year, great," she says. "If we don't, then no child was right for Ridge View." As for what types of youth fit the criteria, Johnson says she'd prefer to start with delinquent youth in the county's custody. "But if there is a child who is dependent and neglected that this fit for, I wouldn't rule it out," she says, adding, "I don't get walls, borders, boundaries and 'This system says A' and 'This system says B.' It doesn't matter which system a kid is in."

<< Previous Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | All | Next Page >>

Related Content

 
My Voice Nation Help
16 comments
  Livefyre
Newest | Oldest
Homobama
Homobama

REPUBLICAN PARTY (scammers that make look great anyone or anything and regardless of ugliness or perversion = support for democratic party or zionism) AND DEMOCRATS (extremistic ZIONIST party) ARE ONE PARTY SYSTEM (self elected democracy = zionist totalitarianism = prison state) WHILE DUKES(pukes) ARE USED TO FORTIFY THIS ONE PARTY HOMOBAMAISOSAMA SYSTEM WITH ADDITIONAL BETREYAL(need more proofs = your genocide).

ZIONISM = REPRESENTS FOREIGN(multiculturalism) AND NOT NATIVE WHITE POPULATION IN OUR COUNTRIES. ZIONISM EQUALS TO TERRORIST ORGANISATION(not only because of favoring non whites vs even native whites , but further due to traditional use of terrorism to forcefully rehabilitate CHRISTIAN WHITES - worldwide). United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted on November 10, 1975 by a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), " that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination". The resolution was revoked by Resolution 46/86 on December 16, 1991(revoked by father from G. W. BUSH who created 911).

SO WHAT DO YOU READ TODAY !!? IS IT 70 YEARS OLD HOMOBAMAISOSAMA NEWS (world of lies and dementia) OR IS IT ABOUT ALIENS/BIG FOOT/VAMPIRES !!? WORLD OF PERVERSION OR SOME OTHER LOCHNESS MOSTER THAT HELPS YOU GOING !!? PERHAPS, IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP !!

NEW - GUILTY BEFORE COMMITTING CRIME OR EVEN STANDlNG TRIAL(USA = USSR) !!!

https://plus.google.com/u/0/11... ZIONIST STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM REVEALED IN DETAIL!!! STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM OR WHAT ONE STANDS FOR(not only what took place in New York or Oslo, but this is state of the art explanation per what takes place prior and after to bomb attacks = exactly who, how, and why) !!!

RELATED TO:

2001 TWIN TOWERS BOMBING (Oslo bombing) = Merkel, Obama, Israel, Eastern European communist scum, Sarkozy and others INVOLVED !!! INDISPUTABLE FACTS ABOUT TERRORIST ALEX JONES (Ron Paul) & TERRORIST MARK POTOK (the two criminal masterminds who orchestrated 911 on behalf of self elected governments - worldwide = NAZI witch hunting/scapegoating = Breivik and other fake white nationalism explained = lies, abductions, unemployment, and plot were and are Obamination's strongest weapons for almost 70 years now).

FROM 911 TO FOREIGN WARS IN THE NAME OF ISREAL & EXILED WHITE AMERICAN REFUGEES SEEKING ASYLUM ABROAD RIGHT NOW !!! TIME TO DETERMINE WHOSE INDEPENDENCE/AMERICA, WE CELEBRATE TODAY(who wants to erase us and denies us the right to exist) !!! IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHOM TO ADDRESS AS "PRESIDENT"(STOP HUMILIATING YOURSELF) !!!

82www.dailymotion.com/video/xqc9...

83www.dailymotion.com/video/xqdw... or https://vimeo.com/41052839 or www.zideo.nl/playzideo/6c49616... Terror trip 1998 to Washington or fact about 911 plot !!

84https://vimeo.com/42043679 or http://www.zideo.nl/playzideo/... Sicret service plot revealed as planned over decade and half ahead. SEVERELY CENSORED VIDEO(this videos are taken off and on - on and on to destroy preview counter and descurage truth from persuing FREEDOM cause) !!!

Related to WHITES ARE NOT WELCOME IN AMERICA ANY LONGER !! https://www.youtube.com/user/B... OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE RECORDED LIVE IN 2009 !! EXILING WHITES(US citizens) WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE AND IMPORTING NON WHITES IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS FREE !!

NOT HUMAN RIGHTS COURTS OR ORGANIZATIONS, BUT ORGANIZERS OF GENOCIDE AGAINST WHITES AND SPONSORS OF BOGUS "MULTICULTURALISM" $$$ CLAIMS AT EXPENSE OF PERSECUTED WHITES !!! ALL THANKS TO FREE PRESS/MEDIA (most severe CENSORSHIP OF GENOCIDE in entire history ) !!

WHY TO ACCEPT LIABILITIES FOR CRIMES COMMITTED WHEN WE CAN SIMPLY ASSASSINATE OUR VICTIMS(YOU) THANKS TO HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS AND FREE PRESS/MEDIA(most severe CENSORSHIP OF GENOCIDE in entire history of human kind) !!

MY YOUTUBE https:// www.youtube.com/user/BostjanAv... WAS HIJACKED (since March 07th, 2012, I am not allowed to log in) BY US GOV. WHILE PRIMARY E-MAIL & BLOGS WERE SHUT DOWN FOR THE SAKE OF CENSORSHIP REGARDING ABDUCTIONS/ MK-ULTRA/ FORCED BRAIN IMPLANTS/ HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION/ BLACKLISTING/ FORCEFUL UNEMPLOYMENT AND ASSASSINATIONS !! ALL AGAINST WHITES (under "NAZI" lie).

For updates

http://www.facebook.com/people...

Anne Annette Davis
Anne Annette Davis like.author.displayName 1 Like

As a parent, as a educator and nurse and member of this community. This is a mistake, do not co-mingle these juveniles, it is not right.

Johnathansnorsky
Johnathansnorsky like.author.displayName 1 Like

I was one of those kids. we as a community need to stand up and tell everyone that weve had enough because its these kids who fill prison beds in the future

Rose VanGorder
Rose VanGorder like.author.displayName 1 Like

Foster kids run away for a reason.

Johnathansnorsky
Johnathansnorsky

like i did

I'm an artist named Johnathan who was born on December 24, 1986 to an illegal alien father from the Soviet Union who was sent to prison for murder, and a mentally unstable mother who abused me daily and eventually abandoned me in Colorado at the age of 12. When I wasn’t in orphanages, group homes, and foster care, I was a homeless child on the streets who, subsequently, at the young age of 17, made the regrettable mistake of burglarizing a gun shop. Having never attended art school, I always drew to escape the horrors of my so called life, but honed and mastered the skill of drawing during the seven and a half years I was incarcerated. Therefore I can effortlessly, and expressively, create art in an array of mediums encompassing color pencil, chalk and charcoal, pen and ink, engraving, and oil painting. I was released at the age of 24 and, as a free man; I'm pushing for a change in my community by working with the public school system to guide broken children down the right path and publically speaking about my inspirational, but heartbreaking, life story and art. My art has been displayed at the Consortium 816 art gallery in Denver’s downtown Santa Fe Art District and can be found in private collections across America. My next art show is between june 1 and july31 at eden lounge on 31st and downing in the rino arts district north of downtown denver

What i do today

The Tyro Program mentors at risk youth and exposes them to art, music, and culture in the attempt to inspire hope and dreams in these impoverished children. I grew up in extreme poverty and abuse. My life was a nightmare. At times I felt as if life wasn't worth living and I came close to giving up several times, because no one cared to foster love in my heart. As a man, I'm still that little lonely boy inside, hurting, yearning for love and acceptance. So I know kids won't just grow up and be OK. And sure, there are people who've had rough lives that didn't need help, but not everyone is that strong, I wasn't. Out of the vast majority of the cases of child poverty, abuse, and abandonment, those broken children grow up to become the broken adults who will rob, rape, and murder innocent people. I'm a living example of this. Those people, that were like me, fill our prisons today, and maybe that kid who ditches school will fill a bed in the future. Therefore, we, as a community, must act. With just a little inspiration a kids life could drastically be altered for the better. Instead of looking up to drug dealers and thugs, I want to help these kids see that life has so many opportunities and that they can succeed if you work hard. They aren't told that enough and just give up on their dreams at the first obstacle they approach. The program works like this: I work with the homeless liaisons that councils the most unfortunate kids in our public school system. They contact me and I arrange for the children to become a "Tyro", which is the medieval Latin word for squire or apprentice, to myself or other artists. These Tyro's will get a crash course of art history, learn to draw, paint, sculpt, visit art galleries, art shows, operas, ballets, musicals and museums with real artists. Then, when the artists, or myself, have a art show, the Tyro's will be involved in setting up the show, getting firsthand experience of the "behind the scenes" of a real art show... Then they'll attend the show and get to be involved in something far larger than they could ever imagine... And that will make them dream... That's my goal. I've pledged 10% of all my art sales to this program. I hope everyone realizes how serious the need is to have mentors in our community and at the least pledge to encourage that local bad kid, and even take the chance to invite them to a barbecue, get to "Know" them, and you'll understand and fall in love with them. *20% of the funds collected support the management and staff liaisons who plan events and escort the children. *80% of funds collected go to the actual events the children attend: art shows, art galleries, art tutorials, art museums, etc. and also for art supplies. Hopefully you'll want to fight this battle with me.

Never stop dreaming and Always love, Johnathan

Jwarriner
Jwarriner

Let's look at the psychology of this. We take a kid who is so emotionally damaged that he blames himself for the abuse he suffered and then we say, "by the way, we're sending you to jail." Do we really think that doesn't reinforce the very things that lead to so many of their problems. This is barbaric. We used to do crap like this 100 years ago. There should be no reason to send abused children to jail. This is simply a matter of the private prison system wanting another avenue to fill beds and be paid for it with tax dollars. I'm ashamed that Colorado voted these morons into office. I'm even more ashamed that we voted for the idiots who feel they were duped because they didn't even take the time to read what they were voting for. Thank goodness we have term limitations. Though public executions would be more gratifying.

Maryellen
Maryellen

This bill was a case of good intentions gone awry. But legislators with those good intentions can "tweak" the language and make sure the wrong kids don't get mis-placed.I've visited Ridge View many times and have been very impressed with the facilities. I also had a family friend's son placed there. Ridge View saved his life. He was headed straight for prison. At Ridge View he got an education, became a long distance runner and his entire attitude changed. Five years later he is a successful, functioning adult.Ridge View is an excellent facility. Let's make sure it has the proper clientele. Beyond that, I trust that Westword will be fair and show all sides to this issue.

The Jenn of all Jenns
The Jenn of all Jenns

One of the scariest phrases in the English language: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

Marmie
Marmie

Let me tell you about the jerks of judges that cause abused children to end up as delinquents and drug addicts: After a court hearing in 1983 regarding the abuse of my 2 boys by their bio-dad, the judge had this to say: Only one case of abuse has been proven, which does not warrant the father being denied his privledge of part custody. My younger, 32-year-old son, died of heroin overdose on April 25. He was my best baby, so sweet, until age 4. After each visit to his father he told me horrendous after horrendous story since age 2!! The continuing emotional and physical abuse became his comfort zone. He continued trying to quell the pain, but it only brought on more of the pain that was actually his comfort zone! Sad, how loving he was but so confused, still trying to make his dad okay...in his mind. Now in heaven as spirit he finally has resolved the truth and is happy, which could never be on this earth! We must all forgive his father, the mother of all abusers!!

Marmie
Marmie

Why would our legislators put abused children in a detention facility with abusive children????? Go figure. That's our legal system leaders!!!!

calhounp
calhounp

marmie: i'd like to publish this comment in the print edition that goes to press tonight -- ideally with your full name. let me know if that's okay at patricia.calhoun@westword.com

CCJRC
CCJRC

There is a something very Dickensian about the whole thing...

calhounp
calhounp

I would like to publish some of these comments in our print edition, ideally with your full name/town. If that's okay, e-mail me at patricia.calhoun@westword.com

Aaron Futrell
Aaron Futrell

As a former youth corrections officer at a branch of Rite of Passage I could not agree more with this article Ms. Asmar has hit the nail right on the coffin. The Youth Corrections System is messed up and needs to be fixed I understand that Ms. Spence thought that she was providing a Band -Aid to kids who just want to be accepted but all she really did was make the wound larger. A kids life is worth more than the few dollars that Rite of Passage is collecting to fill a bed that should be saved for a real criminal. The city of Denver just passed the urban camping ban what's next making being a foster kid illegal to justify placing them in the D.O.C system?

guest
guest

As a past foster parent that dealt with troubled youth. I have seen prosecutors and Judges knowingly allow fake charges be brought so that a child could be moved from dependency and neglect to delinquency. Of course at the time it was to get better support for the juvenile since 10 years ago all the money was being given to delinquency. However, after that everything they do like running away or skipping school is now a charge against them. Eventually they get some jerk of a judge that either doesn't know or doesn't care that the only real charge was fake and sentences them to jail till they turn 18. I saw this very thing happen in Weld County. What ever is done to these kids at home is nothing compared to what is done to them by the system. So this legislator's belief that the county is going to do what is right for these kids is nieve and severely misplaced.

Guest
Guest

It's pretty fucked up when an 18 year old kid has more perspective then an elected representative. But the most asinine aspect is that Nancy Spence can't figure out how to amend her proposal correctly? What a dumb fucking broad. So, now she doesn't care because she faith in the government? What a fucking dipshit.....this bitch is the goverment and she doesn't have the competence to ammend her bill correctly but I'm supposed to trust that the government has some sort of competence when it comes to placing children? I'm so fucking glad that as a resident of Centennial I get to pay this dumb bitch's salary.

 
VOICE Daily Deals

Slideshows»

More News Stories >

Special Reports

©2013 Denver Westword, LLC, All rights reserved.
Browse Voice Nation
  • Voice Places Denver / Boulder

    Voice Places

    Find everything you're looking for in your city

  • Happy Hour App

    Happy Hour App

    Find the best happy hour deals in your city

  • Daily Deals

    Daily Deals

    Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%

  • Best Of

    Best Of...

    Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city