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Agency Helps Troubled Teens And Their Families Survive

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By DONNA KOEHN

dkoehn@tampatrib.com

Published: January 26, 2009

TAMPA - Often they're from out of state. No close friends yet, no relatives to lend a hand.

A teenager in the family is getting into trouble. The school is threatening expulsion; the child seems on the verge of losing control. Even the siblings' grades are slipping amid the turmoil.

Every knock on the door brings fear - an accident, the authorities, more bad news.

Stressed-out families often feel they have nowhere to turn. But in Hillsborough County, they do.

"The kids get us in the door," says Clara Reynolds, executive director of Success 4 Kids & Families. "But we serve the entire family."

By the time Kelly Garrity of Lutz found the organization, she had become terrified of her teenage daughter.

"Without them, I don't think I would have survived," she says. "I was trapped in my house, not even feeling I could leave to get food."

Her daughter, now 17, began losing her temper when she was just 2 or 3 years old. She tore up her bedroom, abused cats.

Diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder - marked by negative, hostile and defiant behavior - the teenager hit and kicked her mother and assaulted a worker in a group home, for which she was arrested. She has been committed under the state's Baker Act 14 times.

Because of her daughter's physical attacks, Garrity was afraid to leave her alone.

"I wondered, 'Won't anybody help me help her?'"

After a number of failed attempts, she found Success 4 Kids & Families, which assigned one counselor for her daughter, and one for the rest of the family. A behavioral specialist visited their home one day a week to help everyone figure out the best strategy for dealing with the outbursts. The agency even supplied someone to come over for respite services, giving Garrity a chance to get away from the pressure.

"They really, really helped us a lot," she says.

Reynolds says many agencies focus on one problem or one person. Hers looks at the entire family. About 600 children currently receive services.

A caseworker typically is assigned to sit down with everyone and determine what is needed. Sometimes it's professional therapy. But not always.

If a mother is leaving kids home alone because she works the night shift, the agency will find - and pay for - after-hours babysitting. If a broken-down car is keeping a father from work, a mechanic will be provided for free. Financial planners will help sort through money issues at no charge.

"The clients have almost unlimited choices," says Pam Jeffre, operations director for the agency. "Family problems are caused by a whole host of things. We may need to buy a prom dress or some little toy cars to reward a child for doing well."

The agency has a database of more than 500 providers of services from which clients may choose. Some former clients later are hired to help families navigate the system. Caseworkers will accompany families to court or school conferences and act as advocates.

"Families are the experts," Reynolds says. "We approach it as a partnership."

The agency also works with school resource officers, the courts and the mental health system to keep bad situations from becoming worse.

Its initiative with Hillsborough's Department of Juvenile Justice provides services for children who have committed one or two misdemeanors at school - offenses such as spray-painting graffiti, trespassing or making a threat. Rather than locking up teens, the goal is to keep them out of the system altogether.

"We administer civil citations in lieu of criminal prosecution," Reynolds says. "We helped 578 kids in that program last year."

Another service is to screen all the children on the waiting list for residential mental health treatment.

"We try to stave that off if it's possible," Reynolds says.

Families who don't have sufficient insurance for mental health needs or who don't qualify for Medicaid also find help through the agency.

Success 4 Kids & Families receives funding through a variety of federal, state and local programs. The Children's Board of Hillsborough County is a major source of funding.

In a time of ever-tightening resources, the organization has begun working on a for-profit arm to help sustain its free services. Because its philosophy appears to be working, agencies from throughout the country and Canada have paid Success 4 Kids & Families for training in its methods.

Reynolds says social service agencies often are headed by social workers with no experience running a business. The University of Tampa's College of Business offers a master's degree certification in making agencies profitable.

Ron Kuntze, assistant professor of marketing, says that to remain viable, agencies can benefit from using a business model. Reynolds is one of his former students. He also is helping Success 4 Kids & Families get the word out about its services. Many don't know it exists, he says.

"It's a tremendous program," Kuntze says. "I've never seen anything like it."

For information, call (813) 490-5490 or go to www.s4kf.org.

Reporter Donna Koehn can be reached at (813) 259-8264.

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