John Brownlee This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Pain and Promise: Kids in storage -- can the state break the pattern?

   www.arkdemgaz.com/prev/juvenil - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/29/2001   Last Visited: 7/29/2001

   Brownlee had been recruited by Doramus in July 1998 to work on prevention programs for DYS with the 15 community based providers.
   ...
   People will apply for jobs at DHS , but they don't want to work for the Division of Youth Services , Brownlee said. We're the bottom rung of the ladder. In Arkansas we say , 'Thank God for Mississippi.' In state government , you say , 'Thank God for DYS.'.
   ...
   Rigsby appointed Brownlee to be an assistant director at Alexander until all the facilities could be turned over to private companies.
   ...
   When I went to Alexander in March 1999 , three of our cottages had no unit managers , meaning we had staff that weren't being supervised , Brownlee said. We found 164 employees who hadn't had evaluations , some for three years. People weren't clocking in and out , and nobody was asking them to do that.. Brownlee tried to draw an organizational chart after asking employees who they worked with. There were lines and boxes that didn't connect. Some people didn't know who to report to. It was pretty dysfunctional..
   ...
   John Brownlee crouched down , contorting his 6-foot-2-inch frame , to talk to one of the girls through a vent at the bottom of the door. She was lying on her arm as someone might do to watch TV , Brownlee said. A lot of the girls call out when I walk by. They just want to talk.. Brownlee was visiting START , the girls' dorm at the Alexander campus. It houses up to 28 girls. Although there is a small glass window at the top of the door , many of the girls prefer to talk through the floor vent because it is easier to hear. This particular girl weighed 275 pounds , was often violent and had threatened to kill herself. She had a normal IQ. She had been in at least four residential treatment facilities and numerous shelters and foster homes. She had attacked people with knives and chairs.
   ...
   She didn't belong with us , Brownlee said. There are some really bad , disruptive kids out here. We're the end of the line. We don't have a right of refusal to reject a kid. We'll send them to the State Hospital for a while. It's a reprieve for the staff. We're running up a white flag. 'Can you help us out?' One week we had 17 sex offenders awaiting placement.
   ...
   I had heard some stories that we had reached the 40s , Brownlee said. It's hard to work on some higher order of change like rehabilitation when you've got to work on safety , security and shelter. If you have two workers on a cottage and you have 39 kids , the workers are concerned for their safety as well as the child's safety. All that is compromised..
   ...
   That is too often , according to Brownlee , Rigsby and others.
   ...
   John Brownlee has left DYS to be director of the MidSOUTH Training Academy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The academy provides staff development and continuing education for alcohol and drug abuse counselors and employees of the Division of Children and Family Services.

2. 2. Pain and Promise: Kids in storage -- can the state break the pattern?

   www.arkansas-online.com/prev/j - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/14/2001   Last Visited: 7/15/2001

   Brownlee had been recruited by Doramus in July 1998 to work on prevention programs for DYS with the 15 community based providers.
   ...
   People will apply for jobs at DHS , but they don't want to work for the Division of Youth Services , Brownlee said. We're the bottom rung of the ladder. In Arkansas we say , 'Thank God for Mississippi.' In state government , you say , 'Thank God for DYS.'.
   ...
   Rigsby appointed Brownlee to be an assistant director at Alexander until all the facilities could be turned over to private companies.
   ...
   When I went to Alexander in March 1999 , three of our cottages had no unit managers , meaning we had staff that weren't being supervised , Brownlee said. We found 164 employees who hadn't had evaluations , some for three years. People weren't clocking in and out , and nobody was asking them to do that.. Brownlee tried to draw an organizational chart after asking employees who they worked with. There were lines and boxes that didn't connect. Some people didn't know who to report to. It was pretty dysfunctional..
   ...
   John Brownlee crouched down , contorting his 6-foot-2-inch frame , to talk to one of the girls through a vent at the bottom of the door. She was lying on her arm as someone might do to watch TV , Brownlee said. A lot of the girls call out when I walk by. They just want to talk.. Brownlee was visiting START , the girls' dorm at the Alexander campus. It houses up to 28 girls. Although there is a small glass window at the top of the door , many of the girls prefer to talk through the floor vent because it is easier to hear. This particular girl weighed 275 pounds , was often violent and had threatened to kill herself. She had a normal IQ. She had been in at least four residential treatment facilities and numerous shelters and foster homes. She had attacked people with knives and chairs.
   ...
   She didn't belong with us , Brownlee said. There are some really bad , disruptive kids out here. We're the end of the line. We don't have a right of refusal to reject a kid. We'll send them to the State Hospital for a while. It's a reprieve for the staff. We're running up a white flag. 'Can you help us out?' One week we had 17 sex offenders awaiting placement.
   ...
   I had heard some stories that we had reached the 40s , Brownlee said. It's hard to work on some higher order of change like rehabilitation when you've got to work on safety , security and shelter. If you have two workers on a cottage and you have 39 kids , the workers are concerned for their safety as well as the child's safety. All that is compromised..
   ...
   That is too often , according to Brownlee , Rigsby and others.
   ...
   John Brownlee has left DYS to be director of the MidSOUTH Training Academy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The academy provides staff development and continuing education for alcohol and drug abuse counselors and employees of the Division of Children and Family Services.