Chamberlain’s Children Center breaks ground on new home
A half dozen young residents of Chamberlain’s Children Center
lifted the first shovels full of dirt where a new home will be
built on the property. The center is home to 24 children from age 5
to 17 who are emotionally disturbed.
Chamberlain’s Children Center breaks ground on new home
A half dozen young residents of Chamberlain’s Children Center lifted the first shovels full of dirt where a new home will be built on the property. The center is home to 24 children from age 5 to 17 who are emotionally disturbed.
“It’s a very exciting day,” said Mari Davis, the board president. “We are breaking ground for a new house just like the one next door.”
Board members, Mayor Doug Emerson, Leadership San Benito participants and other community leaders, attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
The new house, which is made possible with a grant from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation as well as donations from Milgard Windows, Nino Homes and other local sources, will be home to six children when it is completed, Davis said.
“We’ve been fund-raising for nine months,” Davis said.
Many of the children are housed in an old farmhouse that is dilapidated or in doublewide trailers installed in the 1970s.
“They need a safe, open house,” Davis said. “It’s falling apart.”
The most updated house on the campus was finished in 2000, and is used to house teens.
“When the new board came in two years ago, we wanted to focus on the campus,” Davis said.
In recent years, a Leadership San Benito project raised money to provide new playground equipment. Since then the focus has turned to building new living spaces. The floor plan for the new home will be based on the home built in 2000.
“One big challenge is supervision,” said Doreen Crumrine, Chamberlain’s CEO. “These kids have been abused and are at high risk of hurting each other or acting out.”
With that in mind, the homes have an open floor plan. The living room, dining room and kitchen area are open so that an adult supervisor can see the kids from all angles of the common area.
“All the doors are facing so we can see if kids are trying to slip into rooms,” Crumrine said. “It’s a family-like environment. We have activity schedules posted and a behavior plan.”
Most of the children at the home have had multiple foster home placements, and the children come from all over the state. The children generally stay for six months to two years until they are able to move onto a foster home or another group home.
“The way you leave is by being successful,” Crumrine said, of the intensive treatment center, which includes on-campus classes for the children with the most severe problems.
