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Youths accounted for after leaving Trumbull CSB
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The executive director of Trumbull County Children Services says three of the six juveniles who walked away from a residential unit Thursday night are detained in the county Juvenile Justice Center.
Another is detained at the behavioral health hospital Belmont Pines in Liberty Township, and two others are being monitored at Children Services on electronic ankle bracelets.
Nick Kerosky, executive director, said five of the juveniles — mostly boys ranging in age from 13 to 17 — were found Friday morning by Children Services Board workers at a house in Warren and brought back to the facility. The sixth child returned to the facility on her own a short time after leaving.
Kerosky said the three that were not taken to the Juvenile Justice Center are likely to be placed on probation through the Juvenile Court for walking away from the facility. That could trigger more serious consequences if they walk away in the future, Kerosky said.
Meanwhile, Kerosky said he plans to meet early next week with officials from the juvenile justice center and Warren Police Department to establish procedures to follow in the event that a similar problem occurs again.
It’s the second time in three weeks that several children left the facility together. Two boys and two girls walked away Oct. 12 and were back the following day.
Kerosky explained at the time that teens living in the residential facility cannot by law be detained there, only younger children.
But Kerosky said he believes the agency is taking more extreme measures at this point to reduce the likelihood that the problem will continue.
This is the first time the agency has tried using ankle bracelets, he said. With the device, it will be much easier to find them and bring them back, Kerosky said, adding, “so they might not go in the first place.”
“It’s definitely a concern with the cold weather and danger of the streets,” Kerosky said of the rash of runaways. “They’re putting themselves in dangerous situations.”
Trumbull County’s CSB is one of the few in the state that has a residential facility for children in its care, Kerosky said. He prefers that such children stay with foster families.
In most counties, children who can’t be placed with foster families are placed in private facilities that can detain the juveniles. One of the most-used facilities is in Cleveland.
Former CSB director Marcia Tiger advocated Trumbull CSB having its own residential facilities so that children could remain in the community, closer to their families.
Just after Tiger became executive director in 2006, the agency undertook construction of the new residential children’s center.
The center provides space for up to 24 behaviorally and emotionally disturbed children.