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	Lawmakers Pass Requirements for Anchor Center Background Checks, Safety Standards to Be Mandated By Abigail McWilliam The Messenger April 25, 2009 http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/514714.html State lawmakers have passed legislation to require safety standards and background check requirements for a church-run juvenile facility in Fort Dodge. Anchor Character Training Center, 1940 225th St., is a coed home for troubled teens operated by Harvest Baptist Church. Anchor, classified as a children's center, is apparently the only such facility operating in the state of Iowa. The children's center language was introduced by Rep. Helen Miller, D-Fort Dodge, and was included in the Health and Human Services Appropriations bill. The bill has been sent to Gov. Chet Culver to be signed. The standards cover background checks for employees, provisions to prevent abuse, minimum staff ratios, evacuation plans and other safety regulations. These standards are similar to those for group foster care facilities, emergency juvenile shelters and child care centers. In February, The Messenger reported that a registered sex offender was living at Anchor and that the Department of Human Services had not written rules for the facility. At that time, DHS immediately began developing standards and the issue also caught the attention of state lawmakers. "We finally have something that will take care of that situation so we don't have to worry about it," Miller said. "They will be required to have background checks and rules in place for the centers and that was the goal - as far as I'm concerned - mission accomplished." According to the bill, standards established by the DHS must be broad facility standards for the protection of children's safety. The department's proposed standards address the following areas: Providing for basic needs, such as food and shelter. Protection from mistreatment, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect that is established in written policy. Record checks that determine if any owner, director, staff member, volunteer or other has had a criminal or abuse record. Seclusion and restraint standards that prevent children from being physically restrained unless it is to protect the child or others from serious harm. Health, safety, emergencies and buildings standards that include policies for dispensing prescription drugs, maintaining adequate staff-to-child ratio and fire safety requirements, among others. Yet, it remains unclear whether DHS has the authority to enforce these rules. Additionally, DHS cannot establish program standards or other requirements involving program development or oversight of the programs at children's centers. According to Mary Nelson, DHS administrator of the Division of Child and Family Services, the rule changes will now go before the Council on Human Services and then on to the Rules and Review Committee of the Legislature. State Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, who sits on the Rules and Review Committee, said he was encouraged by the language in the Health and Human Services bill. "This is important to lawmakers because we have the responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable, and children are certainly in that category - especially if their care is being provided by those who aren't their parents," Kibbie said. "We go from basically no oversight of the institution to some regulation of those in these types of facilities." He called giving the DHS the ability to establish rules for children's centers "a major step." The process will include a public comment period that will likely conclude in late June, Nelson said. Once rules are published in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin, information will become available about how people can comment on the rules. When DHS wrote the rule change for children's centers, it also proposed additional administrative rules for children's centers that focus on keeping children safe. Department officials believe these rules would form a solid foundation for certification or licensing standards if the law changed to require children's centers to be licensed. The proposal also recommends that children's centers either register or obtain a license prior to being established. Children's centers are defined by law as privately funded facilities that provide services for at least seven children who are not in the custody of any state or court agency. The Anchor Character Training Center houses about 35 teens, according to information submitted to The Messenger. The facility has had 24 runaway juveniles, a child endangerment charge that involved a paddling incident, and one case of criminal mischief in the past 10 years, according to Webster County Sheriff Brian Mickelson. No charges were filed in these cases. Marvin Smith, pastor of Harvest Baptist Church and the Anchor Character Training Center, has repeatedly declined interviews with The Messenger. A phone call to Smith on Friday was not returned. According to its Web site, Anchor Character Training Center does not charge for juveniles to come to the facility, but instead asks parents to give what they can. The main goal of the facility is to "help young people get their lives disciplined to the ways of God according to the Bible." Contact Abigail McWilliam at (515) 573-2141 or amcwilliam@messengernews.net
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