Group Homes

Upper Southampton Township's law regulating group homes for the mentally retarded is unconstitutional and violates federal fair-housing laws, a federal judge has ruled. Township officials had argued that the ordinance, which requires a minimum of 1,000 feet between group homes, was designed to prevent the clustering of group homes in one area of the Bucks County municipality and to help integrate the retarded into the community. But in an opinion filed yesterday, U.S. District Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. said public statements by township officials proved that the ordinance - the fourth adopted since 1988, when Horizon House Developmental Services Inc. leased two private homes as group homes - was really an attempt to placate angry neighbors.

Lower Merion officials, faced with continued opposition to proposed revisions in a year-old ordinance governing group homes, are again going back to the drawing board. W. Bruce McConnel 3d, a member of the township Board of Commissioners and chairman of the committee that originated the ordinance, said Monday night that it was unlikely the proposal would go before the board for a vote until next month. His comment was made after a joint meeting of the board and the township Planning Commission.

Abington Township commissioners' promise to lobby for a change in laws that allow profit-making group homes in residential zones was not enough. Vincent Morasco, a spokesman for residents protesting a group home on Shoemaker Avenue, wants the township board to challenge those federal statutes in court and write a new zoning ordinance prohibiting group homes anywhere in the township. On Thursday night, the Board of Commissioners agreed to write state and federal legislators and ask them to challenge the federal law. The board also agreed to look at Morasco's recommendations.

Proposed zoning regulations for community living arrangements in Nether Providence Township have the backing of the township Planning Commission. The commission voted 4-0 Thursday night with one abstention to recommend approval of an ordinance that would limit the number of unrelated people who could live together and limit how close together group homes could be. The ordinance was proposed after three residents of Tara Place complained to the township commissioners about the possible expansion of a United Cerebral Palsy community living arrangement on their block.

To avoid potential lawsuits, the Schuylkill supervisors are considering making changes in the township zoning ordinance to provide for group homes for the mentally retarded, officials said Wednesday. The discussion at a board meeting was an off-shoot of a yearlong controversy about the Devereux Foundation's proposal for a group home for five retarded adults on Country Club Road. The zoning officer rejected the proposal because the zoning code bars more than three unrelated people from living in a house together.

Group homes for the handicapped will be allowed in residential neighborhoods, the Schuylkill Township Board of Supervisors has decided. The supervisors voted, 5-0, Wednesday to treat group home residents as a family. The U.S. Attorney's Office filed suit last year after the township tried to require the Devereux Foundation to get special zoning approval before opening a group home for five mentally retarded men. In November, U.S. District Judge Joseph L. McGlynn ruled that the township could not make that requirement.

Last June, Russ Kulp had almost everything his agency needed to open five group homes for the mentally retarded in southern Chester County. Impact Systems Inc. had the money - $500,000 from the state. It had the houses. It had zoning approval. But today, two of the homes are empty. Six retarded people who were to live there are still in institutions. And the state will keep much of its money. The project is stalled because of the one thing Kulp doesn't have: employees.

State Sen. Richard Codey (D., Essex) asserts that group homes are disproportionately placed in towns with lower-income residents because upscale communities are resistant to these homes (Aug. 15, "N.J. group homes concentrated in poor areas, census indicates"). While it is true that there are few group homes in more expensive towns, the reason is primarily economic and not discriminatory. To meet the needs of as many individuals as possible with limited funds, the state has placed tight financial restrictions on capital spending per person to purchase homes.

The Upper Southampton Township Board of Supervisors has voted to drop some of the zoning requirements it imposed in a neighborhood that has two group homes for physically and mentally handicapped adults. The group homes, in the 900 block of West Maple Avenue and the 900 block of Hillside Drive, are in violation of the zoning ordinance. Horizon House, which has operated the group homes there since last September, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on March 29. Although it has a conditional use permit for the property, it contended that the zoning was exclusionary and illegal.

Latia Jones, a 21-year-old mother, was asked by her GED program to write an essay about her future. She wanted to become a forensic psychologist so she could understand what motivates people to commit crimes and possibly help juveniles in trouble, she wrote. She described her own youth, of being sent to foster homes, group homes, and at least one juvenile facility. She also cited the "outrageous crime rates" in Philadelphia. "Today it is May 1, 2012," she added, "and the homicide rate is 122. " Monday night, Jones and a 21-year-old male friend were added to that grim tally.

OH, COUNCIL. You were doing so well. Back in 2007, you wisely asked voters for permission to rewrite the city's antiquated zoning code. Voters gave it, and you initiated a four-year public process, guided by a diverse and inclusive commission. We were on our way toward having a clear, fair and modern code. You and the Mayor made the appointments, and several of you sat on the Zoning Code Commission. But now you seem to have lost faith in that effort, and it's such a shame. With the exception of a few moments, seeing the commission in action made me proud to be a Philadelphian.

Anxiety in the Pennsauken neighborhood started with the purchase of a house that had been vacant for years. Area residents took to the Internet and found that the new owner, Landmark Property Management, was connected to a local social services provider. Soon, township officials were fielding complaints - and hosting public meetings to discuss their options. The residents were furious: Was a group home for troubled teenagers really opening in their neighborhood of Colonial revival homes and wraparound porches and towering oaks?

The surviving Hungarian victims of last week's Ride the Ducks accident arrived home yesterday after what the youth-group leader who hosted them here said was a quiet ride to JFK Airport in New York City on Monday. Jackie Kennedy, youth director of Marshallton United Methodist Church in West Chester, who traveled with the 11 surviving Hungarian students and their two teachers to the airport, said the departure was bittersweet. "We've created a family here, under very sad circumstances," she said.

Some employers in the region stood out in our survey based on workers' responses to statements about their company's ethics, dedication to training, and other values. Here are the top workplaces in seven of those categories. ETHICS This organization operates by strong values and ethics. The Vanguard Group Valley Forge-based Vanguard has $1.3 trillion worth of people's nest eggs in its hands, so it may come as a relief to know that the company's employees rated their workplace higher for ethics and values than workers at any other firm in our survey.

RASHEENA PHINISEE had come so far - from living under the care of the city child-welfare system to becoming an independent and strong-minded person - and now her world was crumbling around her. "My life is not what I thought it would be," she said. "All of this just fell on me. My whole world fell apart. " When she was growing up, Phinisee, 24, spent time in the custody of the city Department of Human Services. She eventually managed to live on her own, enroll at Temple University and work successfully in various internships.

A new statewide child-welfare report shows a mixed picture in the region - including the encouraging finding that the percentage of Philadelphia children in foster care who live in the homes of relatives is higher than the state average. Nearly 25 percent of foster children in Philadelphia are placed in the homes of relatives, compared with around 21 percent for the state as a whole, according to the report released yesterday by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, a statewide advocacy group based in Harrisburg.

Here's what happens next for embattled social-service agencies, drained of life-sustaining dollars by the state budget impasse: They take to the streets in protest. You might see day-care staffers outside their centers, theatrically begging for donations. Or workers at group homes pleading with passersby to donate groceries. Those were two ideas offered yesterday as means to draw attention to the plight of service providers as a community forum on the budget stalemate quickly evolved into a discussion of survival strategies and tactics.

A 15-year-old Pottstown High School student was ordered admitted to a group home and counseling center yesterday for his role in keeping three guns that classmate Richard Yanis planned to turn on his enemies at school. Montgomery County Court Judge Gerald S. Corso ordered the boy to report Tuesday to the Adelphoi Village in Latrobe, Pa., for treatment and group therapy. He will be under supervision of the county Juvenile Court until he turns 21. If the boy cooperates with counselors, he can spend some weekends at home with his family, said attorney Henry S. Hilles III. "He is very remorseful for his actions, and the family supports the recommendation of the parole officer and is determined to stand behind him," Hilles said.

The commission governing the New Jersey Pinelands has approved a measure aimed at preserving more open space by clustering residential development, triggering a battle with environmentalists who say the policy would damage the region. A Sierra Club leader said clustering may pose "the single largest threat ever" to the ecologically sensitive forests and farmlands. The amendment to the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan will take effect in April if Gov. Corzine approves.