Residential Treatment Center

The Devereux Foundation got the go-ahead from Wallace Township to build four residential buildings to house clients at its Brandywine Campus on Devereux Road. The residences will replace existing housing, so the population on the campus will only increase by nine, to 134 live-in clients. In a 3-0 vote, the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday night approved final plans for the construction on Devereux's 300-acre campus in Glenmoore on Devereux Road. The campus is a residential treatment center for mentally handicapped males, ages 18 to 21. Also approved in the final plans is a 2,400-square-foot auto shop to be used for vocational training.

"He's the child with the basketball in his hand" is the first thing that comes to mind when people are asked about James. His basketball is this 8-year-old's prize possession, and he made sure to put his initials on it for when he has to put it down. The ball is easily retrievable from the toy chest in his room in a residential treatment center/group home where he lives with 87 other children. And any stories about the 76ers' Allen Iverson have his total attention. Though any food put in front of him is welcome, he favors pizza and chicken wings.

Computer time at the Children's Home used to come just once a week in a cramped mobile van from Mount Laurel. But with the opening of a new $1.5 million classroom building and computer center this fall, students at this day and residential treatment center for troubled youths can work on computers every day. "We never really had a library before," said Annamary Kavanaugh, the home's development director. "It was very small and was restricted to what people donated to us. " Now, this home, once reserved for 19th-century orphans, has gone high-tech with six new classrooms, a library with a vaulted ceiling, and eight computers to call their own. The home, which began in 1864 to house Civil War orphans, evolved in the late 1960s from an orphanage into what the state Division of Youth and Family Services calls a residential treatment center, executive director William Boyles said.

For an institution that has been a part of this township since the Civil War, the Children's Home does not enjoy the high profile its history might imply. "We're hidden behind the landfill," explained Annamary Kavanaugh, the home's development director. The giant L & D Landfill, closed at the end of 1986, looms over the Children's Home campus on Pine Street. On Thursday, though, the 130-year-old school and boarding home for students with emotional difficulties took a step to heighten its profile.

Eleanor McKay, 84, of Haverford, a former Girl Scouts of America executive, died Sunday at the Quadrangle Health Care Center in Haverford. Miss McKay, a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts, served for 21 years in various executive positions in the organization, including national director of regional field office operations. She had primary responsibility for designing and directing field services for 450 local Girl Scout councils. She was born in Xenia, Ohio, and graduated from Xenia High School.

There are 55 children at the residential treatment center where Derrick, 11, lives. He is protective of the younger ones and will crouch down to their level to talk, and take their hands and help them look for things they have lost. If they fall off their bikes, he'll run to brush them off and make them laugh. He likes to be helpful in many ways. He's a good organizer. When he picks up toys, he'll put dolls in one place and little cars in another. And he keeps his room clean. Derrick has made the honor roll in his special-education classes; they are taught at about a fourth-grade level.

The Devereux Foundation plans to build four residential buildings to house clients at its Brandywine Campus. Preliminary plans for these buildings, approximately 6,600 square feet each, received approval in a 2-0 vote by the Wallace Township Board of Supervisors Tuesday night. Supervisor Paul Higgins did not attend the meeting. The 300-acre campus, classified by Devereux as a residential treatment center for mentally handicapped children and adults, is located in Glenmoore on Devereux Road.

Gloucester City's welfare official, who had been missing since Saturday, reappeared in the kitchen of her adoptive mother's Gloucester City home Wednesday after hiding out for five days in an attic closet of the three-story dwelling. Mariterese Thomas, 26, went without food during her absence, according to her husband, Paul. But she had crept into the lower part of the house to use the bathroom and obtain drinking water, he said. "I wanted time to think things out," Thomas said of her stay.

Sleighton School officials said they planned to rebuild a dormitory that was gutted last Sunday in a four-alarm fire. The cause of the blaze, which resulted in $500,000 to $800,000 in damage, was possibly electrical, said State Trooper Brian Herr. "It doesn't appear to be a set fire. " The fire apparently started in the attic of the stone and frame structure and spread down through the second floor, said Detective Scott Bireley of the Criminal Investigation Division's fire and arson investigation unit.

Ron, 11, who lives in a residential treatment center with 20 other children, has emotional and physical abuse in his background. He has been in other institutions, too, and the hopeful words he expresses about having a family are: "I'm a really neat boy. Somebody would like to have me. " His therapist relates that his feeling of loneliness often makes him say the opposite of what he means. "Good, you're not coming for me" (when an outing is planned) really means "Why can't I come along?"

The teenager who plotted a Columbine-style attack on Plymouth Whitemarsh High School was praised yesterday by a judge, who cited his remarkable transformation after spending time in a residential treatment center. At an emotional hearing for Dillon Cossey, Montgomery County Court Judge Paul Tressler also delivered a devastating criticism of the boy's mother, who at one point left the courtroom because she feared she was going to vomit. Addressing Michele Cossey from the bench, Tressler said: "You have destroyed this kid. " The judge then issued his order: Dillon Cossey, 15, will remain at George Junior Republic, a facility for at risk youths in Western Pennsylvania.

A ninth grader who brought a handgun to a Pennsauken school and aimed it at a classmate's head was sentenced yesterday to several months at a residential treatment center for juveniles with psychological problems. Superior Court Judge Angelo DiCamillo said he was happy that prosecutors dropped an initial request that the 15-year-old serve jail time. The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, is "a danger to the community," the judge said, and placed him on probation until age 18. A psychological report prepared by the court said the Camden boy had violent tendencies and often carried a knife with him to school.

"He's the child with the basketball in his hand" is the first thing that comes to mind when people are asked about James. His basketball is this 8-year-old's prize possession, and he made sure to put his initials on it for when he has to put it down. The ball is easily retrievable from the toy chest in his room in a residential treatment center/group home where he lives with 87 other children. And any stories about the 76ers' Allen Iverson have his total attention. Though any food put in front of him is welcome, he favors pizza and chicken wings.

Darryl Strawberry, appearing more upbeat than he has in weeks, was sentenced to a year's probation and 50 hours of community service yesterday in Tampa, Fla., for causing a traffic accident while under the influence of pain killers. Strawberry, 38, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and driving under the influence. He will serve the sentence concurrently with his house arrest at a Tampa drug-treatment center. His sentence also included $250 in court costs and mandatory attendance at a DUI school.

For the third time in eight days, a Philadelphia student has been sexually assaulted in a city school. Police said yesterday that they have charged two 12-year-old boys with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old female student at Barratt Middle School on Monday. A third boy from the South Philadelphia school was expected to surrender to face charges, said Lt. Mike Boyle of the police special-victims unit. The victim was punched, then dragged to a back hallway in the sprawling brick-and-stone building, where she was sexually assaulted, police said.

Dallas Stars center Mike Modano, who strained neck ligaments after being sent headfirst into the boards last week, said the NHL is growing increasingly violent and if it doesn't change, he will retire. Modano, who also suffered a broken nose and mild concussion after Anaheim defenseman Ruslan Salei cross-checked him from behind in Saturday's game, admits he's nervous about playing again and taking another hit. "It was a scary incident," said Modano, who was knocked unconscious and remembers waking to find doctors and trainers hovering over and yelling at him to try to move his arms and legs.

There are 55 children at the residential treatment center where Derrick, 11, lives. He is protective of the younger ones and will crouch down to their level to talk, and take their hands and help them look for things they have lost. If they fall off their bikes, he'll run to brush them off and make them laugh. He likes to be helpful in many ways. He's a good organizer. When he picks up toys, he'll put dolls in one place and little cars in another. And he keeps his room clean. Derrick has made the honor roll in his special-education classes; they are taught at about a fourth-grade level.

After days of mourning, Kyle Kenworthy wasn't sure she had the strength to attend the Funeral Mass for Edward P. Werner, the 11-year-old boy slain Sept. 27 while selling candy door-to-door for a school fund-raising drive. Her daughter, Heather, 9, changed her mind. "I thought it would be too much for her to handle," Kenworthy said as she comforted her sobbing child. "But she wanted to go. . . . She didn't know Eddie, but she's all broken up about his death. " The Kenworthys were among more than 500 people who packed St. Aloysius Church here yesterday morning to say good-bye to Eddie, who was born Christmas Day 1985.

When Shelley arrived at Seabrook House 11 months ago, she was fidgety, confused and craving the warm comfortable high that she said enveloped her "like love. " The 29-year-old Asbury Park mother was four months pregnant and reeling from a 12-year heroin habit. She had already handed two sons over to her mother's care following a series of unsuccessful short-term rehab programs. But just 10 days after she walked through the doors of the Cumberland County residential treatment center - after taking the first steps of what will be a prolonged recovery process - Shelley was reunited with her children.

Computer time at the Children's Home used to come just once a week in a cramped mobile van from Mount Laurel. But with the opening of a new $1.5 million classroom building and computer center this fall, students at this day and residential treatment center for troubled youths can work on computers every day. "We never really had a library before," said Annamary Kavanaugh, the home's development director. "It was very small and was restricted to what people donated to us. " Now, this home, once reserved for 19th-century orphans, has gone high-tech with six new classrooms, a library with a vaulted ceiling, and eight computers to call their own. The home, which began in 1864 to house Civil War orphans, evolved in the late 1960s from an orphanage into what the state Division of Youth and Family Services calls a residential treatment center, executive director William Boyles said.