Barbara Condo, founder and executive director of One Way Farm, said no fight or incident comes close to matching the severity of the assault Monday night at the River Road facility.
“It’s most disturbing for me because this is not a job — this is what I do, this is my life,” she said.
Condo said while the police investigation is ongoing, her agency can’t speak on specifics of the incident.
Staff at the group home called 911 around 11:30 p.m. Monday to report an unresponsive boy. The call came three hours after he had been assaulted, according to Fairfield Twp. police.
Between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Monday, the 17-year-old allegedly punched the victim, throwing him to the ground — where he landed on his head — and then repeatedly punched him in the head, said Fairfield Twp. Police Chief Richard St. John, during a dispute over a flashlight each boy claimed was his.
“We called it a fight but it really wasn’t much of a fight,” St. John said. “The arrestee just basically assaulted the victim.”
Police were not called immediately after the assault, and the victim was up, walking and talking after the incident, St. John said. He was discovered later that night, unconscious on the floor, during a bed check by staff members, according to police reports.
The suspect, a ward of Warren County Children Services, is in custody at Butler County Juvenile Justice Center. A hearing is set for Jan. 3 in Butler County Juvenile Court.
Patricia Jacobs, director of Warren County Children Services, said the teen has no prior history of violence and had been at One Way Farm since the end of November.
Prior to placement, the teenager was living with his family in Warren County and had no prior involvement with children services, she said. He was the only youth at the facility placed by Warren County Children Services, though the child welfare agency has placed children at One Way Farm over the course of many years, Jacobs said.
One Way Farm followed protocol in issuing a critical incident report to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which licenses the agency, documents show. Angela Terez, an ODJFS spokeswoman, said by Tuesday her office had been notified the teen was hospitalized.
The agency has served about 8,500 children since 1976, said Greg Elam, board president of One Way Farm. Although officials would not detail its policy regarding its responses to fights and when to notify authorities, Elam said that “typically disputes with kids are handled internally.”
In accordance with its policy, Butler County Children Services on Tuesday removed three youths it had placed at One Way Farm, said Director Jeff Centers.
“We moved the kids right away,” Centers said upon learning the severity of the attack.
Jody Canupp, development director at One Way Farm, said the facility accepts children from nine Ohio counties, including Butler and Warren counties. She would not disclose how many children were at the 20-bed facility, nor whether any other youths had been removed following the incident.
According to Fairfield Twp. police records, officers have been dispatched 92 times since Jan. 1, which is down from last year when police responded 166 times to One Way Farm. St. John said he was unable to provide information on the types of calls because the records staff was off for the holiday, however, he said the majority of calls are for reports of runaway juveniles.
One Way Farm has received numerous accolades for its service. Most recently it was granted a 2011 Better Business Bureau Torch Award.
The children’s home is nonprofit organization licensed by ODJFS to provide residential care 365 days a year, 24 hours a day to 10 male children between the ages of 6 and 17, or if handicapped, up to age 21, through its Sunrise home at 6141 River Road. It also has a capacity of 10 female children, ages 6 to 17, or up to 21 for handicapped clients, through its New Dawn home at 6145 River Road on its campus, documents show. The agency has full certification through Dec. 29, 2012.
State records show few, minor instances of noncompliance. It’s most recent audit, dated Nov. 15, had four findings, records show, three dealing with paperwork. According to records, the agency did not file a report until three days after a resident was taken to the hospital in September; a child’s file did not contain documentation about who transported the child to the facility and that person’s agency affiliation; documentation was missing noting whether an employee’s references were verified prior to hire; and lastly, that no doors were hung leading into any of the four boys bedrooms.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2179 or Hannah.Poturalski@coxinc.com.
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