| New
Perspectives
- Dec, 1991 Issue |
Tahoe Turning Point
(916) 542-1200
South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Al Bonadonna, Director, Heavenly Home
Tahoe Turning Point consists
of two group homes for teenage boys, licensed as group homes by the
state of California for up to six at each of the homes. Most of the
youths are placed by county probation officers, although there are some
private placements. The staff/resident ratio is one to three, and they
reject juveniles with severe mental retardation, extremely bizarre behavior,
needing restraint, or numerous felony convictions of theft or physical
assault.
Al Bonadonna's favorite story
is of a boy placed with them with a thick hospital file chronicling
his episodes of psychotic breaks, hallucinations, and breaks with reality,
part of which was worship sessions of a God unknown to the therapists.
When Al accused the boy of acting out the stories of Conan the Barbarian
comic books, the boy smiled mischievously and dropped the charade.
Copyright
© 1991, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
