Group Home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, to Open Despite Opposition

OLD SAYBROOK - A battle lasting more than one year pitting neighbors against a state agency and non-profit organization has finally come to a resolution, but not one that neighbors had hoped.

The Connecticut Department of Children and Families, DCF, recently issued a license for Middletown-based Gilead Community Services to operate a therapeutic group home for five teenage boys at 7 Anchorage Lane.

The home will be located near the end of a cul-de-sac in the Ferry Point section of town.

At press time, Barry Simon, Executive Director for Gilead Community Services, expected two boys will move into the home on Feb. 11 and that gradually the other three boys will move in.

Simon believes the home will employ approximately 14 workers with a minimum of two workers at night and a maximum of four workers during the day.

The facility will be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and all case managers at the facility have bachelor's degrees in psychology or sociology.

DCF Spokesperson Gary Kleeblatt said the home will be one of nearly 50 therapeutic group homes that have opened throughout Connecticut in the last two years.

"This will meet the treatment needs of children in a community based setting...If we can provide treatment for kids in a more normal setting it will be more effective and better for the long term prospects of the child to succeed in the community when they return either to their home or to a foster home," Kleeblatt said.
Despite the issuance of the license, there are six signs erected in residents' homes urging another location be chosen for the group home.

In fact, two of those signs, one in each direction, are located near the group home's property line with one stating: "Does 7 Anchorage Lane come with a LIFE time warranty?," a slash through the words "D.C.F. Cares", and the words "Beware - deep water/thin ice. Find a safer home."

Another sign states: "Find a safer home than 7 Anchorage Lane - Fact: DCF drownings have doubled since 2001. Source: State of Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate."

Yet another sign has a black and white photo of a drowning child with the words: "Stop 7 Anchorage Lane. Drowning is #2 cause of death among DCF Children" and a slash through the words "D.C.F. Cares."

The signs make reference to the fact that the home is within close proximity to three sides of unfenced deep water which abuts Brewer Ferry Point Marina.

Several neighbors that live near the group home including Joseph M. and Mary K. Brigant, Marilyn and John Caldwell, Danya P. and Mitchell T. Winch, Bruce D. and Ruth L. Brados, Edward and Barbara Pilcher, and Mark Caputo have voiced strong opposition citing safety concerns.

Tom Khelenbach III, a U.S. Coast Guard Licensed Marina Officer and operator of Sea Tow Central Connecticut, has written a book regarding the risks of having a group home at this location.

Khelenbach is concerned that patients could be suicidal and noted the home's proximity to deep water and the eight-lane Interstate 95 Baldwin Bridge which has no suicide barriers on either side of its public walkway.

56 residents signed a petition in August requesting DCF not license the group home while the Old Saybrook Board of Selectmen and State Representative Marilyn Giuliano, R-23, unsuccessfully fought for the facility to be located in a safer environment.

The level of opposition for the Old Saybrook group home, Simon said, is unlike that which was expressed when the organization opened homes in Cromwell and Middletown.

Simon has said the facility has tried to implement neighbors' suggestions and that both employees and the boys at the facility know how to swim.

He expects that the facility will hold an open house during its first few weeks of operation.