Published: June 11, 2009 10:48 pm      

HOMICIDE: State reps question Office of Children and Family Services policies

State legislators are pressing the Office of Children and Family Services for an explanation of circumstances at Avenue House, the halfway house for troubled teens where a youth counselor was slain this week.

Renee Greco, 24, was the sole adult supervisor of six teenage boys in the halfway house when she was beaten to death Monday night. Two of the teens, Anthony Allen, 18, and Robert Thousand, 17, are charged with second-degree murder, robbery and burglary in connection with her death.

Reports indicate New Directions Youth & Family Services, which operates the halfway house for OCFS, employs three adults in rotating shifts to oversee the six-bed facility at 437 East Ave. The shifts sometimes overlap to provide more supervision at key times, including the after-school hours.

Avenue House is a non-secure facility for older male teens deemed ready to learn how to live on their own after having been housed for a time at Wyndham Lawn Home for Children.

State Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, R-Clarence, and state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, have a meeting scheduled with OCFS Deputy Commissioner Bill Getman in Albany next Monday to review OCFS/New Directions staffing and youth placement requirements. Their questions for the deputy commissioner are virtually identical:

n Why was only one young adult overseeing six troubled teens during the late evening, when Greco was killed?

n Did the scheduled closing of several secure youth facilities upstate, called for in the 2009-10 state budget, force placement of violence-prone youth offenders in non-secure surroundings?

“Was it suitable for these boys to be placed in an unsecured home? That’s one thing on my mind,” Corwin said. “

She and Maziarz both said the recently approved state budget called for a number of locked-down youth facilities to be closed as a money-saving measure. They want to know how many of those are in Western New York and whether the unavailability of secure beds is driving OCFS referrals to non-secure facilities.

Maziarz said he also wants a listing of other non-secure youth homes throughout Niagara County, as well as indications what the criteria are for classifying teen offenders as violent or non-violent.

“Clearly there are some tough questions for OCFS,” Maziarz said. “There ought to be some investigation of their policies and practices as well. ... (Greco) wasn’t all that much older than the (boys) she was put in charge of.”

OCFS shut down Avenue House — meaning it pulled New Directions’ home operating certificate — the day after Greco’s death. Remaining teen residents were moved to another location.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.