Larkspur – Carl walks a dusty road, bordered by foothills and pine forest rising behind the lodge that’s been home since July, and talks about his favorite horse, Puff.
“It’s not so much about riding the horse as having a relationship with the horse,” said the 15-year-old. “Horses sense your feelings.”
Puff is one of the cast-off horses donated to the Griffith Centers for Children to help heal boys, outcasts themselves, struggling with mental illness or the aftermath of abuse.
Carl will return to his home in Longmont this month, but a federal Medicaid program crackdown may mean other troubled children will lose the chance to hang around the corral with Puff.
The federal government says that for 11 years, Colorado improperly billed the cost of treating children at 44 residential treatment facilities like Griffith.
The funding cut – which could total more than $30 million a year, or about half of Colorado’s budget for residential mental health – may come Jan. 1.
At the core of the financial crisis are programs such as equine therapy, which paired Puff and Carl, whose last name is being withheld at the request of his family.
Colorado public health and welfare officials told the centers, which housed 3,600 last year, to bill Medicaid for programs such as animal therapy and hiking expeditions.
In August, federal Medicaid officials said the health program was never intended to pay for such services.
Treatment centers must add psychiatrists and nurses and function more like hospitals, federal officials said.
“There is no question that county and state dollars will have to be used,” said Beth Miller, deputy executive director for Griffith. “It’s just hard to imagine that the state of Colorado can come up with $30 (million) or $40 million.”
After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 9, Carl was held back in the third grade for behavioral problems and poor performance.
For the next five years, he moved from public to private schools and special day programs for mentally ill children.
In July, he arrived at the ranch, where routine, one-on-one therapy and the chance to bond with other troubled boys created a place of safety and stability Carl said he had never known.
“It’s very important for me to have structure,” he said. “And this is definitely one of the most structured places I’ve been.”
Most youths end up in residential treatment after exhausting all other options. Many have bounced from foster home to foster home and have been in trouble with the law.
Since 1994, residential centers have become Colorado’s answer for dealing with troubled youths.
But Barbara Prehmus, Colorado’s Medicaid director, estimates fewer than half of the residential treatment centers will meet the stringent federal rules.
The Devereux Cleo Wallace center in Westminster is one of those that will qualify, according to its director, Bentley Smith.
The suburban campus looks like a private school dotted by dormitories and a recreation center with an indoor pool.
Life, however, isn’t posh. The residents aren’t allowed to leave the campus or walk unescorted, and after school there are mandatory therapy sessions.
Smith described the coeducational Cleo Wallace as one of the most institutional of Colorado’s residential treatment facilities.
“Only a small percentage of kids need our level of service,” Smith said.
For Torri, 17, Cleo Wallace was a last chance. Born to teen parents who dropped out of high school, Torri, whose last name is being withheld at the request of the facility, started psychotherapy at age 4.
Her first suicide attempt came at 8, and then she moved into her first foster home.
A year ago, she came to Cleo Wallace from a four-month psychiatric hospital stay in North Dakota, which has no residential treatment centers.
It took Torri three months after arriving to open up and trust her therapist, she said.
Working with the Horse Protection League, an animal- rescue operation, “helped me learn and trust things we don’t know or fully understand,” she said.
Torri also credits Cleo Wallace for teaching her life skills such as managing money and cooking.
She created a coffee-cart business and is earning money for her own apartment.
Torri said she expects to complete her GED in two weeks and will stay at Cleo Wallace for eight months, while getting a degree as a dental assistant. Her goal is to become an oral surgeon.
“Some day, I would like to get married and have a family,” she said. “I just would like to be the mother my mom couldn’t be.”
Staff writer Marsha Austin can be reached at 303-820-1242 or maustin@denverpost.com.
