Butler County doesn't have many juveniles placed in secure detention, but the only secure facility in the county is in the process of transferring youths in its charge to other facilities before it closes early next month.

Western PA Child Care, a 98-bed juvenile detention and treatment facility in Emlenton, will close in early November due to a sharp decline in the number of juveniles placed there by courts.

Placements are down at the facility and others across the state due to COVID-19, said Greg Zappala, owner of Western PA Child Care, which is closing another 60-bed facility he owns, PA Child Care in Luzerne County, in early November.

“This pandemic is causing the biggest problem. Placements across the commonwealth of children we serve is down by 70%,” Zappala said. “Our rates are set by the state and based on an occupancy level of 85%. We're not anywhere close to that this year. When you hit these lows, all you do is lose money. It's not sustainable.”

He said he doesn't see the number of placements increasing until next fall after a vaccine for the coronavirus becomes available.

“I was the largest provider of secure beds other than the commonwealth itself. We took really good care of our kids,” Zappala said.

The Emlenton facility opened in 2005 and primarily operates a secure program for juveniles referred by courts, but it also has a treatment program. About 60 people work there. Most youths are referred from Allegheny County, but some come from Butler County, he said.

Counties that referred youths to the facility have been notified about the closing and are working to transfer them to other facilities, and employees were also notified.

Butler County was notified Monday, said Doug Ritson, chief county probation officer.

Four of the five juveniles referred from the county have been moved to other facilities and officials are working on relocating the last one, he said. Some have been transferred to Adelphoi Village in Latrobe in Westmoreland County.

“That's high. Normally, we have one or two,” Ritson said, about the number of county juveniles referred to Western PA Child Care.

Some juveniles were placed in the secure program and some were in treatment programs, Ritson said.

The county has only 18 juveniles in placement, but Western PA Child Care provides the only secure program in the county, he said.

“Luckily, we don't have a lot of kids in placement,” Ritson said.

Facilities with secure programs nearest to Butler County that the county has used as referral sites are located in Erie, Westmoreland County and Ohio, he said.

“None are in the back yard,” Ritson said.

County juveniles are referred to secure programs in juvenile facilities if they have been charged with crimes as adults, and local facilities are preferred to allow the youths to be in contact with family, he said.

“We try to use local facilities as much as we possibly can to keep kids close to home. We do have a difficult time finding secure detention, so we're probably going to be in a bind at some point in time,” Ritson said.

He said he and staff visit and must approve facilities before juveniles from the county are sent.

Harold Smeltz, a control operator at Western PA Child Care and the secretary/treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 135, which represents some employees, said employees were notified about the closing Monday and are angry about it.

“Workers are mad,” Smeltz said. “We were shocked here. Everybody is devastated.”

About 38 juveniles remained in the facility as of Friday, he said.

The closing notification came as the union was negotiating a new contract to replace an already-expired contract, Smeltz said. Most of the facility's employees are from Butler, Mercer and Clarion counties, and a few live in Ohio, he said.

A state Rapid Response Team is coming to the facility next week to assist employees, Smeltz said.

Rapid Response is an early intervention service from the Department of Labor and Industry that assists workers and employers affected by layoffs, plant closures or natural disasters. It provides access to the PA CareerLink system of resources and information to help transition workers into reemployment.