The Randolph Childrens Home

[keyboard150]

I'm not sure how many of you have heard of this place, but it's in Randolph...out in Amish country (near Jamestown.


I was a resident of the Randolph Children's Home from the end of my 8th grade year. I ended up loving Randolph and stayed until the end of my sophomore year of high school.

I was there because I was fairly "bad." Mostly at home, and my parents didn't know what to do with me....so they decided to give me a shock.

That it was. The home helped me see the light, brothers and sisters. I remember a roomate I had...JC. He thought he may have killed someone. There were kids in this place who had assaulted, robbed, maybe murdered.
However, many of them were just human beings who had taken the wrong path.
I obviously didn't want to end up like them. I didn't. Many like me left that place around the same time.

Now, the place is different. A whole new type of kid is there. Truly dangerous, no remorse. There was a riot there a few weeks ago. It is truly out of control, and that is scary.
Randolph isn't a lockup or anything of the sort. It was meant as a place to guide troubled children.
What they've got now is insane...

It seems like places such as Randolph are being asked to work with more kids they shouldn't be working with, because the youth lockups (such as East Ferry) are unable to fit them.

It's a pretty sad thing for an organization that dedicated its existence to children, to be run into the ground because they are being asked to deal with behaviors they weren't meant to.

[Linda_D]

That's very interesting! I live in Jamestown and never heard about the riot -- ie, it didn't make the either the Jamestown or Buffalo news media (although the hockey players who trashed the Viking Temple in downtown Jamestown made the national news!). Usually, that kind of stuff gets spread far and wide in this area.

A friend's son was also "wayward" and ended up spending a year or so in a residential center similar to Randolph located in the Albany area. He, too, "saw the light" and returned to the family a much better person. A lot of kids, especially when parents divorce, get "short circuited" and start acting out or being self-destructive. These kids do need places where they can put some distance between themselves and their family situations; where they can talk to non-judgemental adults (counselors) about their feelings and issues; and where they can understand that they aren't the only kids with families that aren't the Waltons or the Cleavers.

Hopefully, this incident will lead the state to review its practices on placements for children with behavior problems. Kids who are sociopathic shouldn't be integrated with kids who have issues with anger and acting out simply because one facility is full and the other facility has a couple of extra beds.

[run4it]

Like Linda, I can find absolutely no reference to a riot there. Where did you get that info, Key?

[Linda_D]

I'm not saying it didn't happen. I'm just saying that it wasn't reported, which is entirely possible if the staff handled the situation themselves. If they had called in the NYSP or Catt County sheriff, it would have been all over the police scanners -- which every volunteer fireman and lots of others have out that way -- and somebody would have called the media about it.

[run4it]

I'm not saying it didn't happen. I'm just saying that it wasn't reported, which is entirely possible if the staff handled the situation themselves. If they had called in the NYSP or Catt County sheriff, it would have been all over the police scanners -- which every volunteer fireman and lots of others have out that way -- and somebody would have called the media about it.

Sorry Linda...can't take anything Key says at face value. He's been known to embellish for his own rants before.

[keyboard150]

Sorry Linda...can't take anything Key says at face value. He's been known to embellish for his own rants before.

I've been known to do no such thing, it's just the perception. I say it as it is. If you don't believe what I say, that's your problem. I always speak the truth, no matter how unbelievable it may be.
Sometimes misguided, but always truthful.


My former foster mother still works at the campus school at RCH, she told me about the riot.
She used the word "riot," and she did say the police were there. I doubt that they would want something like that to make the paper. I don't know how bad it was, but when I was there, things like that never happened.

Although, discipline was also a bit different back then, too.

[run4it]

Uh, Key? Aren't you the one who said you were "forced" to use the Thruway? Because we KNOW that isn't true...you have all sorts of options as to which road you travel.

And forgive me if I don't take seriously a 3rd person account of hearsay from someone who HAS been known to embellish stories. I'm sorry, but Linda is right. If there were a real "riot" (kids completely out of control with violence) the police would have been called, and it would have gotten out.

If you want to piss and moan about how things are different 'than in my day', go ahead. But if you're going to make statements of fact, you still need to learn to back it up.

[keyboard150]

Uh, Key? Aren't you the one who said you were "forced" to use the Thruway? Because we KNOW that isn't true...you have all sorts of options as to which road you travel.

And forgive me if I don't take seriously a 3rd person account of hearsay from someone who HAS been known to embellish stories. I'm sorry, but Linda is right. If there were a real "riot" (kids completely out of control with violence) the police would have been called, and it would have gotten out.

If you want to piss and moan about how things are different 'than in my day', go ahead. But if you're going to make statements of fact, you still need to learn to back it up.

J-C, can you stick to the topic for once?

Organizations such as that have a way of stuff NOT getting out. Do you know how much crap happens in my school on a daily basis that should be newsworthy but doesn't get out?

This is a discussion on the home and it's problems, not a personal attack on me. Thanks.

And if I used the word "forced," that was an unfortunate mistake.

[mesue]

There are a lot of things that happen in institutions that do not get reported to the media, for good reason. The media would cause a disturbance, make an audience and escalate the situation.

[bigpoppapuff]

key...you're a bit tightly wound the past couple days...name-calling and more....seriously,relax...and get some fiber in your diet...

[keyboard150]

key...you're a bit tightly wound the past couple days...name-calling and more....seriously,relax...and get some fiber in your diet...

I just bought some shredded wheat. That should help.