San Pasqual Academy has provided housing, a high school, mental health services and more for foster youth since 2001.
Shane Harris went there after leaving a foster home at age 16.
“There was nowhere for me to go, no specific placement,” he said. “Nobody wanted to take someone who was close to graduating high school in. So San Pasqual Academy was the only place and the only option for me.”
Harris remembers driving from Southeast San Diego to Escondido. The campus was surrounded by orange groves. It was peaceful, he said.
“My high school GPA had been failing, and there was a lot that was going on,” he said. “San Pasqual sort of gave me the chance to reground myself.”
Harris spent 13 years in the foster care system after losing both of his parents. He said a social worker at San Pasqual connected him to his biological siblings.
“San Pasqual Academy was a safe haven for me,” Harris said. “It was a very effective place in my journey that I’ll never forget.”
Harris, now a civil rights activist, has been an advocate for the school and its students. Its enrollment has shrunk since his time there.
In 2009, enrollment peaked at 195 students. Now, there are 44, according to the County of San Diego. As enrollment continues to decline amid changes in the foster care system, county officials are seeking input on how best to use the 238-acre campus.
‘A culture shift’
Fewer children are entering the foster care system, and fewer of those who do are going to San Pasqual.
In 2001, there were 8,450 foster youth in out-of-home care in San Diego County. Nearly 2,400 were youth aged 12 to 17, and 77 of them were placed at San Pasqual. In 2023, there were just 2,068 in out-of-home care, 415 of whom were aged 12 to 17. Just 10 of them went to San Pasqual, according to the County.
“San Pasqual Academy mimics what we've seen at the larger child welfare level,” said Alfredo Guardado, director of the County’s Child and Family Well-Being Department.
In 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill launching the Continuum of Care Reform. The federal government passed similar legislation in 2018. It shifted foster care away from group environments and toward placing youth with relatives, also known as kinship care.
Guardado called it “a whole, entire culture shift” for his department. He pointed to studies that have shown kids placed with family members have fewer behavioral problems than those placed in the foster care system.
That shift also changed how San Pasqual is funded and nearly led to its closure. In 2021, the state said it would no longer direct federal funding to the school. Supporters filed a lawsuit and the County Board of Supervisors kept it open.
The school is now almost entirely paid for with local funds, Guardado said.
Looking to the future
Last year, nearly 70% of kids who were eligible to attend San Pasqual were instead placed with relatives or foster families, according to the County.
In 2022, county supervisors approved a plan to add more services to the campus. That included a foster family agency and a group home.
As the number of students declines, Guardado said, there may be other ways to serve foster youth at the campus.
“What are some of the potential options we have here at San Pasqual Academy, while we're keeping the focus on youth, maximizing the entirety of the campus, and making something that's fiscally sustainable?” he said.
The County is seeking input from the community. An online survey closes March 30.
Harris has proposed providing housing at the campus for foster families and families providing kinship care.
He also wants to see transitional housing remain at the campus. It’s available to San Pasqual graduates until they turn 25.
Harris lived in transitional housing in San Diego. He’d been homeless after leaving the foster care system, he said.
“Once I got into transitional housing, my whole life changed,” he said. “For a lot of kids, that year or two years that you're in transitional housing where you can pay a pro-rated rent, where you can accrue savings, where you could go to school, work a job without worrying about the stress of paying the rent that San Diegans pay is a tremendous opportunity of value for someone who went through all the challenges of the system.”
County staff plan to present ideas to the Board of Supervisors in May.
