Documented Incidents of Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens

Deaths

• In August, 2009, a 16-year-old boy died after ‘boot camp’ staff failed to provide medical care on a hike when he began to show significant and prolonged signs of heat exhaustion. In an affidavit requesting a search warrant the Sheriff’s Deputy indicated that he believed the death was a homicide and the result of criminal mistreatment and reckless endangerment by the school.  After an investigation the Oregon Department of Human services found evidence that at least two staff members neglected the care of the victim by failing to provide medical which likely endangered his life. (Bend, OR)

• A 17-year-old girl collapsed on a nature walk and died several weeks later in the hospital; it was later discovered that at least seven employees of the center were lacking in CPR training. (New Ulm, TX, 7/10)

• A 16-year-old boy died after a staff member physically restrained him in a closet because the child refused to show the staff member what he had in his hand; it turned out to be a pen cap.  That same year, a 16 year old girl had been sexually abused by a staff member at the same facility. (Manvel, TX, 2010-2011)

Sexual Abuse

• Two 15-year-old boys were given drugs and cigarettes in exchange for sex by a staff member who pleaded no contest to four felony counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and was sentenced to prison for one to fifteen years. (Roosevelt, UT, 11/09)

• 16-year-old girl said she had sexual contact with a 32-year-old youth care specialist.  An affidavit states that another 17-year-old girl witnessed sexual contact between them in the staff member’s car. (Lincoln, NE, 12/09) (Man was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contenst to a misdemeanor of attempted sex abuse, a downgrade from the original two felony accounts of sex abuse of a protected person.)

• According to a report by VA licensing officials, the facility failed to properly report and document an allegation of sexual abuse within 24 hours to the agency that places the child in the facility and to the resident's guardian. The facility also failed to properly document a January allegation in which the boy said another resident touched him in a sexual manner. (Norfolk, VA, 1/11) (Regained full license several months later.) This same facility was also investigated for a series of incidents that included:

  • A choking that rendered a resident unconscious that staff referred to as ‘horse play’

  • Staff telling paramedics responding to a 911 call that a girl was suffering from respiratory distress, but not that she had attempted suicide;

  • Staff failing to report two other suicide attempts to regulators;

  • Staff telling regulators that the fire department responded to a false alarm instead of a small fire that forced an evacuation;

  • Staff allowing residents to run away.

Other Reports of Neglect

• As they had done in previous years, regulators told Refuge administrators in 2010 to stop some of the home's punitive practices and carry out more staff training. Violations included providing insufficient food and clothing, mishandling of residents’ money and medications, abusive treatment by an inadequately trained staff, and therapeutic support for the troubled young residents was all but nonexistent. The division also scheduled quarterly inspections of Refuge for the next year, a far more intensive regimen than normal, but an October memo from the deputy director of the Community Care Licensing Division said the California budget crisis had weakened the agency’s ability to monitor residential program. (Oakland, CA, 2010-2011)