New Government Watchdog Report Raises Concerns about Child Abuse in Residential Facilities
WASHINGTON – A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, released today, shows that inadequate coordination between local, state, and federal agencies can allow abuse in residential facilities, serving youth in foster care and youth with disabilities, to go undetected or unaddressed.
The report was requested by Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Labor, Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (MA-05), and Chairman Bob Casey Jr. (PA-D), Senate Special Committee on Aging.
An array of state and local agencies – in conjunction with the Departments of Health and Human Services and Education – are responsible for overseeing federally funded residential facilities and preventing and addressing child maltreatment. However, the GAO found that a lack of consistent data-sharing and oversight practices across these agencies can pose steep challenges to identifying cases of child abuse, holding residential facilities accountable for abuse, and monitoring youth who move to other states.
The report recommended that federal agencies facilitate coordination among states to identify best practices for collecting data and preventing and addressing child maltreatment in residential facilities.
“Today’s new GAO report is an alarming reminder that we have far more work to do to end child abuse and neglect in this country. The current patchwork of state systems to respond to child maltreatment allows far too many victims to fall between the cracks, not only in residential facilities, but across our communities,” said Chairman Scott. “This Congress, I led the House passage of the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which would streamline communication between child protective services nationwide, so that critical information is not lost. Such a system could have saved the life of Heaven Watkins, an 11-year-old girl from my community who tragically died because local child protective services had no way of knowing that her parents had a history of child abuse in another state. We can and must do more to ensure that every child has a chance to grow and learn in a healthy environment.”
“Any facility or agency working with children must put their welfare and safety first – maltreatment, abuse, and neglect are simply unacceptable. I am encouraged by GAO’s recommendations to increase communication between agencies and HHS’s commitment to prioritizing these findings. By sharing information on best practices, increasing training for professionals, and improving oversight and accountability, we can ensure that every child entrusted to the care of a federally funded facility has the safest experience possible,” said Assistant Speaker Clark.
“Ending child abuse and maltreatment is an all-hands-on-deck effort, but too many children in residential facilities—many of whom have disabilities—are not always being treated with safety and care,” said Senator Casey. “This report makes it clear that the federal government needs to better communicate and coordinate with states to share best practices to prevent maltreatment. This is a first step but there’s more work to be done to ensure more accountability and better training for residential staff, including when working with trauma survivors and people with disabilities, particularly non-verbal children.”
Find the report highlights here.
Find the full report here.
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