Abuse of kids in residential and day-treatment facilities
The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Office of Children, Youth and Families sent out the below letter last week:
This letter is to inform you of a pattern of serious injuries that have resulted from the application of restraints at multiple facilities operated by Kidspeace National Centers, Inc. Facility staff utilized restraint techniques in managing the behavior of children, which resulted in multiple serious physical injuries that required medical attention. The injuries incurred include a spiral fracture to the left humerus; a spiral fracture to the right humerus in the elbow area; a fracture of the medial malleolus of the right ankle; a displaced right midshaft humerus fracture; a spiral fracture of the left tibia and fibula; an oblique fracture of the left distal humerus; and a fracture to the right clavicle.These incidents occurred between March 13, 2007 and August 18, 2007 at the following facilities: Athletes Center; Marconi House; Wright House; and Revere House Diagnostic Center (Kidspeace National Centers Inc) 5300 Kidspeace Drive Orefield, Pa 18069 Telephone: (610) 799-8000 County: Lehigh Region: Northeast Kidspeace National Centers Washington House (Kidspeace National Centers Inc) 1650 Broadway Bethlehem, Pa 18015 Telephone: (610) 799-8000 County: Lehigh Region: Northeast
There has also been an increased police response to complaints at KidsPeace received by local law enforcement over the past year. Many of these complaints have dealt with inappropriate sexual activity in the programs.
Based on these incidents and issues, the Department has closed the intake process for the following programs: Athletes Center; Barton House; Ross House: King House; Marconi House; Fulton House; Edison House; Wright House; Bell House; Franklin House; and Pioneer House; Revere House Diagnostic Center (Kidspeace National Centers Inc) 5300 Kidspeace Drive Orefield, Pa 18069 Telephone: (610) 799-8000 County: Lehigh Region: Northeast
Kidspeace National Centers Washington House (Kidspeace National Centers Inc) 1650 Broadway Bethlehem, Pa 18015 Telephone: (610) 799-8000 County: Lehigh Region: Northeast
What a shame.
Comments
wow...how sad, although I can't say I'm surprised, where I worked, Kidspeace always had a reputation for accepting any client, however "difficult to manage" and there was always that question of how they were then "managed."
Posted by: Abby | September 21, 2007 05:03 PM
Why is it only abuse, neglect and death engender scrutiny of mental health facilities? Does the presumed or actual absence of these horrors mean that children receive the care and treatment we would expect and the programs represent? How do children fare a week, a month or a year after successful discharge from KidsPeace or any other mental health program? Will the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Office of Children, Youth and Families consider issues beyond the use of restraint at KidsPeace?
Posted by: Joe | September 22, 2007 10:02 AM
Tragic, society punishing kids for being abused instead of punishing the parents and the perp/Mental Health Professionals at places like this.
Posted by: Sally | September 22, 2007 10:44 AM
Hi Liz. Congrats on your new job. I look forward to you sharing that experience with us.
How horrible this article is, this mistreatment of children. I have to wonder what was happening to the children before the media was around to raise arms about this. And what is happening in countries where the media is government run? I shudder to think.
As always, thank you for doing such a great job on tapping into the MI scene to educate other people like me.
Cristina.
Posted by: CARS | September 24, 2007 01:22 AM
Love your blog, sad as these stories are, it is important to keep the public informed. I thought you might want to post a link to the Holy The Children website which is an online memorial in memory of children who have died while in residential care. There are more than 125 names on this list yet apparently, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as no one really knows how many children have died due to lack of laws mandating the reporting of fatalities in private facilities.
http://www.teenadvocatesusa.org/INMEMORIAM.html
Thanks for all your dedication and hard work.
Posted by: Bonnie | September 30, 2007 05:44 PM
Hi Liz,
Thank you for your blog. Child neglect, abuse, and deaths in residential treatment facilities is a trajedy and it is great to see people like you are spreading the word.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is now looking into this issue. They recently held a hearing where they reviewed abuse and deaths in programs. They issued a preliminary report and will issue a final report Winter 2008.
For GAO coverage, you can copy/paste this link into your browser:
http://caica.org/GAO.htm
Keep up the great work you are doing.
Please feel free to use any information you find on the www.caica.org website. The site allows for copy/pasting of information in an effort to assist educators, researchers, advocates, parents, media, lawyers, etc. in their research into this industry.
Sincerely,
Isabelle Zehnder
Founder and President
Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA)
www.caica.org
info@caica.org
Posted by: Isabelle Zehnder | October 21, 2007 01:04 AM
Who was this letter sent to? I have a child in the KidsPeace residential program and unfortunately, I have just heard about this problem. You would think they would have to send a notice to me as a parent of a child in their care when something within their program is being investigated.
Posted by: Roxanne | January 25, 2008 12:40 PM