On October 10, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on reports of child abuse and neglect at private residential treatment facilities.
Chair George Miller (D-CA) said these programs “are governed by a weak patchwork of state regulations. In many states, these programs operate without regulations, licensing, or accreditation of any kind, despite the often exorbitant price of tuition. Parents…send their children to these programs because of the promise that staff members will be able to help children straighten their lives out. In far too many cases, however, the very people entrusted with the safety, health, and welfare of these children are the ones who violate that trust in some of the most horrific ways imaginable…No federal agency keeps official data about the number of children enrolled in private residential treatment programs, despite that fact that children are typically transported across state lines sometimes even by force in order to be enrolled in the programs. This is an outrage.”
Ranking Member Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) said, “The facilities we will be looking at receive no federal funding, and therefore are not regulated by the federal juvenile justice legislation under this committee’s jurisdiction…It seems to me that the question of how widespread these alleged incidents of mistreatment are is critical. Of course, even one incident of abuse or, worse, the loss of life is unacceptable. But before we consider federal intervention, we need to better understand the breadth of the problem so we can determine the best way to protect the youth in these programs. We need to take a step back to evaluate what an appropriate federal role would be, if any, in regulating these programs.”
Gregory Kutz of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified that in 2005, 33 states reported 1,619 facility staff members were suspected of abuse. He noted, though, that there is no central agency that compiles data on the subject. The GAO report examined ten cases, from 1990 to 2007, in which a child died at a facility. “GAO found significant evidence of ineffective management in most of the 10 cases, with program leaders neglecting the needs of program participants and staff,” he said. Staff had poor training, and children were fed and treated poorly, he said. In one extreme case, a dehydrated 14-year-old boy began to eat dirt from the desert in Arizona. When he appeared to have a seizure, the program director told staff members to take him to the hotel. They failed to revive him and took him back to camp, where he died shortly after.
Such facilities, also known as “boot camps” or “wilderness programs,” are designed to reform children who have abused drugs, tried to harm themselves, or otherwise misbehaved. Ryan Lewis was 14 when he died at a different camp, Alldredge Academy in Davis, West Virginia. His father, Paul Lewis, testified that Ryan had been clinically depressed and that his parents were searching for a cure. “The program’s marketing was first rate, appearing to be just what Ryan needed,” he said. But only a few days after enrolling him in February, 2001, the Lewises received the news that Ryan had hung himself. Mr. Lewis said Ryan had cut his arm with a knife earlier in the day, but program staff did not confiscate the knife. He also said that some program staff members who called themselves therapists didn’t have “any credentials that would remotely qualify them as mental health professionals.” Mr. Lewis said the program was fined $5,000 in a plea agreement in exchange for dropping the charges, and the Lewises won a civil case they brought against the program. Mr. Lewis noted that the program is still running and advertises that it is a member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP).
When questioned by Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) about why Alldredge remains a member of NATSAP, Executive Director Jan Moss said that law enforcement agencies “found no criminal negligence or wrongdoing” at the facility. Rep. Miller noted that Alldredge had fallen in arrears on its rent payments to the federal government, and asked if that suggested “something amiss” at the facility. Ms. Moss responded that it did, but said, “We do not do our own investigations…We’re not an accreditation agency…We’re a trade association.” She said that, beginning in 2009, all NATSAP members would have to be licensed by state authorities in order to remain members. She added, “That’s why we’re here today, asking for your help with state licensure.”
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) said she was “shocked” that there was no requirement to disclose past safety issues at such camps, noting that colleges, under the Clery Act (P.L. 101-542), had to disclose levels of crime on campuses every year. Dr. Alison Pinto, a child psychologist, said there was a “complete black hole” when it came to regulating the facilities. She said child welfare agencies only could intervene in a program for a specific instance of abuse and that state departments of health and education sometimes say they don’t have jurisdiction over such programs.
Also testifying were Cynthia Harvey and Bob Bacon, parents of two other children who died while attending residential treatment facilities.
