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GAO - UPDATES
WWASPS
HEADLINE NEWS:
SPECIAL ON SECLUSIONS & RESTRAINTS
May 19, 2009 -
GAO - UPDATES -
YouTube
GAO Testimony:
Seclusions and Restraints
Selected cases of abuse and deaths in public and private schools
Report:
Discipline methods endanger disabled kids
Palm Beach County mother cheers GAO report on
dangers of child restraint in schools
Report warns of student injuries, even deaths, at
the hands of teachers
Examining the Abusive and Deadly Use of Seclusion
and Restraint in Schools
Federal report paints grim picture of restraint
techniques in schools
GAO details abuse cases in schools
CEDRIC NAPOLEON
 Full Committee Hearing
10:00 AM, May 19, 2009
2175 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC
Link to live webcast (10 a.m. EDT)
NPR Audio
Seven-year-old Angellika Arndt died in 2006
when she suffocated while being restrained by
two adult staff at the Rice Lake Day Treatment
Center in Wisconsin.
Courtesy of the Coalition
Against Institutionalized Child Abuse
-
article
COPAA Report -
Unsafe in the Schoolhouse
Link to live webcast (10 a.m. EDT):
http://edwork.edgeboss.net/wmedia-live/edwork/16137/300_edwork-2175stream_070124.asx
Link to the hearing page
that will provide written testimony as it is given:
http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2009/05/examining-the-abusive-and-dead.shtml
Keeping Kids Safe The Stop Child
Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2009
National Disability Rights Network
- "School
is not Supposed to Hurt"
Report on Restraint and Seclusion in
Schools -
Press Release
Click Here
to learn what the GAO has uncovered
ANGELIKA ARNDT
UPDATE:
Lawsuit filed in this case (more info,
click
here)
School firm hired to run Philly schools has ties
to centers where 5 kids have died
Residential
youth treatment programs: Information for parents and
researchers:
BAZELON: Fact Sheet opposing
therapeutic boarding schools -
click here
BAZELON: Inappropriateness of
treatment -
click here
GAO: Concerns about abuse and deaths in programs for
troubled youth -
click here
GAO: Highlights of report re abuse and deaths in programs -
click here
NY TIMES: Report recounts horrors of youth boot camps -
click here
DISABILITY RIGHTS: School is not supposed to hurt -
click here
NAT'L MENTAL HEALTH ASSOC: Are boot camps effective? -
click here
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: Considering residential treatment?
-
click here
NAMI: Resource for families considering residential treatment -
click here
APA PsychNet: Residential treatment - 50 yrs
later, national crisis -
click here
GAO: What the government has
uncovered -
click here
PROPOSED BILL:
H.R. 6358 (formerly
H.R. 5876)
CAICA REPORT: Abuse and deaths in Florida Juvenile Justice -
click here
PURPOSE OF
CAICA WEBSITE:
Parents
considering placing their child or teen into any residential treatment
program or facility away from home are urged to read CAICA's
Message to Parents.
The CAICA website is dedicated to promoting awareness of injuries and
deaths
to children and youth in treatment programs, schools, the juvenile justice system,
and other settings, and to increase our resolve to reform programs and promote
safety for all
children and youth. We welcome families, researchers, academics,
media, attorneys, and
advocates to use the information on this website.
We hope that the information on
this website will provide incentive to parents
nationwide to carefully scrutinize programs offered to their children, to demand
better
accountability, and to work for systems reform so that we understand
what is happening, why
it is happening, and how we achieve positive change.
The actual number of incidents
of injuries and deaths due to restraints, seclusion,
aversives, and coercive interventions to children and youth in treatment programs,
schools, the juvenile justice system, and other settings, remains unknown. It is
suspected that
those reported to the media are only the tip of the iceberg and
that the tip of the iceberg
itself is not routinely archived.
The Government Accounting Office
(GAO) 1999
Report on Improper Restraint or
Seclusion Use Places People at Risk
called for the creation of a national database
for better data
collection on the use of restraint and seclusion. To date one has
not yet been
created.
The GAO’s Results in Brief
stated: “Improper restraint and seclusion can be
dangerous to both people receiving treatment and staff, but the full extent of
related
injuries and deaths is unknown. There is no comprehensive reporting
system to track such
injuries and deaths or the rates of restraint and seclusion
use by facility. Because reporting
is so fragmentary, we believe many more
deaths related to restraint or seclusion may occur.
Data on use of restraint and
seclusion are also fragmentary because most facilities are not
required to report
these data to oversight agencies.”
CAICA is responding to the GAO’s
calls. Until we improve data collection and
achieve a national database, this website is dedicated to beginning that process
by
archiving as much information as we can collect from a variety of sources.
CAICA thanks its many volunteers
for their hard work and dedication to helping
to achieve our goals, and for its many supporters.
RESTRAINTS & SECLUSION IN SCHOOLS
-
Click here
Parents speak out about time-out rooms in public schools:
Mom and
Dad tell the heart-wrenching story of
how their son died in time-out room
They thought "time out" was 5, 10,
maybe 15 minutes - records revealed he was
kept inside a cell-like seclusion
room for hours at a time
Read
article:
Children forced into cell-like school seclusion
rooms
"Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the
nation,
generally for special needs children.
Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan,
many mentally disabled and autistic
children have been injured or traumatized..."
Parents of young boy with special
needs sue Florida school for allegedly abusing their son:
St. Lucie, Florida School Abuse Lawsuit
Special needs student handcuffed to wheelchair
Video
PARENTS: Thinking about residential
treatment? Here's one alternative ...
COACHING FOR
FAMILIES :
Parent
Coaching - Teen Coaching - Family Coaching
The truth revealed -
watch this video!
RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT PROGRAMS:
What the government has uncovered
Proposed Bill
H.R. 6358 (formerly
H.R. 5876)
Overindulgence and Hyper-Parenting:
How we could unintentionally be hurting our kids
Free Parent Checklist -
Upcoming Teleclasses
A bill to protect children and teens has passed in
the House!
BILL
H.R. 6358 (formerly
H.R. 5876)
"Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008"
Congressman Miller -
Press Release -
Final Vote Results -
   
THERE IS HOPE - A BILL TO PROTECT CHILDREN LIKE
THESE
WHO
LOST THEIR LIVES "IN THE NAME OF
TREATMENT"
Why should we be concerned?
Research has uncovered, and families have
reported:
▪
There are no laws to protect the children
outside the US
▪
Many facilities are not licensed and there
is no oversight
▪
Children often lose their basic human rights
▪
Many have no privacy to use the restroom
or shower
▪
Children
lose contact with the outside world
▪
Once phone calls with parents are finally
allowed, usually
3-6 months after the child enters the program, they are
censored; children lose all other
verbal contact with the
outside world
▪
Children’s letters to extended family and
friends are usually
not delivered, and mail is censored
▪
Many have spent months on their faces in
isolation
NATIONAL CRISIS: For years we have been saying, "It's time
to Wake Up America!"
CAICA REPORTS
-
What has CAICA done to help?
Read what others have to say
GAO INVESTIGATION UPDATES:
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Full Committee Meeting
Hearing on "Child Abuse and
Deceptive Marketing by Residential Programs for Teens,"
scheduled at 10:00 a.m. in room 2175 Rayburn H.O.B. Witnesses to be
announced.
On October 10, 2007, The
Committee of Education and Labor held a hearing on
cases of child abuse and neglect at private Residential Treatment
Facilities.
Click
here to watch the
Congressional hearing
ABSTRACT OF GAO REPORT:
Click here for highlights of
their report;
Click here for full report of prelim findings.
Residential treatment programs
provide a range of services, including drug and
alcohol treatment, confidence building, military-style discipline, and
psychological
counseling for troubled boys and girls with a variety of addiction,
behavioral, and
emotional problems. This testimony concerns programs across the country
referring
to themselves as wilderness therapy programs, boot camps, and academies,
among
other names. Many cite positive outcomes associated with specific types
of
residential treatment. There are also allegations regarding the abuse and
death of
youth enrolled in residential treatment programs. Given concerns about
these
allegations, particularly in reference to private programs, the Committee
asked the
General Accountability Office (GAO) to (1) verify whether allegations of
abuse and
death at residential treatment programs are widespread and (2) examine
the facts
and circumstances surrounding selected closed cases where a teenager died
while
enrolled in a private program. To achieve these objectives, GAO conducted
numerous
interviews and examined documents from closed cases dating as far back as
1990,
including police reports, autopsy reports, and state agency oversight
reviews and
investigations. GAO did not attempt to evaluate the benefits of
residential treatment
programs or verify the facts regarding the thousands of allegations it
reviewed.
GAO found thousands of
allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at
residential treatment programs across the country and in American-owned
and
American-operated facilities abroad between the years 1990 and 2007.
Allegations
included reports of abuse and death recorded by state agencies and the
Department
of Health and Human Services, allegations detailed in pending civil and
criminal trials
with hundreds of plaintiffs, and claims of abuse and death that were
posted on the
Internet. For example, during 2005 alone, 33 states reported 1,619 staff
members
involved in incidents of abuse in residential programs. GAO could not
identify a more
concrete number of allegations because it could not locate a single Web
site, federal
agency, or other entity that collects comprehensive nationwide data. GAO
also
examined, in greater detail, 10 closed civil or criminal cases from 1990
through 2004
where a teenager died while enrolled in a private program. GAO found
significant
evidence of ineffective management in most of the 10 cases, with program
leaders
neglecting the needs of program participants and staff. This ineffective
management
compounded the negative consequences of (and sometimes directly resulted
in) the
hiring of untrained staff; a lack of adequate nourishment; and reckless
or negligent
operating practices, including a lack of adequate equipment. These
factors played
a significant role in the deaths GAO examined.
The GAO said it is planning to
release a more comprehensive report Winter 2008 that
will provide more detail on the scope of programs and the incidents of
alleged abuse.
MISSION: CAICA seeks to expose the abuse and distress of children
and teens placed
in private
and state-funded programs including but not limited to residential
facilities,
behavior modification programs, boot camps, wilderness programs,
and boarding schools.
CAICA believes that no
child should be abducted, incarcerated, abused, neglected, or
stripped of their basic human rights for the sake of profit.
Let us be reminded, let us not
forget ... no child deserves this treatment, or worse
 
Click here for more ...
Other organizations are
concerned with these issues. CAICA recommends
you visit their websites:
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