The companies that were investigated rely on per diem payments from Medicaid and other government sources to treat the young people in their custody, many of whom have developmental disabilities or are in foster care, but the companies often pack the facilities to capacity and “regularly fail to hire adequate numbers of qualified staff,” the report found. Those flaws are “endemic to the operating model” of the companies, which “treat children as payouts,” the report says.
The report found “rampant civil rights violations,” including the overuse of seclusion and of “chemical restraints,” injections intended to keep children calm, even when they were already relaxed or cooperative.
“American tax dollars are funding the kind of abuse our investigators found,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chair of the committee, said at the start of the hearing. “In some cases these facilities receive over $1,200 per day, per child, from the Medicaid program. The experiences and trauma these kids are left with reads like something from a horror novel.”
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The report found “rampant civil rights violations,” including the overuse of seclusion and of “chemical restraints,” injections intended to keep children calm, even when they were already relaxed or cooperative.
“American tax dollars are funding the kind of abuse our investigators found,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chair of the committee, said at the start of the hearing. “In some cases these facilities receive over $1,200 per day, per child, from the Medicaid program. The experiences and trauma these kids are left with reads like something from a horror novel.”
Residential treatment centers put profits ahead of children's safety, Senate report finds
Based on a two-year investigation, the findings reveal a pattern of physical and sexual abuse, along with civil rights violations.
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