Hundreds of children spent weeks and sometimes months in psychiatric hospitals after doctors had cleared them for release. As they waited for the state’s child welfare agency to find them more appropriate homes, they deteriorated mentally and behaviorally, fell far behind in school and were unable to go outside.
These children, who already carried trauma that brought them into the state’s custody, were trapped inside locked facilities, despite a state law mandating that children in state care live in the “least restrictive” setting.
The stories revealed the failure of the child welfare system to find appropriate placements for the children. It also detailed disturbing allegations of sexual and physical abuse, as well as patient safety violations, at a psychiatric hospital the state relies on to treat hundreds of children in its care.