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Desperation without Dignity: Executive Summary.
National Disability Rights Network.
Technical Report
Briefing Materials
3 p.
Copyright
Published: October 2021
Download: https://www.ndrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NDRN_Desperation_without_Dignity_2021_Executive-Summary.pdf
This executive summary discusses the findings of a report that examined the rights violations endemic to for-profit residential treatment facilities (RFs), the financial structure supporting these facilities, and specific solutions at the federal, State, and local level. It notes that the suffocation of 16-year-old Cornelius Frederick at a privately-operated RF in April 2020 focused the world on the plight of children and youth housed in for-profit RFs, and describes the abuses of for-profit RFs. These abuses include physical and sexual abuse by staff, forced isolation, failure to provide mental health treatment, lack of evidence-based treatment, and the systematic use of restraint and seclusion. The monetary incentives driving the operations of some RFs are considered, as well as the tepid and scattered attempts at State legislation and oversight efforts that have not resulted in more change. The executive summary concludes that placing children in for-profit RFs is a violation of the States’ obligation to act in loco parentis, ensuring the safety of children in their care. 11 references.
Keywords:
DISABILITIES; CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES; CHILDRENS RIGHTS; HUMAN RIGHTS; LEGAL RIGHTS; RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT; PREVENTION PROGRAMS; CHILD ABUSE; INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT; CHILD NEGLECT