HOUSTON — Many Texas treatment centers for children in foster care are failing to consistently document the use of restraints, a lack of reporting that the state foster care agency says is "unacceptable," according to an investigation published Friday by the Houston Chronicle.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Servicesrequires residential treatment centers to document each time restraints are used to subdue troubled and abused children.
But 54 of the 79 treatment centers, home to thousands of mentally and physically challenged children, have offered only partial information. And 17 of those centers have failed to submit any documentation at all.
The revelations come a month after a 16-year-old boy died at aBrazoria County center after being restrained by staff.
Agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said facilities that ignore the reporting requirements will face consequences.
"We take the issue of restraints very seriously, and the lack of reporting is unacceptable," Crimmins told thenewspaper. "Facilities will be cited for ignoring this requirement. It is a tool that will enable us to make sure that RTCs are using restraints appropriately, and only when absolutely necessary."
An internal family services document shows the agency is aware of the problem.
"Many facilities are not complying with minimum standards to report quarterly (restraint) data to Licensing, and a smaller number are not conducting the comprehensive (restraint) annual review required by minimum standards," the Dec. 3 document stated.
The Legislature passed a 2005 bill to record the use of restraints at residential treatment centers and other facilities for the mentally disabled to track how frequently they are being used. The goal was to reduce dependence on the use of restraints.
"It's always extremely disturbing to me when I find out that a law that I have shepherded through the system and the governor has signed, is not being appropriately administered by a state agency," said Suzanna Gratia Hupp, a former state representative and co-author of the 2005 law. "And in this particular case, the lives of children in the state's care are at risk."
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