Residential Facilities: Improved Data and Enhanced Oversight Would Help Safeguard the Well-Being of Youth with Behavioral and Emotional Challenges

HHS stated that the number of states reporting case-level data and the quality of data submitted has improved over the years, and that its Administration for Children and Families (ACF) will continue to work with states to improve the collection of information wherever possible and feasible. In 2010, HHS reported that the Child Maltreatment 2008, case-level data were received from 49 states, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The agency also reported that its technical assistance efforts related to the remaining two states' ability to report case-level data continue.

DOJ agreed with this recommendation and took steps to obtain access to the NCANDS data. The agency learned that the data was not collected in a way useful for the Civil Rights Division (CRT) to enforce the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA). The data were incomplete and dated and did not contain specific information CRT requires to enforce CRIPPA, i.e., it would not allow CRT to target investigations among states and facilities.

Among its efforts to address this recommendation, the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Special Litigation Section (SPL) contacted one of the authors of HHS' Centers for Disease Control report "Suicide Trends among Youths and Youth Adults Aged 10-24 years - United States," dated September 7, 2007, to see if SPL could access information about suicides (and any other information about deaths) in residential and juvenile justice facilities. Discussions on this outreach effort are ongoing. Additionally, SPL contacted the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Education (DOE) to request information it may have regarding deficient educational services in any juvenile justice or publicly-run residential facility. Discussions on this outreach effort are also ongoing. Finally, SPL had previously contacted HHS' Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to ask that CMS share its surveys of public psychiatric residential treatment facilities for children with SPL. SPL recently received that information from CMS. According to DOJ, SPL's outreach efforts could result in access to data that will enable the Department to more effectively use its investigative resources.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has taken, or plans to take, several actions to promote interagency and interdepartmental collaboration to enhance federal agency coordination to address state accountability for youth well-being in residential facilities. OJJDP staff will develop a plan to inform the Council members about the Civil Rights Division's (CRT) work and request information from Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Coordinating Council) agencies about their federal training, technical assistance, and funding opportunities that can be of benefit to states, local communities and others in improving conditions of confinement in residential facilities. The goal is to identify appropriate federal staff in non-DOJ agencies who will act as liaisons to OJJDP and CRT about these opportunities. CRT training for OJJDP's State Relations and Assistance Division (SRAD) staff on CRT's activities and applicable laws, policies, and procedures will be scheduled. CRT will provide this training to make OJJDP/SRAD staff aware of circumstances that would warrant a referral to CRT. OJJDP staff, including the OJJDP Research Coordinator, conferred with CRT staff to discuss potential data sources that could provide further insight to CRT and others on conditions of confinement in residential facilities. In addition, OJJDP is exploring the possibility of disseminating information about CRT activities through OJJDP's website and publications, which could educate the public about how CRT can assist individuals who are concerned about the treatment of children and youth in residential facilities within CRT's statutory purview.