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

摘要

Federal funding to states supported more than 200,000 youth in residential facilities in 2004, many seeking help to address behavioral or emotional challenges. However, federal investigations have identified maltreatment and civil rights abuses in some facilities. GAO was asked to provide national information about (1) the nature of incidents that adversely affect youth well-being in residential facilities, (2) how state licensing and monitoring requirements address youth well-being in these facilities, and (3) what factors affect federal agencies' ability to hold states accountable for youth well-being in residential facilities. GAO conducted national Web-based surveys of state child welfare, health and mental health, and juvenile justice agencies and achieved an 85 percent response rate for each of the three surveys. We also visited four states, interviewed program officials, and reviewed laws and documentation. Youth in some residential facilities have experienced maltreatment including sexual assault, physical and medical neglect, and bodily assault that sometimes resulted in civil rights violations, hospitalization, or death.