A report released today gives a rare, firsthand look inside group homes and lockups for youth, highlighting claims of discrimination and the rawness that lingers after violent incidents with staff, being sent to isolation and subjected to sub-par school and counseling.
“I felt like a prisoner there, and I didn’t feel safe there,” a young person identified as Aniya wrote of her former group home in Broken Bridges: Futures Denied.
The Juvenile Law Center’s research in the report features direct testimony from a dozen teens and young adults who, like Aniya, were sent to facilities in Pennsylvania by the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Staff attorneys helped pen the report and outlined recommendations.
In a press conference today, participants spoke to the urgency of the issues, and implored lawmakers to take notice and make improvements.
“Sharing these stories is important because we are voices for youth that don’t have one,” said Anahi Martinez, a youth advocate with the Juvenile Law Center. “We need to start seeing these places for what they are — and start holding them accountable.”
The new report expands on an earlier version released in 2018 that focused solely on juvenile justice facilities. The recent installment adds insight into facilities for foster youth and concerns about discrimination based on race, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Department of Human Services, which oversees the facilities highlighted in the report, did not provide a comment by press time.
Punished not treated
Multiple youth reported that staff physically restrained them or placed them in isolation not because they were out of control or a danger to themselves or others, but as punishment for things like talking back or not following directions.
In a national survey of juvenile public defenders, the Juvenile Law Center found that two-thirds had clients who had been subjected to solitary confinement — sometimes spending 22 to 23 hours a day locked in a room alone, without basic accommodations such as mattresses, eating utensils or access to mental health treatment.
“What should have happened in my story is that someone should have asked me why I was always late to school. Instead, no one asked me, and I was sent away.”
— Qilah, QUOTED IN THE JUVENILE LAW CENTER REPORT
One young person identified in the report by her first name, Qilah, shared a memory of being forced out of bed one morning when she refused to go to breakfast because she didn’t feel well.
“The staff grabbed and twisted me up out of the bed,” she stated. “Because it was hurting, I resisted.” When a rougher scuffle with staffers ensued, Qilah said she reported the incident. But there was no disciplinary action for the employees involved.
“Instead, I lost all my phone time with my family and was put in solitary for one day,” Qilah recalled, adding she felt she’d been punished for “defending” herself from staff.
The Juvenile Law Center report follows numerous media exposés and legal actions that have revealed widespread abuse in Pennsylvania youth facilities, some of which have been shut down since the revelations. The Glen Mills School, a once-revered juvenile detention facility, for example, shuttered following an investigation by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The following year, the same paper revealed a pattern of sexual abuse complaints at facilities run by the nonprofit Devereaux Advanced Behavioral Health. That prompted the state to remove all young people from its programs and to cut ties with the company.
Lawsuits filed earlier this year on behalf of 66 former residents allege they were physically or sexually abused at Pennsylvania youth facilities.
Such abuse is among the topics addressed by youth contributors to the Juvenile Law Center report.
“They need to do better background checks on people before allowing them to work in these facilities,” wrote a contributor identified as Bree.
Poor quality health care and education
Education was another common concern.
Young people told of being taught in groups with kids of all ages lumped together, and lessons that amounted to little more than worksheets with no adjustments made for different grade levels. Many said when they returned home, their credits from these facilities didn’t transfer to schools in their communities, so they achieved no academic progress while they were locked up or treated in residential facilities.
“Unsurprisingly, these barriers lead to abysmal educational outcomes: a majority of youth do not return to school after release from custody, and only 1% of justice-involved youth graduate from college,” report authors stated.
The authors noted the irony of this dismal outcome. Many youth who end up in congregate care facilities are sent there because of school-related issues like truancy, absenteeism or getting in fights. A heavy-handed response and removal to residential institutions keeps them farther away from what many most need — close ties to school.
“What should have happened in my story is that someone should have asked me why I was always late to school,” Qilah said. “Instead, no one asked me, and I was sent away.”
“Sharing these stories is important because we are voices for youth that don’t have one.”
— Anahi Martinez, youth advocate with the Juvenile Law Center.
In addition to poor schooling in group care settings, the report outlines a lack of quality mental health services. Some youth said they were offered group sessions but had no access to one-on-one therapy they needed. Others said clinicians working in facilities were under-trained and unprepared for the population they served. They also failed to develop individual treatment plans and provide youth the ability to participate fully in their treatment plans.
“The things that I wanted to address about my mental health were decided for me,” a youth identified as Bre S. wrote.
Marginalized youth suffer most
Discrimination of Black, LGBTQ+ and disabled youth living in group settings runs throughout the work conducted by the Juvenile Law Center. Overrepresented in child welfare and juvenile justice systems, these youth are also more likely than their peers to end up in group care settings and more likely to face discrimination and poor treatment. One study cited in the report, a 2017 article in the Journal of Youth and Adolsence, found LGBTQ+ boys were 10 times more likely to experience sexual abuse in group care compared to peers.
A boy named Zac recalled certain peers not being permitted to participate in the same activities as others, and suspected discrimination.
“We were never given a reason why they were excluded but you just saw that anyone who was excluded was someone who identified as LGBTQ+,” he said.
Other youth described being subjected to racial slurs, treated more aggressively because of their sexual identity and presentation, deprived of appropriate hygiene products and punished for speaking their native language. Some said they saw Muslim residents denied the right to pray in accordance with their faith, follow cultural dietary restrictions or wear head coverings.
Juvenile Law Center advocates said their first version of this report led to significant change, including the creation of Philadelphia’s Office of Youth Ombudsperson, the creation of a task force to study juvenile facilities and the advancement of several pieces of legislation.
In the new installment, they call on state leaders to ensure youth in facility-based care are treated in ways that are gender-responsive and culturally appropriate. They say youth must be provided with high-quality mental health care and proper education that allows for transferable credits. The youth advocates also call for stricter hiring and firing standards and cameras with audio recording capacity placed throughout residential facilities.
UPDATE Oct. 4, 2024: The day after this story ran, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services emailed a statement saying the department takes seriously its duty to protect youth placed in licensed facilities and “remains committed to working with county leadership to securely treat and rehabilitate youth committed to its custody by county juvenile courts.” The statement pointed to “zero-tolerance towards abuse and harassment, a philosophy we have embedded in policy for both facilities we operate as well as those we license.”
The spokesperson further stated that in 2020, the state’s Office of Children, Youth, and Families formalized its monitoring protocol for all licensed facilities, “where concerns are noted based on recent inspections, investigations, or increased instances of complaints.” That protocol requires a weekly review of data and activity, announced and unannounced visits and public disclosure of citations and substantiated abuse.
