Complaints against group homes jump

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The complaints alleged children were physically and sexually abused, neglected medically and physically, injured mentally and lacked supervision, according to a summary of the complaints obtained through the state Freedom of Information Act.

All told, the state Department of Social Services received 291 abuse and neglect complaints against children's facilities in the fiscal year 2001-2002, up from 90 the year before, according to the records. DSS officials verified 20 complaints, double the number from the year before.

Two children died in group homes in the past year, the most recent of which was a 9-year-old boy who quit breathing March 23 after a worker at a facility near Jedburg restrained him. Three workers at the facility were charged with homicide by child abuse.

DSS officials said they believe the increase in complaints is due to staff problems at the homes and better reporting by facilities.

"Group homes are reporting a high degree of turnover in staff, making it hard to maintain skilled, experienced and committed staff," Mary C. Williams, director of the DSS Division of Human Services, wrote in a memo concerning the increased allegations.

Williams told The News she believes the turnover is caused in part by inadequate pay and by those entering the field who discover working with troubled children is not for them.

She said some of the increase also might be due to greater emotional problems brought by children into the homes.

"Last year in particular, I think we saw an impact on group homes with the variety of children they were getting," she said. "The kids had more complex problems, and some of the staff were ill-equipped or not necessarily prepared to handle those particular troubled children."

State Rep. David Weeks, a Sumter Democrat who sits on a House panel that decides spending for children's services, said he believes the increases are a reflection of more abuse and neglect in South Carolina society. He said DSS is placing more emphasis on the reporting of such incidents and families feel freer to report such allegations.

Rochelle McKim, a Columbia lawyer for a children's advocacy group, said the numbers are an indication of system failure. The system is too fragmented and uncoordinated to adequately monitor the facilities, she said.

Emotionally disturbed children now placed in group homes may be more difficult, she said, but that is caused by the state's inability to properly treat them.

"If they are harder to treat, I don't think it's something in the water," she said. "I think it's a function of our system not responding early enough. The children have to get really sick or their behavior has to get really bad or the abuse has to get really bad before they actually get into the system."

More than 1,200 children, most of whom come from backgrounds of abuse or neglect, entered the state's 140 group homes last year for therapy and treatment for emotional and psychological disorders, DSS said.

The state spends more than $100 million annually on children placed in institutions, McKim said. The homes received more than $48 million in Medicaid payments in 2001-2002, the most recent data available.

DSS records show another 243 allegations of abuse and neglect were filed against homes, foster-care parents and institutions last year but were not investigated because officials decided the charges concerned a problem other than abuse or neglect or did not warrant an inquiry.

The agency would not identify the homes investigated, citing patient confidentiality.

DSS did provide a snapshot of the types of allegations.

Among the 145 complaints detailed by DSS and made specifically against group homes in 2002, 84 concerned physical abuse, 19 concerned sexual abuse and 22 alleged some form of physical neglect. Another nine complaints, according to the records, alleged lack of supervision, while six alleged medical neglect, four alleged mental injury and one alleged contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Williams said she did not recall what action the agency has taken against homes last year for substantiated allegations. She said Crain House, in southern Greenville County, was effectively suspended due to claims of abuse.

The home was the subject of a DSS and criminal investigation last year over allegations of sexual assaults, excessive runaways and inappropriate contact between staff and youth. One former staff member was eventually charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to Greenville County sheriff's warrants.

Williams said workers in substantiated cases of physical or sexual abuse are usually fired and the allegations are referred to law enforcement. Other allegations may be handled administratively, she said. The agency can ask a home to correct the problem, as it did with Crain House, and seek action against its license if the facility fails to cooperate.

She said the agency has contracted with the South Carolina Association of Children's Homes, the industry's trade group, to provide additional training to workers in the facilities as a result of the increased complaints.

She said she is not concerned with the increase because the agency has addressed them through added training and more investigative staff. DSS now has nine workers to handle complaints against in children's facilities, she said.

In addition, Williams said, the state is revising its regulations for group homes for the first time since 1976. The proposed regulations are pending in the General Assembly and could become effective later this month, she said.

Robert Kimberly, director of the Southeastern Children's Home in Duncan, said he believes the increase is due to more homes reporting incidents to avoid liability.

"I think there is much more reporting to avoid the very appearance of evil or to avoid anybody thinking anything is not being addressed aboveboard," said Kimberly, whose facility had three complaints in the last 14 years. He said all were unfounded.

Keith Jones, director of Carolina Children's Home in Columbia, said he agrees with DSS's explanation. He said his staff reports any incident but has never had a substantiated allegation.

Tim Smith can be reached at 803-256-7367.