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In recent years, residential care facilities for youth have come under scrutiny for the abuses that take place behind closed doors. Reports and investigations have uncovered abuse in these facilities across the nation, including broken bones, fight clubs, sexual abuse, forced isolation, and failure to provide adequate medical care or evidence-based treatment. Late last week, Rep. Buddy Carter, R-GA, teamed with several colleagues to introduce the bipartisan Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act to regulate “troubled teen” facilities meant for young people struggling with behavioral issues and substance abuse.  

According to Carter, this bipartisan bill would provide greater oversight and data transparency for institutional youth treatment programs and promote dissemination of best practices for identifying and preventing institutional child abuse.  Carter teamed with Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR, and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-CA, in introducing the legislation. The lawmakers worked closely with media personality Paris Hilton, a residential care facility survivor and fierce advocate for increasing awareness of the prevalence of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of youth in these programs, leading to hospitalizations, prolonged trauma, and even deaths. 

Carter stated that far too often, youth experience abuse resulting in additional trauma and even death at the hands of staff employed by these programs. He went on to say that some youth enter through the child welfare system and require treatment for emotional or behavioral challenges, and others enter this network directly from parents seeking treatment for their children. 

“Children in institutional care deserve to be safe, healthy, and properly cared for, and their parents deserve transparency about their child’s living conditions,” said Carter. “What’s happening in these facilities, too often, constitutes child abuse, and the federal government must come together to protect our nation’s youth.” 

Carter believes the industry’s lack of transparency and quality of care is alarming and says Congress must step in and pass comprehensive legislation to crack down on the physical and emotional abuse that many children in these facilities experience.   

“The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act is a critical step forward that would provide increased oversight and data transparency for institutional youth programs by implementing urgent recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), including developing robust information sharing systems among states that also promote the dissemination of best practices for identifying and preventing institutional child abuse,” he said. 

The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act: 

• Establishes the Federal Work Group on Youth Residential Programs, comprised of representatives from the Administration for Children and Families, the Administration for Community Living, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and other relevant federal agencies. 

• Directs the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on the use of restraints, seclusion, and other restrictive interventions in youth residential programs.