WASHINGTON, Dc. -- The U.S. Senate Finance Committee recently released the results of an investigation they say has exposed “systemic taxpayer-funded child abuse and neglect” in youth residential treatment facilities across the country.
The results cited CBS 6 investigative reporting into a New Kent County children’s hospital done by our Laura French.
One senator described experiences some kids were left with as “out of a horror film.” That finding is from a report, titled “Warehouses of Neglect.”
It probes four major treatment center operators, including Universal Health Services, which owns the Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents.
For over four years, CBS 6 investigative reporter Laura French has been investigating abuse and neglect claims against certain Cumberland staff members.
The 136-page document cites seven CBS 6 reports, including our investigations into sex crime charges filed against Cumberland psychotherapist Mickey Harden, and the case of behavior technician Stacey Burrell, who was convicted of felony wounding for pouring hot water on a patient.
The committee held a hearing today on Capitol Hill shortly after the report was released.
“It seems more often than not abuse and neglect is the norm at these facilities and they are set up in a way that makes it happen the system is failing except the providers who are running these treatment facilities who have figured out how to turn big profits off of taxpayer child abuse,” said U.S. Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden.
The report found that these residential treatment facilities intentionally stay understaffed and bring in staff with “zero experience” to net a larger profit.
The committee vowed more oversight and less federal funds to keep kids safe.
Right now these facilities get more than $1,200 dollars per day per child from Medicaid.
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