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Landmark child welfare suit targets North Carolina after USA TODAY Network investigation

Alexis disappeared in July 2020 from the psychiatric treatment institution where North Carolina sent her. It reportedly was three hours before workers called the police or her family.
Alexis disappeared in July 2020 from the psychiatric treatment institution where North Carolina sent her. It reportedly was three hours before workers called the police or her family.

Crystal Klunk’s daughter suffers inside one of North Carolina’s psychiatric residential treatment facilities — a place that resembles solitary prison confinement more than a care facility meant to help kids with mental health issues, she says.

Spotty supervision, sporadic treatment and only occasional schooling have been part of the girl's experience, Klunk said. They have not seen their daughter, who first tried to kill herself at age 10, in months. The staff at their daughter Alexis’ center reportedly has not updated Klunk on the teen's status.

A six-month investigation in 2021 by North Carolina and Virginia journalists in the USA TODAY Network featured Klunk and other families, plus shocking details of neglect and abuse inside these locked centers. Now, citing the "Locked Away" reporting series, a potentially landmark class-action lawsuit has been filed in federal court against the state of North Carolina.

Locked Away Investigation:  Punching, predators, neglect. Traumatized NC children suffer inside dismal psychiatric centers.    

A sparse square is all that some children locked inside controversial centers in North Carolina might see of the outdoors for most of weeks or months. A USA TODAY Network investigation last year documented a long list of abuses at these facilities where the state of North Carolina continues to send small children and teens.
A sparse square is all that some children locked inside controversial centers in North Carolina might see of the outdoors for most of weeks or months. A USA TODAY Network investigation last year documented a long list of abuses at these facilities where the state of North Carolina continues to send small children and teens.

What would lawsuit do?

The lawsuit aims to reduce North Carolina’s focus on these institutions and to shift many children to more appropriate support services based in their home communities. The filing by Disability Rights North Carolina, the state NAACP and children themselves cites gruesome allegations of kids subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse at these psychiatric centers — reports that were brought to light in the multi-part Locked Away investigation.

The plaintiffs, which include four children and their guardians, want North Carolina to provide adequate and appropriate services in the community for foster kids who need mental health care. It will take an investment in a web of services at multiple stages of a kid's mental health journey — and could be financed in part with ample dollars the state is currently sending to PRTFs (psychiatric residential treatment facilities).

What does the lawsuit claim?

  • Children inside PRTFs are confined to prison-like settings "under the care of a poorly trained and understaffed workforce, where they are subject to broken bones, sprains, bruises, and dangerous physical and chemical restraints.

  • The children withstand sexual and physical abuse, bullying, and hate speech by both youth and staff; and face mental health deterioration and cocktails of strong psychotropic medications."

  • At one PRTF, a 12-year-old boy had his wrist fractured during an encounter when the staffer forced the child up against a door. The facility didn’t report the child’s injury initially. The boy only was taken to the hospital after four days had passed, according to investigative reports.

  • A child at another PRTF threw milk, provoking a staff member to throw it back and take away the child’s food as punishment for her behavior, according to allegations in the lawsuit. The confrontation upset the child, and the staff dealt with that dangerously. “The staff pulled the child’s head down by her braids and shoved her face into a pillow, even though this type of life-threatening prone restraint was forbidden by DHHS over ten years ago,” according to the lawsuit.

Alexis, far right, needed help as she grew up and was suicidal. North Carolina sent her to an out-of-state institution, where trouble ensued. According to her mom, the patients would sneak out and get into several of the abandoned vans on the facility's property and break window glass, then use it to cut their own skin in self-harm. When she finally saw her daughter, Alexis’ arms, legs and stomach were covered with dozens of cuts and scratches.

What did our reporting show?

The investigation revealed that North Carolina spends more than $100 million each year to send children to psychiatric residential treatment facilities with no proof that these centers work.

The investigation found that center workers used physical restraints, seclusion and other interventions hundreds of times, despite experts saying those tactics should be used sparingly to avoid traumatizing children. In some cases, PRTF staff used methods that were banned or used chemical interventions that DHHS staff admitted it didn’t monitor.

The Locked Away investigation also discovered children spent 184 days in PRTFs on average, more than twice the stated goal, and that at least 227 kids were sent to facilities in other states, including centers with histories of alleged abuse and/or mistreatment.

A view of a spartan bedroom inside one of North Carolina's controversial psychiatric residential treatment facilities for children. A USA TODAY Network investigation last year found that in these locked centers, behind walls that few outsiders can penetrate, sometimes unspeakable things happen to kids.
A view of a spartan bedroom inside one of North Carolina's controversial psychiatric residential treatment facilities for children. A USA TODAY Network investigation last year found that in these locked centers, behind walls that few outsiders can penetrate, sometimes unspeakable things happen to kids.

What's next?

USA TODAY Network-North Carolina has reached out to the state Department of Health and Human Services for comment on the filing. The head of DHHS is the named defendant in the lawsuit, representing the state.

William Ramsey, an investigative editor with the USA TODAY Network-Atlantic, said the class-action lawsuit, if successful, could mean extraordinary potential betterment in the lives of many North Carolina children who are already coming from tough circumstances.

For more in this series

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawsuit filed after abuse of NC foster kids detailed in news report