State Halts Daystar Admissions, Reports New Abuse
Texas officials have banned the placement of foster care children at a Houston-area residential treatment center and assigned a state monitor to oversee care following revelations of a staff-instigated “fight club” incident two years ago and recent allegations of sexual abuse.
In other incidents at Daystar Residential Inc. in Manvel, a child’s arm was broken and another attempted suicide, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services records show.
“Clearly, this is a troubled facility that needs immediate improvement,” said DFPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins.
The 2008 incident, in which seven developmentally disabled girls were provoked into a fight by two ...
Comments (2)
Mary Lynn VanZandt Neill via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Oh,come on...DO SOMETHING! THAT'S why we have A GOVERNOR! Isn't it?As Charles Barkley so eloquently said,"I May Be Wrong,But I Don't Think So".
Richard Wexler via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The abuses exposed in these stories are just like the ones in former Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s report in 2004, which were just like the ones in the Dallas Morning News series in 2003.
So now, all the kids will be moved to another lousy RTC - until next year’s expose.
The Chronicle will probably pick up an award or two and the Tribune probably will use the stories in a pitch for donations – but nothing will change for the kids.
Nothing will change as long as residential treatment is a “seller’s market.” With the number of children taken from their homes needlessly in Texas escalating again, DFPS is begging for beds, and beggars can’t be choosers.
Wrongful removal is the elephant in the room. As long as Langford and Ramshaw keep pretending the elephant isn’t there, and give us nothing but this kind of whack-a-mole journalism, as the problem moves from one institution to another, the children will continue to suffer.
Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
www.nccpr.org