Not having grown up in a family, I can't speak to this from experience, but common sense tells me that if you snatch a child from a loving home to be warehoused in the drooling academy, it's likely to have a profoundly negative effect on their mental wellbeing. And while we're on the subject of the drooling academy- why do we have dangerously impaired people running the streets because there's no room for them in mental facilities, but there seems to be plenty of room for children whose sole "disorder" is having psychotropic drugs forced on them (my opinion).
"The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has investigated 16 allegations of abuse and neglect this year at the Aurora Chicago Lakeshore Hospital in the city’s Uptown community, including allegations that children were raped and sexually abused by staff and other patients, physically assaulted and inadequately supervised, a ProPublica Illinois investigation found.
Among those reportedly abused or hurt in the incidents were children who were cleared for discharge from the hospital weeks or months earlier. DCFS, however, had failed to find them a place to go — a persistent issue for the troubled agency that ProPublica Illinois documented this year." Hey, I have an idea... how about home??? We all know that the reasons that most children in "the system" were removed on the shakiest of grounds (most often so the state can profit)- it becomes abundantly clear that the state is more interested in making a profit than it is in overseeing the best interest of the children.
The response from the hospital is of course predictable: "CEO, David Fletcher-Janzen, said in a statement that they have been working with state and federal authorities to fix deficiencies. He said the hospital strives to provide a safe, therapeutic environment for patients."
“Chicago Lakeshore Hospital takes every allegation of impropriety very seriously and files reports immediately. All allegations, regardless of probability, are reported to maintain a high level of caution and transparency,” Fletcher-Janzen said. “Our goal is to improve the lives of these young patients so they can grow to be healthy adults both physically and mentally.”
When problems of this sort arise, the response from the state is inevitably the same- get some academics to do a study that the state can hide behind... after all, when the state is funding the study, the results are a foregone conclusion.
Neil Skene, the special assistant to DCFS Acting Director Beverly “B.J.” Walker, said the agency is focused on making sure children are properly cared for and addressing the issues federal officials have identified.
“We are fulfilling our responsibility to oversee the care of youth who are our responsibility,” he said. “We believe that the current monitoring bodies will let us know if their concerns rise to a level where we need to stop using the hospital.”
Many of the new allegations echo those of the past. In September, a 7-year-old girl was taken to the emergency room at UIC after she reported that a 12-year-old boy pulled down her pants, sexually assaulted her with his finger and “made her bleed,” according to confidential reports obtained by ProPublica Illinois.
"While at the emergency room, she also reported that a Lakeshore employee had kissed her on the mouth and sexually assaulted her with his finger, and said she was “afraid to go back” to Lakeshore. A UIC social worker, records show, expressed concerns about delays in Lakeshore’s reporting and seeking medical care for the girl.
That same Lakeshore employee was at the center of another investigation in August. A 12-year-old girl reported that the man had locked her door, grabbed her by the shirt and touched her breasts. When she tried to pull away, she said that he pulled her down onto his lap, squeezed her buttocks and made her sit on his lap and touch his penis."
Does this sound like a place that you'd want your children? The problem, or should I say, one problem among many is that parents are kept completely in the dark. Once the child is removed from parent's custody they become wards of the state- in effect state property.
In yet another case, a 17-year-old boy diagnosed with bipolar disorder was left with a bloody mouth and bruising in April after he said two male employees dragged him to his room, where they pinned him down while holding his arms over the bed-rail, according to DCFS records. The boy said one of the workers threatened to break his arm.
"He had been admitted to the hospital that day after a suicide attempt, his mother said."
“It’s never easy sending your child to the hospital, but the thing that helps you sleep at night is at least you know they’re safe,” the mother said in an interview. “But he was far from safe. He was hurt and scared.”
These situations are a bit different than when CPS shows up and removes your children- but the result is the same- your child ends up in the system. For example if your child attempts suicide, or is medicated at school, then obviously you are an unfit parent- the state becomes involved. The only difference is that instead being placed in of foster care, your child is admitted to a mental health facility.
Although the facility won't respond directly to questions, the state agency (DCFS) is still sending children there. "The child welfare agency continues to send children to the hospital, which serves children and adults in two buildings a few blocks apart. Nearly half of the 16 investigations have not been substantiated, and the other cases reflect individual incidents rather than a systemic problem, Skene said."
“The question for DCFS is whether children are safe there,” Skene said. “Nothing that we are seeing gives us concern for their safety.”
Because the allegations have yet to be "substantiated," the hospital is legally in the clear. Of course without an eyewitness, there's no substantiation- and who's going to believe a kid in the nuthouse anyway? It's a lose/lose situation for both the parents and children alike.
The real problem here is that once the child goes into the system, they are warehoused because they are unable to find suitable accommodations for the child, rather than sending them home they remain for up to a year in psychiatric care often causing more damage than when the child was admitted. I'll post a link to this article and it will become evident that the vast majority of the infractions are sexual. What I'm seeing is a cultural issue rather than a mental health issue... these predatory children and adults are the product of a sexually permissive culture rather than some sort of mental health disorder. It appears that these people, child or adult, have no control over their sexual impulses... in other words they need to be taught that their behavior won't be tolerated- there's no treatment for that!
