A state child welfare committee will consider changing the way allegations of institutional abuse are investigated at residential centers for troubled kids, following news reports about a chronic runaway problem that resulted in two deaths. Two state lawmakers, meanwhile, are vowing to strengthen mental health treatment for children and compel the state child welfare division […]
Mount Saint Vincent
Posted inSun Investigation
With bites, bruises and low pay, caretakers for Colorado’s troubled youth say there’s not enough staff to keep kids — and each other — safe
Olivia Couch followed as the boy hopped two fences and climbed into a drainage ditch filled with water. Her job was to keep the 12-year-old safe, and protocol at the residential treatment center was to “shadow” children who ran off campus but not restrain or block them. Couch had never given up on sticking with […]
Posted inSun Investigation
The deadly consequences when kids run away from Colorado residential treatment centers
In the places of last resort for Colorado’s most troubled kids, the doors are not locked. And the children run. They scale fences and slip through gates. They bolt from staff, who are not allowed to block or restrain them, and they roam city streets for hours or sometimes days. Children and teens run away […]