In seventy-seven of the incident reports for restraints we reviewed at Valley of the Moon Children's Home,
children were restrained to prevent them from existing the building or facility
or from running away.[1]
One
of the most common reasons why children runaway from home is sexual abuse, or
other abuses in their home. Running away is an indicator of sexual abuse.
34%
of runaway youth (girls and boys) reported sexual abuse before leaving home and
43% of runaway youth (girls and boys) reported physical abuse before leaving
home. 80% of runaway and homeless girls reported having ever been sexually or
physically abused. [2]
Adrian, after being told to sit for dinner, decided to leave
the facility, and exercising his right not to be locked in the facility. He ran
outside, climbed the locked fence, and started running toward the highway. He
was grabbed by a male staff member, and then dragged back to the facility by three
staff members.[3]
Stacy
made an attempt to climb the fence to run away. While attempting to climb the
fence, she was restrained and taken to the Separation Room, a room with a lock.[4]
[1] 77 does not include the missing 2011 documents. We
estimate the number is closer to approximately 85 running away incidents.
[2] Molnar, B., Shade, S., Kral, A.,
Booth, R., & Watters, J. (1998). Suicidal Behavior and Sexual / Physical
Abuse Among Street Youth. Child Abuse & Neglect. Vol. 22, NO. 3, pp.
213-222 via http://www.1800runaway.org/learn/research/third_party/
[3] Adrian is the name we assigned to this child.
Incident Report 56196769
[4] Stacy is the name we gave this
child. Incident Report 57746921
No comments:
Post a Comment