The Great Almost Escapes - Doing Anything to Get Away From Valley of the Moon Children's Home

Children at Valley of the Moon Children’s Home go to great lengths to escape the facility and from being locked in rooms. The range of behaviors are indicative of the desperate situation in which they are living.

Children who try to leave the facility are generally restrained, dragged back into the facility and locked in a room or hallway by either mechanical lock or staff barricade.

Crawling Out of Windows: When staff stand in the way of a child trying to escape through a door, children will often try to squeeze out of the window.

After trying to escape, being put in the locked Separation Room cell by use of repeated physical force, and released, Maya was told she would be subjected to increased monitoring and isolation as punishment. Maya tried to escape again, this time through the window.[1]

Breaking Windows: Children use trashcans, toys, and various other items to try to break the window in order to pass through the hole and escape the facility.

Gwendoline was afraid of being alone with a male staff member. She asked that he open a curtain so they could be seen by other residents. He refused. She tried to escape but he stood in front of the door. She tried to push out a window but he told her to stop. She went into the room, grabbed a garbage can and tried to use it to break the window out so she could escape.[2]

Faking Suicide Attempts: Children have faked suicide attempts when locked in a room for an extended period of time. An attempted suicide forces staff to open the door and the child make good an attempt to escape.

Maya attempted to crawl out of a window, and was restrained and placed in the locked Separation Room cell. She began to bang her head against the window, and, realizing that this was not enough, she started to tie her shoelaces around her neck. Maya was taken to the hospital for observation.[3]

Faking Mental Illness: Children know that certain kinds of mental illness symptoms cause staff to call the police for a psychological evaluation. As such, children use the symptoms to compel the staff to call the police so they can escape the facility.

Ygritte tried to be alone. When staff would not let her, she ticked all the boxes to indicate that she was suffering from voices in her head and wanted to hurt people. She reported to both the Valley of the Moon Children's Home staff and a police officer that she was indeed hearing voices, so she was transported to the hospital for evaluation. After arriving at the hospital, she said that she made up hearing voices, was not interested in hurting people so that she could get away from Valley of the Moon Children's Home, and the staff there.[4]

Faking Injury: While locked in a room, children try to convince staff that they are injured to force staff to open the door so they can take advantage and run out.

Jamie was locked in the locked Separation Room cell for 25 minutes. During that time she picked at her scabs so that she could smear blood on the walls to seem more injured than she was. Staff did not come in to check on her.[5]

Serendipitous Advantage: Children use a change in circumstance which take them outside the locked areas in order to escape. The most common example of this is running away between Valley of the Moon Children’s Home School and Valley of the Moon Children’s Home’s living area.

Levi was told to leave the classroom because he was misbehaving. When he got outside, he took the opportunity to escape.[6]

Climbing Fences or Gate: The fence which runs around the facility is locked by a mechanical lock. Children try to climb it to escape. Even after they are pulled off over and over again, they continue to attempt to climb.

Tommy told staff that he was going to get out of the facility one way or another. He ran for the fence and tried to climb. He was restrained to prevent him from escaping.[7]

Use of Bluster: Children throw items, scream, yell, and generally raise a fuss to force staff to move or back away, gaining access to an exit.

Madison was attempting to leave the gated area, but staff members blocked her path. In an attempt to get by them, Madison pushed and blustered at them to get them to move out of her way. As soon as she tried to climb the fence, the staff grabbed her and after a physical confrontation, she was locked in the Separation Room cell until she gave up.[8]

Protective Aggression: Generally children only devolve into protective aggression when other forms of escape were exhausted.

Nicole walked out of the school and sat under a tree. Two male staff members told her to get up and go to the facility with them. She refused. They repeatedly threatened to physically restrain her and force her back to the facility. She told them that if they did, she would call the police. They grabbed her and put her in a transportation restraint in order to take her to the Quite Room/Separation Room – a room with a locked door. Nicole immediately attempted to defend herself from the attack by kicking the staff. She was dragged into the room and not permitted to leave.[9]

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[1] Maya is the name we assigned this child. Incident report 5322­6390

[2] Gwendoline is the name we gave this child. Incident report 5787-6935

[3] Maya is the name we assigned this child. Incident report 5322­6390

[4] Ygritte is the name we assigned this child. Incident report 7065­8365

[5] Jamie is the name we assigned this child. Incident report 5833-7013

[6] Levi is the name we assigned this child. Incident report 5730-6875

[7] Tommy is the name we assigned this child. Incident report 6732-7989

[8] Madison is the name we gave this child. Incident report 5667­6814

[9] Nicole is the name we gave this child. Incident report 5804-6953