Friday, October 31, 2014
Saturday, June 28, 2014
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]
[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
Running Away: Stacy and Adrian Could Not Leave
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
Phoenix and Fear of Being Alone in Bedroom with Staff
One
of the most potentially sexually exploitative areas in a home is the bedroom.
As such, we should expect to see children who are experiencing imminent fear of
being sexually abused, react strongly to being alone in bedrooms with staff.
As
a matter of policy, staff commonly drag children to their bedrooms as
punishment and a method of control. Children at Valley of the Moon Children’s
Home were locked in their bedroom by use of force, threat of force, barrier or
other threat of harm 95 times. In 68 of the incident reports, children tried to
escape their bedroom while trapped inside. Grace, a small girl tried to escape
over twenty times but was not allowed to leave.[1]
When
staff use force to drag a child into a bedroom and to keep the children in
their bedroom, they are putting children at high risk of sexual exploitation
and children react as they would if they expected immediate sexual aggression. Children
use physical violence once they are trapped in the room to make themselves an
unattractive target for abuse, or to prevent staff from entering, or to get
staff out of the room. This act of protective aggression is usually what staff use
to justify another series of restraints against the child.
Phoenix was told by a female staff member to take a
time out in his bedroom. As soon as he got to his room, he began to throw
things around his room; blustering to make himself an unattractive target. He
ran out of his room and left the building. He made repeated attempts to climb
the locked fence but staff pulled him down. He was put in a more restrictive
restraint until he submitted to staff’s demands. [2]
Children
of all ages and sexes have had exaggerated reactions to being alone with staff.
Protective aggression across gender through five years indicates a widespread
fear, not an issue with a particular child. It is a pervasive, long-lasting fear created
by the situation children face at Valley of the Moon Children’s Home.
It
is possible that this reaction is not because staff are exploiting a child’s
abuse history, but that it is a response to ongoing sexual abuse in the Valley
of the Moon Children’s Home. A child would not have to act out with protective
aggression against only the staff member who is sexually abusing her in order
for her protective aggression to be a warning sign of sexual abuse. A child
would only have to have knowledge that a staff member is willing to use sexual
abuse in order to be afraid of any other staff member.
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