Foster
Change Coalition members were alerted to high physical restraint rates and
reports of abuse at Valley of the Moon Children’s Home. We decided to
investigate. What we have found was in keeping with Valley of the Moon
Children’s Home’s 20 year history of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual
abuse, rights violations, and efficient evisceration of the dignity of all
children unfortunate enough to cross its threshold.
Foster Change Coalition conducted a comprehensive investigation of Valley of the Moon Children's Home and its practices. In
order to protect children in care from retaliation, and cut down on accusations
of non-credible witnesses, we decided to limit our limit our investigation to
documents created by Valley of the Moon Children’s Home, Sonoma County Human
Services Department, Sonoma County Department of Health Services, the Sonoma
County Office of Education, and Community Care Licensing staff.
We
primarily focused on the program statement and incident reports for physical
restraints performed at Valley of the Moon Children’s Home. The program
statement is a document prepared by a group home to explain the programs in
their home. It must be submitted to Community Care Licensing for approval.
Incident reports are completed by the restraining staff after each physical
restraint, and the incident reports are sent to Community Care Licensing for
oversight.
The
approved program statement had over 470 rights violations, including systematic
sexual abuse by strip search, unjustified restraints, approved physical abuse,
removal of educational protections, and denying food to children who make
sexual abuse accusations. Previous incarnations allowed staff to use mechanical
locks to lock children in rooms in violation of state criminal and welfare law.
The program statement was approved by Community Care Licensing and gave Valley
of the Moon Children’s Home authority to abuse children and disregard their
rights.
The incident reports
proved the staff at Valley of the Moon Children’s Home staff took full advantage
of their Community-Care-Licensing-granted authority to abuse children. With
shocking candor, staff described sexually, physically, emotionally, educationally
and medically abusing children in their care. Extreme rights violations like
retaliation for threatening to call the police about abuse, locking children in
rooms with windows in public areas of
the facility while half naked, demanding a girl strip off her top after being
dragged into the facility and locked in a room, denial of access to school of
origin, limited visitation with siblings also living in the facility, and
rampant use of physical restraint as corporal punishment were described in detail.
Supervisors and Program Managers confess in writing to ordering children be
physically dragged to a room in which to be locked.
All of the incident
reports containing abuse confessions were sent to Community Care Licensing. No
action was taken to stop the abuses. It was only when another advocacy group
filed complaints that Community Care Licensing stepped in to stop the
mechanical locking of children in rooms but continued to permit the use of
violent restraints, sexual abuse, physical barrier and holding doors in to keep
children from escaping.
We do not have to infer,
and we do not have to accuse any staff of abuse. Staff at Valley of the Moon
Children’s Home confess to actions which meet the criteria of abuse - like locking children in rooms, restraining them until they pass out, denying them access to the bathroom until they soil themselves, and more - with a forthrightness which is only possible
when there is no fear of consequence.
Valley of the Moon
Children’s Home is supposed to be where children go to be safe from abuse.
Children there simply trade one abuse for another.
