Oregon Sen. Wyden urges feds to stop supporting 'taxpayer-funded child abuse'

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is urging the U.S. to crack down on the “taxpayer-funded child abuse” littering youth residential treatment facilities nationwide.

The Senate Finance Committee just released its two-year investigation titled “Warehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers Are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Treatment Facilities.” The report delves into the physical, sexual and emotional abuse cases occurring in mental and behavioral health spaces, some of which receive federal funding.

According to Wyden, investigators reviewed about 25,000 pages of evidence that contributed to the extensive federal report. Among the key findings was that harm was “endemic” to each program.

“Overwhelmingly, it's clear that the operating model for these facilities is to warehouse as many kids as possible while keeping costs low in order to maximize the profit,” Wyden said in his opening statement at Wednesday’s Finance Committee Hearing.

Another key finding was that facility staff often ignore federal regulations on restraint, often leading to improper treatment and unmonitored abuse.

The report noted a case in which officials learned employees at a Montana treatment facility had frequently used Benadryl to restrain a 9-year-old Oregon child, and locked them in a seclusion room. The facility has since closed.

Investigators also highlighted an incident stemming from a Utah facility, where it is believed that a 14-year-old Oregon girl with intellectual and developmental disabilities was chemically restrained 30 times within four months.

State officials traveled to the facility to investigate the case and bring the teen back home in 2019, along with other children held out of state.

“The whole idea of sending her to Provo Canyon School was supposed to be that her needs were so great, that this was the only place that could help her,” Oregon Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin told the Salt Lake Tribune, as quoted in the report. “And what they sent back to us was a broken, injured, frightened child with more trauma than she went there with.”

It’s an issue that has a wide reach, with heiress Paris Hilton testifying to Oregon lawmakers about her experience in the same Utah facility as a teenager.

Within the next several months, Wyden said he will introduce legislation that aims to implement oversight and enforcement at these facilities.