Another Child Dies at Chad Youth Enhancement Center

[hanzomon4]

Police Investigate Death At Child Treatment Center

Montgomery County, Tenn.- Police are investigating the death of a teenager at a treatment center for troubled children. The 17 year old died over the weekend.

The teen was spending time at the Chad Youth Enhancement Center in Montgomery County.

Officials with the school told Montgomery County investigators the teenager became unruly on Saturday. They restrained the child and something apparently went wrong. An ambulance took the child to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. He died on Sunday.

"I know we've interviewed those involved. There's not been any dispositions made from the sheriff's office whether there was any wrong doing. Our investigation is still on going right now," said Montgomery County Spokesman,Ted Denny.

No one from the youth center will comment about what happened. The initial autopsy has been completed with no definitive cause of death. Sources close to the investigation have identified the teen as Omega Leach,17, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[hanzomon4]

Parents Pull Children Out Of Center Under Investigation

WTVF Nashville

June 7, 2007

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.- A third agency is expected to join state and local agencies investigating a treatment center for troubled youth.

At least two children have died while in the care of the Chad Youth Enhancement Center, with the latest happening this past weekend.

Two more families now admit that they pulled their youngsters out, fearing for their safety.

The mothers said that their children have problems and that they welcome help in disciplining them.

But they claim the center operates more like a prison.

"I took her out," said parent Norma Davis.

Davis pulled her daughter from the center.

"That's it, we're signing him out," said another parent Edith Ruland.

Their accusation is that the center's staff is abusive.

"All of a sudden, I just remember going down to the ground. And I guess when I raised my head up she slammed it back down, and my mouth was pouring blood," said Davis' daughter, Atlanta Redman, who once stayed at the center.

According to Davis, the staff calls the maneuver a "safety hold" to restrain an out-of-control child.

Davis calls it criminal.

"Her face was black," she said, referring to pictures showing her daughter with bruises on her face. "Her whole left side of her face was black."

"It's like they broke her spirit," Davis said. "She wouldn't look at me the whole time. Her head was down. It's like she was ashamed and that really tugged at me."

Dennis Ruland's mother also took pictures to document alleged abuse against her son.

"I was very upset," Edith Ruland said. "I was crying. He was crying, 'Momma, please don't make me stay here. Please don't let me get whooped again.'"

The center is a residential treatment facility in Montgomery County now under investigation after the death of a 16-year-old boy.

"That this young man became unruly and that they tried to restrain him. During the course of their intervention, this young man may have suffered a heart attack," said Ted Denny of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

This is the same way 14-year-old Linda Harris died a year and a half ago. She was forcibly taken out of a time-out room by staffers.

Even though the center, according to the families, did more harm than good, it might have been just enough to scare Redman straight, she said.

"Me doing the things I did wasn't worth me going down there," Redman said. "And I never want to go back."

Davis and Ruland said they asked about the marks on their children, but did not receive any explanations.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is investigating the center as well as the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. An investigator from the Disability Law and Advocacy Center of Tennessee is expected to join the investigation.

NewsChannel 5 tried to interview center officials several times over the last two days, but the reporters' phone calls were never returned.

[Anonymous]

Even though the center, according to the families, did more harm than good, it might have been just enough to scare Redman straight, she said.

Who writes this shit?

[Anonymous]

Chad Youth Enhancement was warned many times in the past from concerned employees about practices and behaviors of staff members. These were ignored and the culture was allowed to continue. This is very sad and chickens also, sadly, come home to roost.

[Anonymous]

If parents think only small children are at risk they need to pay attention that this kid was 17 when they were murdered by this facility staff personnel.
Omega is an interesting name Ive never known anyone by that name, oddly prophetic in a way.

 

[Anonymous]

They were told before in no uncertain terms, years ago, that they were perpetuating a culture that was dangerous. They chose to ignore or to make any real changes in the matters presented to them. Sadly two children have died as a result of this malfeasance and there is no excuse.  Their choices of leadership and management caused this and there is no one to blame but those that made those choices. When you make a mistake out of ignorance it is almost excusable. When you make one due to other rationale it is fatal, as shown.

[Deborah]

Here's the deal. Kids have been killed by restraints since the inception of RTCs, but everytime a kid is killed their defense is that they didn't know the restraint could cause death, they administered the restraint as they were trained to do, or the latest, blame the kid- "he wouldn't have died if he hadn't resisted". Give me an f'in break.
The guilty parties walk or pay a settlement, and it's back to business as usual.

Have none of them read the Hartford Current report?
http://www.charlydmiller.com/LIB05/1998 ... ant11.html

Is de-escalation too humane, time consuming, and/or too much of a bother for lazy staff?
Do they prefer restraint because the goal actually isn't to help kids, but to overpower them, break their will and establish authority?
Those administering the restraints aren't any more mature than the kids they are restraining.
Why after decades of restraint deaths isn't there a consistent policy?

Does it take a federal ban on restraint to stop the unnecessary brutal deaths of kids?

[Ursus]

Is de-escalation too humane, time consuming, and/or too much of a bother for lazy staff?

Do they prefer restraint because the goal actually isn't to help kids, but to overpower them, break their will and establish authority?

Those administering the restraints aren't any more mature than the kids they are restraining.

Why after decades of restraint deaths isn't there a consistent policy?

To have to resort to restraint is an indication that the system failed.  This is the culture that should be in place, the mindset put forth by the training of staff, etc.

Instead, a cowboy mentality exists amongst staff where it becomes a demonstration of strength or macho-ness, even a source of amusement, to bring a kid down amongst them.  There is no shame among these thieves, as their peer culture rewards these acts.  It is a power play enacted on the kids by the adults.

It is ultimately up to the administrations to reverse this trend.  Staff should be intensively trained, not so much in the methods used in restraint, but in methods used in de-escalation, counseling, etc., and the message should be made crystal clear: that having to resort to restraint is an admission of failure via less physical channels, and certainly no source of pride.

[Kreflo]

Is de-escalation too humane, time consuming, and/or too much of a bother for lazy staff?
Do they prefer restraint because the goal actually isn't to help kids, but to overpower them, break their will and establish authority?
Those administering the restraints aren't any more mature than the kids they are restraining.
Why after decades of restraint deaths isn't there a consistent policy?

Does it take a federal ban on restraint to stop the unnecessary brutal deaths of kids?

Don't forget places like Peninsula Village charge extra about $325 last time I looked for a restraint. More restraints = mo money. I can assure you that restraints are very much used for convenience there, but also as a means to establish control and power. I saw a post on another board where someone implied that news of injury or possibly even death never makes it off the peninsula.

[ZenAgent]

Is de-escalation too humane, time consuming, and/or too much of a bother for lazy staff?
Do they prefer restraint because the goal actually isn't to help kids, but to overpower them, break their will and establish authority?
Those administering the restraints aren't any more mature than the kids they are restraining.
Why after decades of restraint deaths isn't there a consistent policy?

Does it take a federal ban on restraint to stop the unnecessary brutal deaths of kids?

Don't forget places like Peninsula Village charge extra about $325 last time I looked for a restraint. More restraints = mo money. I can assure you that restraints are very much used for convenience there, but also as a means to establish control and power. I saw a post on another board where someone implied that news of injury or possibly even death never makes it off the peninsula.

Very few counselors at PV have the training to peform verbal de-escalation, and first-hand witnesses to restraints there report the  counselors panic and lunge on the kid.  De-escalation is paper practice - when a "crisis" occurs, counselors are either angry or frightened and acting out of emotion, not from a calm, procedure following center.  Deborah's right, a Federal ban needs to be placed  on restraints, which will spell the end for RTC's.  As one very senior "clinician" at PV recently stated, "We can never totally phase out restraints,".   Let them try to continue with a Federal law prohibiting them, they'll end up being sued and fined out of business.

[Deborah]

Lawyer Hired by Family of Dead Teen at Chad Youth Enrichment Center
By Terry McMoore | June 24, 2007

Omega Leach III? became the second youth, in little less than two years, to die at the Chad Youth Enrichment Center located in Clarksville-Montgomery County, TN.

The Family has hired lawyer, Edith Pearce, who has appeared on numerous talk shows, represented numerous clients, while also winning many cases of personal injury to the tune of several multi-million dollar awards.

Jim McDevitt, a private investigator from Philadelphia, Pa who is among the team hired by the attorney representing the family of Mr. Leach, was in Clarksville, TN recently. Mr. McDevitt, along with a dozen other organizations investigating the Chad Youth Enrichment Center, spoke with this writer and I was surprised to learn that Omega Leach III, may have suffered a severe brain injury during this ordeal, which has been omitted thus far and is contrary to the reports of this child dying of an apparent heart attack while being subdued by staff members of the Chad Youth Enrichment Center.

[Anonymous]

fakeautopsyreports++;

[Deborah]

7 July 07
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.- A teenager who lived at a residential treatment center for youth talked about what he witnessed when another teenager died at the center.

A state investigation released Wednesday is critical of the way Chad Youth Enhancement Center counselors restrained the victim the day before he died.

In an exclusive interview with NewsChannel 5, a teenager who saw part of what happened talked about what he witnessed with media for the first time.

"I seen it.  It was scary," said Malik Jernigan.

Malik was in the center June 2 when another teenager was restrained by counselors.

"I seen it right through the door window," Malik said.

The teenager said he saw a counselor grab 17-year-old Omega Leach around the neck.

"The staff got up, turned around, got behind him and choked him with his hand like that," Malik said. "Whenever they choked him, he was picked up by his arm.  When he was let go he was choking and he had a heart attack."

The medical examiner has not determined a cause of death.

Leach died the next day at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Two days later Malik's mother pulled him out of the center.

"This is my kid," said Deborah Jernigan. "He's here to get help not be killed or hurt while he's here."

That same day the Tennessee Department of Mental Health launched an investigation. That report was released Wednesday.

In the report, Chad officials told the state Leach attacked a staff member which prompted one counselor and then another to restrain the teen for seven to eight minutes.  A nurse checked for a pulse, but couldn't find one.

An inspector visited the center and found problems. He said the center was not following state rules and even violated its own policies.

The report said, "Chad has violated its own policy and procedures and the physical hold utilized on June 2 was not a result of imminent danger to the safety of residents, staff or others and as a last resort."

The report also said the facility did not properly document cases of alleged abuse, medical problems, accidents and illnesses and actions taken to treat those conditions.

The state told the center to file a plan to correct the situation through better training of employees.

The center has filed the plan, and the state inspector has accepted it.

The state inspector has worked with the center to come into compliance with state rules.

The center has filed a plan to correct the problems, which the state has accepted.

The center cannot admit new residents. The state inspector recommends the admission hold not be lifted until the end of the month at the earliest.

The inspector plans weekly trips to the facility to make sure they're following the rules. It will be up to the state's mental health commissioner to decide if the youth center is following the rules. She's expected to make a decision by the end of the month.
http://www.newschannel5.com:80/Global/s ... ?S=6777495

[Deborah]

Attorneys Investigate Youth Center Deaths
Families Say Other Children Injured At Facility
Reported By Nancy Amons

POSTED: 5:20 pm CDT July 18, 2007
UPDATED: 7:38 pm CDT July 18, 2007

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- A teen who died last month at a youth treatment center in Montgomery County had been injured at the facility a week before his death.

Video: Attorneys Investigate Deaths At Youth Center

This is just one of the details uncovered by Philadelphia lawyers and a private investigator who are in Clarksville working for the family of 17-year-old Omega Leach.
 
The teen died after being restrained by two staff members at Chad, a private mental health facility for children over age 7, in early June.

One report obtained by attorney Edith Pearce shows that a week before Leach's death, he had to be taken to the hospital. Chad said the teen walked into a door.

"It's certainly something that deserves investigation in my opinion," said Pearce.

Leach was the second teen who died in an 18-month period after being disciplined by the staff.

Several families have come forward, telling Channel 4 that their children were unnecessarily pinned down by staff members for punishment.

Sharon Pruett, a mother from Waverly, Tenn., met with the Pennsylvania lawyers to tell them what happened to her son John in 2004.

She gave them pictures that show bruises she said her child received at the hands of a Chad employee.

"He was strangled, thrown up against the wall, kneed in the groin," said Pruett.

She filed criminal charges against the staff member, but the case has now been expunged and erased from the public record.

"The reason why I'm here today, I feel like if we could have gotten this place shut down in 2004, these two kids would still be alive today," said Pruett.

The two staff members who had their hands on Leach when he died have still yet to be charged.

The autopsy report on Leach has yet to be released.

Previous Stories:
July 9, 2007: Report Details Youth Center Patient's Death
July 6, 2007: Mother Says Son Injured At Youth Center
June 29, 2007: Files Reveal Other Injuries At Chad Youth Center
June 28, 2007: Former Youth Center Patient: I Saw Abuse
June 27, 2007: Youth Center On DCS's Radar Before Deaths
June 27, 2007: Teen Dies At Tenn. Youth Facility
http://www.wsmv.com:80/news/13708447/de ... d=10106691

[stoodoodog]

Interesting update on the Chad Youth Enhancement Center story...  

  http://www.wsmv.com/news/13826922/detail.html