http://www.kspr.com/news/kspr-youth-fac ... 0371.story
Youth facility Delmina Woods uses group restraint to calm studentsState officials praise the technique while some relatives call it "cruel"Mary Moloney, KSPR News
[email protected]10:55 p.m. CDT, April 20, 2012
TANEY COUNTY, Mo. -- Troubled teens convicted as juveniles of various crimes in Missouri aren't always sentenced to jail. They can go to one of the state's 32 residential youth corrections special facilities. A facility like Delmina Woods, located among the trees in Taney County.
At Delmina, troubled girls between the ages of 11 and 17 are treated for behavioral problems. There is no barbed wire, no bars, no cells in the facility. Instead, girls live in cabins, wear their own clothing, and sleep in bunk beds. Colorful signs with brightly painted hand prints direct visitors and staff within the secluded area.
The atmosphere is supposed to foster and rehabilitate, not isolate or shun. It's all part of the Missouri Model, a reformed approach to youthful offenders. Girls are placed in small groups to relearn ways of society with intensive therapy.
Click here to learn more about the Missouri Model. [http://www.missouriapproach.org/]
Kimberly LeVan is related to one of the girls staying at Delmina Woods. The 15-year-old has a litany of charges against her and she is living at the facility for a second time.
"She's a very reserved child. She's just very inside herself," said LeVan. "She seems to be more friendly, more relaxed now."
While LeVan described Delmina as "kind of like girl scout camp," one treatment option worries her.
"She told me she participates in the restraint of other juveniles," detailed LeVan. "I think it's unacceptable."
Group restraint, the process where staff invoke students to help physically calm down another student, is frequently used at the facility."It's a safe restraint process. If somebody is having an outburst, they work together with the trained staff member to implement a safe process to get that person to calm down," explained Seth Bundy, director of communications with the Missouri Department of Social Services. "If it becomes a concern that a youth is going to harm themselves or harm others, the staff can direct what we call a group restraint where they help the youth that's having the episode calm down. Everybody sort of gets on the floor and talks about the situations."
He noted the process doesn't use chains or any kind of bondages, such as handcuffs or shackles, that other correctional facilities may use. Instead,
it's viewed as a form of therapy that the students can learn from.LeVan, a 20-year veteran of the health care industry who occasionally uses restraint on patients, doesn't agree with the treatment.
"I think that asking a child to participate in another person's punishment is, first of all, beyond cruel and unusual punishment," she said emphatically. "Someone who's in there for violent behavior doesn't need to be exposed and made to participate in violent behavior."Violence is exactly what the Missouri Model hopes to prevent. According to literature provided by Bundy, when the model is practiced, assault and injury rates decrease 4 1/2 times for students. Other states have noticed the numbers. Since 2001, hundreds of public officials representing 30 states have visited facilities like Delmina Woods, to learn about the Missouri Model.
"We don't have those issues of youth-on-youth violence or youth-on-staff violence that other states have, to the degree to which they have them," said Bundy. "Our staff are trained in what we call de-escalation techniques, which are ways to resolve conflicts and really diffuse the situation. So that we could avoid the typical restraints that you would see in a jail. We don't have to have guards pinning people down or shackles or isolation rooms."
While LeVan isn't against the concept of restraint, she hopes the state can work on ways to use only trained staff, instead of students."I would rather someone sit in a cell all day long than be subject to that. Because at least you are safe," she said. "If you don't know what you're doing, no matter what age you are, you can really hurt somebody. You could break their arm, you could cause permanent damage. Just because someone does something that society thinks is not right, doesn't mean that they lose all their rights."State officials express that if relatives are concerned over the treatment, communication is the best way to alleviate concerns. Contacting the facility's office, regional director, or even the state can help potentially bad situations.
