Living in limbo: DCS places kids indefinitely in group homes awaiting “evaluations”

A DCS staff member leads a training for case workers in 2023. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, already facing a class action lawsuit over its treatment of disabled kids, is placing children with no known disability diagnoses for months at a time in privately-run group homes designed to support adults with disabilities, according to child advocates.

The homes serve as way stations before appointments open up to have children evaluated for potential disabilities or mental health issues that, in some instances, they do not have.

Children and teens are enrolled in nearby schools, but aren’t allowed to have friends over, prepare their own snacks, keep their cell phones, receive the usual $2 weekly foster kid allowance or have someone check their homework or grades, said Emily Jenkins, an attorney for the Tennessee Justice Center and a longtime child welfare advocate. While a child is living in a group homes awaiting an evaluation, efforts to find a foster home for that child come to a halt, she said.

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“And now it’s summer and they’re just waiting around in these homes with no support,” Jenkins said.

“This is just another way DCS is placing children in non-family settings,” Jenkins said. “We’re taking a huge step backwards on progress that has been made to ensure the first and best place for a kid is in a home.”

The privately-run “supported living” homes previously contracted with the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD) for adults.

They are separate from state-owned group homes that house adults with severe medical and intellectual disabilities, where DCS also houses children.

Last month the Lookout reported that DIDD informed loved ones of adults living in the state-owned homes they would be “decommissioned” to make way for children in state custody — a move that the state agency has since backed down from after facing backlash from the families and disability rights advocates, affected families told the Lookout.

A DCS spokesperson last week said the agency would by Friday provide answers to questions submitted two weeks ago about how many children are placed in group homes for the disabled and for how long. The agency provided no response on Friday.

The state’s troubled child welfare agency has been subject of mounting scrutiny in recent years over its mistreatment of children in its care.

The agency has removed children suspected of being abused or neglected from their homes only to force them to sleep on office floors or keep them hospitalized months after being ready for discharge .

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Juvenile detention centers licensed by DCS have illegally subjected children to solitary confinement as routine punishment.

And the recent class action filed in federal court last month accused DCS of illegally and unconstitutionally warehousing kids with disabilities in prison-like facilities, where they are pepper-sprayed, beaten and denied access to education and healthcare.

Lawmakers last year approved a budget boost for the $1.1 billion agency to hire more caseworkers and establish temporary housing for kids brought into custody, but the agency continues to draw scrutiny for its handling of children.

Advocates say they are especially concerned that the normal safeguards for adults or children placed in group homes have been set aside for children in DCS custody.

DCS’ protocol for the supported living homes sets no time limit on how long they can stay in the group homes, where up to three children are monitored by hourly employees 24-7.

Under longstanding DIDD rules, private contractors operating group homes must only accept individuals with diagnosed intellectual disabilities – defined as an IQ of 70 or less – or developmental disabilities, such as cerebral palsy or spina bifida in order to comply with federal rules designed to ensure that individuals are getting the correct level of care.

DCS also has long-standing  rules for “qualified residential treatment programs,” that require the agency to follow a strict criteria before placing a child in a non-home setting, including 30- and 60-day professional assessments to ensure that children are placed in the most appropriate place.

Neither of these criteria apply to the supported living group homes currently housing Tennessee children, according to DCS emails to advocates reviewed by the Lookout.

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