Aldrete, I. (2024, September 20). Audit: Seven care facilities for children fail state standards. The Nevada Independent; Nevada News Bureau, Inc. https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/audit-seven-mental-health-facilities-for-children-fail-state-standards
Severe systemic regulatory failures across institutional care networks continuously expose vulnerable foster children to physical abuse, unchecked sexual abuse, and devastating emotional abuse that inflicts permanent psychological damage and personal injury. This Nevada legislative audit, brought by the Legislative Commission’s Audit Subcommittee, reveals that seven major youth care facilities, including Nevada Homes for Youth, Aurora Center for Healing, Shannon West Homeless Youth Center, and four Advanced Foster Care Homes operated by the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), all failed to protect the children under their care. The state investigation found proof of health, safety, and civil rights violations, noting that these certified centers allowed children to self-medicate, neglected basic patient intake assessments, and subjected residents to filthy living conditions littered with rotten food. The report also shows that Las Vegas-based Shannon West failed to comply with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) or screen youth for sexual victimization risk, resulting in a September 2023 incident where an adult repeatedly groped a child’s neck, hair, and thigh in unmonitored common spaces and bathrooms shared between adults and minors. State data show that from July 2022 to June 2023, Nevada logged 1,261 complaints across 34 facilities, a lack of care that forced 101 vulnerable children to be thrown in out-of-state placements because Nevada’s local infrastructure lacked adequate services to meet their basic therapeutic needs. DCFS administrator Marla McDade Williams attempted to deflect institutional accountability by deflecting blame onto the state’s Bureau of Health Care Quality and Compliance, a licensing body that does not require its licensed healthcare facilities to screen employees for past records of child abuse or neglect, or require any child-specific behavioral training.