Gartner, L., & Laker, B. (2020, August 11). They came to Devereux for help. Instead, they were sexually abused. Inquirer.Com; The Philadelphia Inquirer. https://www.inquirer.com/news/inq/devereux-advanced-behavioral-health-abuse-children-pennsylvania-20200811.html
The systematic failure of residential treatment facilities to provide the right supervision leads to horrific instances of sexual abuse, physical abuse, and severe emotional abuse, resulting in permanent personal injury and psychological damage for vulnerable children. According to this investigative report written by Lisa Gartner and Barbara Laker from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health was managing 15 campuses across nine states with $467 million in annual revenue while staff members were systemically abusing exploiting residents with intellectual disabilities and trauma. The investigation revealed at least 41 children as young as 12 were raped or sexually assaulted by staff members over the past 25 years. These assaults were facilitated by understaffing, a lack of supervision, and staff sleeping during shifts or disappearing for hours, leaving children entirely unprotected. Despite repeated criminal convictions and documented warnings (like the closing of the Deerhaven campus in New Jersey after 16 girls were abused), Devereux executives long denied institutional supervision oversights and ignored safety proposals such as psychological job screenings. Even when residents like a nonverbal autistic teenager or a sex-trafficking survivor Hannah Rivera were placed to receive care in Devereux’s facility, they were subjected to abuse by staffers. This highlights a disturbing cycle where a foster and child welfare organization fails to reform its hiring, training, or supervision of its staff, leaving vulnerable children to suffer the devastating costs of institutional negligence.