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Hartford Courant Editorial, September 19, 2014 Independent Review Needed of Alleged DCF Abuse Of course there should be an independent review of the handling of troubled teenage girls housed at the locked treatment facility in Middletown. Such an inquiry is needed to ensure the safety of girls under the state's care, as well as the safety of staff. It should be independent because advocates for the girls and the state Department of Children and Families, which runs the facility, are too often at loggerheads. State Child Advocate Sarah Eagan called last week for outside investigators to look into treatment procedures at the so-called Pueblo Unit after her office viewed dozens of hours of videotape and read incident reports. She and her investigators identified what they said was unwarranted and excessive use of prone restraints and handcuffs by DCF staff members when girls were disobeying Pueblo Unit staff but were not being physically threatening. A prone restraint occurs when staff takes a girl to the floor face down and holds her there. Prone restraints are prohibited in some states and are not allowed in privately managed group homes that contract with DCF. Ms. Eagan's office said four of the incidents seen on tape rose to the level of child abuse and were reported on DCF's abuse hotline. The child advocate and her investigators, like police, doctors and teachers, are mandated reporters of child abuse. According to her, in one of the four incidents, a girl who had disobeyed (she did not go to her room when asked) but was not physically threatening was encircled by six staff members. She was placed in a standing restraint and then taken to the floor and handcuffed. DCF officials deny that restraints are used excessively. They say the use of restraints in the four incidents pointed out by the Office of Child Advocate did not rise to the level of child abuse. That's why an outside review - of the tapes, of the protocols used in the Pueblo Unit, of the design of the facility itself - is needed. DCF should not investigate itself. Independent experts in juvenile justice should be hired to take a hard look at the treatment practices of an agency that has arguably the hardest job in state government. Let the sun shine in. Copyright (c) 2014, Hartford Courant<http://www.courant.com/>