Deaths of children in psychiatric institutions became a national issue during 1998 and 1999 after the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, an international psychiatric watchdog group established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor Dr. Thomas Szasz, began investigating lethal abuse of restraints and turning evidence over to media and authorities.

The Hartford Courant published a five-part investigative report in 1998 documenting deaths by restraints of 142 patients across the country in psychiatric hospitals, group homes and residential youth facilities. Ages could be confirmed in only 114 of the cases; of those, 26 percent were children — nearly double their percentage in mental health facilities. Further, the actual number of deaths in such facilities under the same circumstances, according to an independent study conducted by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, is likely between 50 to 150 per year — or one to three deaths every week.

Spanking a child can land a parent with charges of abuse. However, in most of the cases reported by the Courant, little to nothing was done to the individuals and facilities responsible for actual deaths.

Reports of deaths and severe abuse of children in foster care have also been receiving increased attention.

In 1999, Colorado undertook reforms for the care of children in state custody after four children under the age of 2 1/2 died in foster care homes. In two of the cases, charges of child abuse were filed. In a third case, a foster mother’s boyfriend was charged with murder after he fractured a 14-month-old child’s skull. A state report noted that in one foster home, the children were abusing each other.

Abuses and dangers to children in the system have prompted investigations and demands for reform in California, Florida and other states.

continued...

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