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The Unsilenced Investigative Research Team

The Troubled Teen Industry in Nebraska

Impact Report

2022

Impact Report

2022

Introduction

The ‘troubled teen’ industry is a network of residential programs that claim to provide treatment for the behavioral and developmental needs of youth. The industry’s lack of transparency and accountability has led to widespread abuse of youth, resulting in hospitalizations, prolonged trauma and death.

Today, there are an estimated 120,000 – 200,000 minors in residential programs across the United States. These youth are placed each year by state child welfare agencies, juvenile justice courts, mental health providers, refugee resettlement agencies, school districts’ individualized education programs, and by parents.

Many of these youth have trauma histories, which are only exacerbated by being removed from their communities and institutionalized. Youth with lived experience describe these programs as being carceral, harsh, and abusive.

An estimated $23 billion dollars of public funds annually are used to place youth in residential programs. Daily rates for residential treatment ranges from $250-$800, costing up to $292,000 per year, per child.

It is overwhelmingly clear that our communities and agencies are over-relying on residential placements that are negatively impacting the youth they serve.

Introduction

The ‘troubled teen’ industry is a network of residential programs that claim to provide treatment for the behavioral and developmental needs of youth. The industry’s lack of transparency and accountability has led to widespread abuse of youth, resulting in hospitalizations, prolonged trauma and death.

Today, there are an estimated 120,000 – 200,000 minors in residential programs across the United States. These youth are placed each year by state child welfare agencies, juvenile justice courts, mental health providers, refugee resettlement agencies, school districts’ individualized education programs, and by parents.

Many of these youth have trauma histories, which are only exacerbated by being removed from their communities and institutionalized. Youth with lived experience describe these programs as being carceral, harsh, and abusive.

An estimated $23 billion dollars of public funds annually are used to place youth in residential programs. Daily rates for residential treatment ranges from $250-$800, costing up to $292,000 per year, per child.

It is overwhelmingly clear that our communities and agencies are over-relying on residential placements that are negatively impacting the youth they serve.

Nebraska Statistics

$500

Per Day Per Child

Nebraska pays facilities on average and advocates report that the state spends up to $800 per day for children with complex needs.

1,633

Children Under 12

placed in residential facilities through Child Welfare programs in 2019

309

Juvenile Justice Youth

placed in residential facilities through Juvenile Justice programs in 2019

  • 180 minors were committed to a residential facility as part of a court ordered disposition
  • 123 minors were detained in a residential facility while awaiting a court hearing, adjudication, disposition or placement elsewhere

Nebraska Statistics

$500

Per Day Per Child

Nebraska pays facilities on average and advocates report that the state spends up to $800 per day for children with complex needs.

1,633

Children Under 12

placed in residential facilities through Child Welfare programs in 2019

309

Juvenile Justice Youth

placed in residential facilities through Juvenile Justice programs in 2019

  • 180 minors were committed to a residential facility as part of a court ordered disposition
  • 123 minors were detained in a residential facility while awaiting a court hearing, adjudication, disposition or placement elsewhere
  • 0 minors were voluntarily admitted to a residential facility in lieu of adjudication as part of a diversion agreement

An Nebraska Problem

A team of researchers reviewed 230 studies of residential treatment facilities from around the nation and found there was no evidence that they were effective.

In 2019, Nebraska was home to 476,074 minors, including 3,434 minors in foster care.

Nebraska has 43 Licensed Residential Facilities. 

The facility types with the highest capacity for housing minors in Nebraska are:

Nebraska sends minors out-of-state despite evidence indicating youth are best served in their communities

  • Nebraska sent between 39 and 74 such youths to other states every year from 2015 through 2021.
    • 2/3 were on juvenile probation,
    • 1/3 were in the child welfare system.
  • They were sent as far away as Tennessee and South Carolina and typically spent four to six months in those out-of-state facilities
  • The state paid $9.1 million for the care of such teens in 2019

Illustration by Spencer Holladay, USA Today Network; Getty Images

“Many kids don’t get help. Others never needed institutional care in the first place.”

Fred Clasen-Kelly, Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria, Rachel Berry, Brad Zinn, Kristen Johnson, Brian Gordon
The Fayetteville Observer

Current Oversight

Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Human Services

Residential child-caring agencies shall not be established, operated, or maintained in this state without first obtaining a license issued by the department under the Children’s Residential Facilities and Placing Licensure Act 391 NAC 7

  • Residential child-caring agency: An organization which is incorporated for the purpose of providing care for children and youth in buildings maintained by the organization for that purpose.
    • Residential Child Caring Agencies
    • Emergency Shelter Care
    • Group Home Care
  • Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) provides inpatient psychiatric services to individuals under the age of 19. A PRTF will provide the inpatient psychiatric services under the direction of a physician, will be accredited and will comply with all the requirements of applicable state and federal regulations.

The Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) directly operates two public 2 psychiatric hospitals treating a variety of issues. These facilities must be accredited by The Joint Commission & will comply with all the requirements of applicable state and federal regulations.

  • 2 Psychiatric Hospitals
    • Lincoln Regional Center – Male adolescents sex offenders
      • a 250 bed, Joint Commission-accredited state psychiatric hospital, is operated by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
    • Hastings Regional Center – Adolescent Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (Boys)
      • The Hastings Juvenile Chemical Dependency Program (HJCDP) provides residential substance abuse treatment for adolescent males from the ages of 13 to 18 years.

The Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) oversees Detention and Juvenile Facilities treating a variety of issues. These facilities will be accredited by the American Correctional Association  (ACA).

  • 4 Detention and juvenile facilities means an institution operated by a political subdivision or political subdivisions for the secure detention and treatment of persons younger than eighteen years of age, including persons under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court, 83-4,125 (2)​​​​​​​​ 2020 Report
    • Lincoln Facility
    • Youth Rehabilitation & Treatment Center – Kearney
    • Youth Rehabilitation & Treatment Center – Hastings
    • Whitehall

Nebraska requires Residential Facilities serving minors to obtain a license but does not provide adequate oversight

Department of Health and Human Services Children and Family Services Caseload Status:

  • IA = Initial Assessment case only
  • IA & Ongoing = Initial Assessment and Ongoing cases
  • Ongoing Only = Ongoing cases only

March 2022

IA Only
Service Area Staff Staff In Compliance Percent In Compliance
Central 9 9 100%
Eastern 25 17 68%
Northern 7 5 71%
Southeast 19 14 74%
Western 9 9 100%
State Total 70 55 78%
IA & Ongoing
Central 20 18 90%
Eastern NA NA NA
Northern 26 16 62%
Southeast 37 24 65%
Western 25 13 52%
State Total 109 72 66%
Ongoing Only
Central 29 24 82%
Eastern 101 45 45%
Northern 26 14 54%
Southeast 41 26 63%
Western 22 18 82%
State Total 219 127 58%
Total Staff
Central 58 51 88%
Eastern 126 62 49%
Northern 60 37 49%
Southeast 97 64 66%
Western 54 41 72%
State 397 253 64%

Abuse and Neglect

Youth residing in Residential Facilities in Nebraska are at-risk for abuse, neglect and long-term harm.

Minors residing in Residential Facilities in Nebraska are at-risk for abuse, neglect and long-term harm

Nebraska determined that at least 3 Group Home and Residential Facility Staff Members and 10 Foster Parents caused or knowingly allowed the maltreatment of a child in 2020

Special Report: Examining Missingness among Children in Out-of-Home Care Placements in Nebraska 

  • Foster Home (relative or fictive/kinship) 38.39%
  • Foster Home (non-relative) 28.17%
  • Group Home 5.75%
  • Institution 6.07%
  • Supervised Independent Living 1.05%
  • Trial Home Visit 9.48%
  • Detention Facility 5.97%
  • Near Permanency Placement 5.12%

Media Coverage

Additional Information

Unsilenced Program Database: Nebraska Programs

Contact: info@unsilenced.org

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