LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) - Officials with a northern Idaho facility for troubled children have taken a first step to get a state-imposed ban on accepting new admissions lifted.
Northwest Children’s Home met a deadline Wednesday by submitting a 24-page plan addressing deficiencies that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said required an immediate remedy.
The plan, called a Corrective Action Plan, or CAP, deals with staffing issues, training for workers, and increased activities for residents between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.
“The CAP is our response to the deficiencies the state found,” Children’s Home Administrator Rod Wilson told the Lewiston Tribune (https://bit.ly/1DsQ3j9 ).
State officials this month banned the facility from taking new admissions after an inspection found problems.
Officials conducted the inspection from March 2 to 4 following a complaint filed by the owners of a nearby duplex where authorities say a teen from the Lewiston facility late last year assaulted a tenant by hitting her in the head with a rock. The woman recovered.
Officials said the deficiencies included an alteration to a report to the state that made it look like the home notified police about the assault more than an hour before it happened. An investigator said the staff couldn’t provide a reasonable explanation for the document being altered.
Officials said the facility reported 12 incidents last year involving 22 runaways. But Lewiston police records showed officers responded to 71 reports of runaways between June and December. State officials said they want the facility to decrease the number of runaways.
“The definition and expectation to report a resident as a runaway has been clarified with all staff,” the Children’s Home said.
Increasing activities between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. is also expected to reduce the number of runaways.
The state also said the facility had repeated assaults on staff members, and bullying among residents with some children not feeling safe.
The report by the Children’s Home calls for training, consultations by occupational therapists and non-physical intervention programs.
State officials said they plan to conduct on-site reviews at the facility to make sure it’s making progress to correct the deficiencies.
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Information from: Lewiston Tribune, https://www.lmtribune.com
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