Dec. 15 (UPI) — The Department of Justice concluded that children with behavioral health disabilities in Alaska are often subject to segregation, sometimes sent thousands of miles away from their families.
The findings stem from an investigation by the department into whether children with behavioral disabilities are unnecessarily institutionalized in Alaska in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In a news release Thursday, the department said it found “reasonable cause to believe” the state violates the ADA by not providing services to children with behavioral disabilities within their own communities, instead placing them in institutional settings where they are segregated from the population. Particularly psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment facilities are used.
When the children are institutionalized they often remain in those facilities for at least six months, the Justice Department said. Some of those facilities are as far away as Missouri and Texas.
“Each year, hundreds of children, including Alaska Native children in significant number[s], are isolated in institutional settings often far from their communities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Most of these children could remain in family homes if provided appropriate community-based services. We look forward to working with Alaska to bring the State into compliance with federal law and prevent the unnecessary institutionalization of children.”
The release from the department did not discuss specific remedies to the issues in Alaska.
Alaska has not made alternatives to institutions, such as home-based care and crisis services, widely available, resulting in a heavy reliance on institutions. Because of this, children are forced into institutions where they undergo long admissions processes and find themselves isolated from their families in states across the country.
