Surveillance Videos Show Foster Children Abuse in Connecticut

Connecticut’s Office of the Child Advocate released an investigative report in July saying children were being illegally restrained and secluded at the two juvenile detention facilities run by the Department of Children and Families (DCF). On Sept. 15, the Child Advocate decided to release confidential surveillance videos that show children attempting suicide after staff secluded them during an emotional crisis. In a web conference, Child Advocate Sarah Eagan read from staff incident reports while playing video footage from the Pueblo Unit, the DCF girls’ detention facility. One staff described how a girl was dragged from the hallway by five staff members and locked in a room with one small window, out of view. “Another staff [member] walked around outside the building to look inside the window,” Eagan said. “The resident was observed with her shirt tied tightly around the neck, her face bright red and her head swaying.” Eagan says the girl was then taken to a hospital. That incident of self-harm was one of eight incidents documented in the surveillance videos released on Tuesday. The Child Advocate’s report found that, over the course of a year, boys and girls at the facilities tried to injure or kill themselves at least 55 times.