The governor of California signed a child safety bill into law on September 27, 2024. The legislation is designed to protect children from "the improper use of restraints and isolation in residential treatment facilities."
The governor's office stated that the "Accountability in Children's Treatment
Act" will increase transparency and state oversight by requiring facilities to report the use of seclusion and restraint. In addition, the California Department of Social Services must publish data on every incident on its website and notify the child's parent, foster parent, guardian, or tribal representative.
The senator who authored the bill said the new legislation will help safeguard at-risk children.
The governor also committed $100 million over five years to creating programs in California for vulnerable youth. The governor's office said the state's new Short-Term Residential Therapeutic programs also increased state monitoring and reporting requirements. Marion Rodriguez "Paris Hilton's child safety law signed by Gov. Newsom" krcrtv.com (Sep. 28, 2024).
Commentary
According to a study published in 2020, the use of restraints, seclusion, and time-out to manage challenging behaviors among youth living in residential treatment centers and group homes is "frequent."
However, only around half of the youth studied received these interventions. The researchers found that risk factors associated with restraint and seclusion included being a boy; being non-Caucasian; having been taken into care for neglect; and having a longer stay in the facility.
Alexandra Matte-Landry and Delphine Collin-Vézina, "Restraint, seclusion and time-out among children and youth in group homes and residential treatment centers: a latent profile analysis" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (Sep. 04, 2020).
According to one expert, Dr. Irvin, the use of seclusion and restraints is on the rise, even though therapeutic benefits have not been shown and there are risks associated with these interventions.
A literature review by Dr. Irvin on the use of restraints and seclusion among children and adolescents showed that risks include trauma, physical injuries, and death. Children may perceive these interventions as punishment, coercive, and causing distress. This is especially the case if the restraint is painful or if they do not understand the reason for the restraint or seclusion.
Instead, youth may respond better to the standard "de-escalation" strategy with anger. They reported feeling better if they could talk to someone about the situation while playing a game. If they could not de-escalate and were subjected to restraint or seclusion, youth "reported experiencing less distress if staff explained what was happening clearly before, during, and after the event." Lauren Irvin, DO "Behavioral Restraints and Isolation: The Child Experience" brownpedsresidency.org.
It is important for organizations that serve children and other safe adults to understand the risks associated with the use of seclusion and restraints with children and to access experts to explore what options may be more effective in keeping youth safe.
