Texas. Daystar Residential Center On the Restraint Hot Seat Again

The type of restraint used at this facility has not yet been released. However the last time Daystar got into a jam it was using the basket hold in the prone position. Even the Feds had the wherewithall to recognize that the basket hold in the prone position is a bad idea.

The GAO in its 1999 Report on Restraint Use in MH Facilities called the prone basket hold the prone wrap. The GAO probably named it this because that’s what NY was calling the restraint under NYS Office of Mental Hygiene. However to most people familiar with common restraint techniques, the technique GAO refers to as the “prone wrap” is the basket hold gone prone.

 

Putting a client in a basket hold and restraining them face down is a bad idea. As we have been saying, all prone restraints are not equal. Some can be used safely, others are simply not safe. The basket hold in the prone position is an example of a face down restraint that should be avoided at all costs.

 

The way the basket hold works is that a clients arms are criss crossed over their upper body, chest, torso, abdomen. Staff is positioned behind the client and grasps the client’s wrists. Some agencies like the basket hold because it contains the clients hands so they cannot pinch or grab. The problem with the basket hold is that it is not very stable because the staff’s connection is at an arms length holding the client’s wrists. This gives a lot of leeway to the client to struggle and fight against the restraint. As a result of this dynamic, the basket hold often destabilizes sideways. Now you have staff and the client on the floor on their sides, not very stable, not very comfortable and if the client continues to struggle the staff is going to want to get into a dominant (top) position. When this happens you have a client whose arms are now a criss crossed lever across their abdomen. You don’t even need the weight of the staff person to make this a very dangerous situation.

 

Moral of the story is, if you are going to use the basket hold make sure staff knows that they have to transition into a different restraint or release the restraint completely if the basket hold destabilizes and goes prone.

 

And Now for the Story:

Brazoria County authorities and state child welfare officials Monday were investigating the death of a 16-year-old boy at a residential treatment center that’s been under state scrutiny because of allegations of abuse.

Emergency medical technicians were summoned Friday evening to the Daystar Facility in Manvel, about 25 miles south of Houston, where CPR already had been started on the boy. He then was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department said.

In a brief statement issued Monday, the department said a preliminary investigation showed “restraint techniques were used to subdue the child.”

The nature of the techniques was not detailed but the preliminary cause of death “is thought to be asphyxiation,” the department said. The Harris County Medical Examiner’s office will provide a more specific cause later, the sheriff’s department said.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services assigned a state monitor to Daystar and refused to send foster children there after reports surfaced in June that some developmentally disabled girls at the center in 2008 were provoked into fighting to win after-school snacks. The fight, in April 2008, resulted in the firing of a supervisor and at least one other worker.

The boy who died was from Howard County in West Texas, was in the conservatorship of Child Protective Services and had been in state custody since June 4, 2008, agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said Monday.

The death came a few days after the Department of Family and Protective Services informed Daystar management Nov. 1 its facility would be placed on probation because of “persistent concerns about the facility and the children in its care,” Crimmins said.

Since June 11, the department has withheld placing foster children at Daystar. A special monitor was hired to work at the facility from June 21 until Sept. 30.

“We are going to do everything we can to find out exactly what happened, and if this death was, in any way, preventable,” Anne Heiligenstein, the agency’s commissioner, said. “We also are disappointed to be looking, yet again, at Daystar.

“We are going to ensure that this facility improves, quickly. Or, we are going to close it.”

In a Nov. 5 letter to Daystar outlining the probation, Heiligenstein said Daystar “has a history of being placed on corrective action and then declining after it is lifted.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7285523.html

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One Response to Texas. Daystar Residential Center On the Restraint Hot Seat Again

  1. inez garcia says:

    This place is a prison for children, my son was dumped there by a cps worker because i was bullied by a judge who said my 6 year old needed long term care. Durring his 2 year stay at daystar he was beaten, forced to eat rancid food, starved when he misbehaved, forced to fight with other residents, locked in rooms for hours at a time, thrown in cold showers, forced to watch porn and horror movies and the list goes on. We reported all these things to cps, when we started visiting him which was twice a month because we lived in sa, we started strippin him down and taking pictures of all his bruises, and there were numerous on every visit, we gave the pics to the cps worker and called licencing a number of times nothing ever happened, month after month cps would refuse to let us have custody and they use the excuse he wasnt progressing, well hell he was being abused by these animals, of course he hadent gotten better. on top of everything else the doctor daystar uses had him on 13 antipsychotic meds, he was taking almost 1000 mg of seroquel alone. looking back im sure it was all about money, make these kids look crazy they stay longer and get alot of money im sure the doc got plenty of kick backs for his role. anyway after two years of fighting, the judge finally said we could bring him home for spring break. the day we were supposed to pick him up we called daystar and they told us they would not be releasing him so off to court we went again. the judge had a second order written out stating any person who interfered with his order would be jailed. when we got him home he said he didnt feel well so we told him to take a warm shower. after about 30 min he still hadnt finished i went in to check on him when i pulled the shower curtin back, my baby was laying in the floor curled up in the fetal position his naked body covered in bruises,, there was not one place on his body that was a normal skin color. I immediately called our attorney who advised us to take him to the hospital and sapd. at the hospital he told the doctor that shawna grabbed his finger and pulled it backwards and the more he fought the harder she pulled until he heard it snap when she let go he started fighting back and tim (these are their real names mind you ) beat him unconsious and threw him into a bathroom. when he came to he could hear a man arguing with tim about the incident and it was that man who unlocked the door and helped my son out. the doc checked the finger which had not been doctored and it was indeed broken. our lawyer told us not to take my child back to court the mon after spring break and to meet her at the court with all the documents. when we got to court i presented the judge with the crime scene photos from sapd and the doumentation from the doctor. the judge ordered he stay in our custody and that all partys notify licencing. my sons recovery has been difficult, for the first 6 months he was home we would wake up to find him sleeping under his bed, when we finally got him onto the bed he slept in the fetal position for years. he had to be weened off 13 medications and he has been in therepy for years not even for the autism just for the violent abuse he suffered at the hands of these monsters. it took everything i had in me not to go up there with a gun and start shooting people. I just prayed every night for selfcontrol, strength and mostly my boy. and i focused all my attention on getting him well. here we are 7 years later and hes the most amazing kid in the world, loving and trusting. we talk about the things that went on there sometimes and he asks how ppl can do those things and i just tell him that we love him, hes safe and that god will handle those ppl as he sees fit even the ones who helped him after the beatings but never spoke up. to the discusting animal who runs these places, shame on you, you are an animal too and your gonna get yours 10 fold! and for other parents please dont take your kids to these places they may not come out alive.

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