About 100 violent incidents were documented between December 2010 and mid-June 2011, including physical attacks, uncontrolled threatening behavior and sexual assaults
CHICAGO, Sept. 28 (UPI) — A Chicago psychiatric hospital is under fire from child welfare experts who say the understaffed and overcrowded facility is a dangerous place for children.
A report released Tuesday by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services details violence and sexual assaults against young patients at Hartgrove Hospital on the city’s West Side, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s department of psychiatry, who conducted a six-month review of the 150-bed private psychiatric hospital, said children and teens at the hospital expressed fear for their safety, the newspaper said.
About 100 violent incidents were documented between December 2010 and mid-June 2011, including physical attacks, uncontrolled threatening behavior and sexual assaults.
DCFS stopped placing children in the facility in June after seeing a preliminary draft of the report.
“It’s our duty to ensure the safety of children in state care, and we will take whatever action is necessary to keep our kids safe,” DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe told the Tribune