NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF-TV) — A new report reveals disturbing details about what is happening to children inside transitional homes in Tennessee.
The Department of Children's Services opened transitional homes about two years ago to keep kids from having to sleep in state office buildings.
Some of these transitional homes are run by the state, but others are operated by churches and other nonprofits.
They are designed to house kids that DCS cannot place immediately into foster homes.
The Second Look Commission (SLC) found a lack of supervision in transitional homes led to children running away and detailed at least one case in which a child fell victim to sex trafficking.
The Second Look Commission is an independent commission created by the state to review severe child sex abuse cases in Tennessee.
The report reviewed the latest data available from the state - July 2022 through June 2023.
The report found that "One child with a history of running and risky sexual behaviors was placed in a transition house, convinced another child to run away with him and then trafficked the child."
It found that "one child was in a transition home for more than 20 days, during this time the child's location was never documented."
And it found poor DCS documentation "made it nearly impossible to tell where children were each day."
Attorney Connie Reguli has been a vocal critic of DCS and says the report shows the Department's reliance on transitional homes does not work.
"It's like we don't have any place to put them so take them to the transition home," Reguli said.
"They didn't even document where some of these kids were. You couldn't go into DCS records and tell where that child even was," Reguli said.
The chair of the House subcommittee that heard the report, Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson, said she believed conditions inside state transition homes are getting better now.
"Transition homes, I think they were a problem at the beginning, but I do think that -- and some of this started at the first of the year, so a whole year project. I think we've come a long way with the transitional homes," Rep. Littleton said.
But Reguli said state officials often discount the most recent data available by saying it is outdated.
"That is the response every single time. They get a report, it's a year or so old, and they say, 'Oh, it's so much better now.'"
DCS responded to the report saying it is hiring "9 behavior specialists" to help supervise the youth.
It also said it is opening 96 beds on the Cloverbottom campus in Davidson County to help ease overcrowding at transitional homes.
"Well now we have another secure facility which is an uncategorized group, so who knows you may have a 9-year-old there and you may have a 15-year-old with risky behavior. This is not the way to do it," Reguli said.
She is worried the state is moving toward warehousing hard-to-place children.
DCS added in a statement:
"DCS is working with Youth Opportunity Investments (YOI) to open a 30-bed facility in Shelby County that will be used for the clinical assessment of youth with pre-adjudicated delinquent behavior, and youth with a history of violent and aggressive behavior. This facility will assist DCS staff in managing youth who exhibit challenging acute behaviors in transitional settings. In addition, YOI will begin operating a 24-bed facility in Gallatin that will exclusively house in-state youth. Both facilities will be operational later this month."
