NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) – Children in state custody spend months in Tennessee hospitals because the Department of Children’s Services has nowhere else to house them.
Children have passed medical clearance but occupy hospital beds that could be used by others, especially during times of increased demand.
One child spent more than 9 months (276 days) at Children’s Hospital when he should have been discharged.
Some hospital officials told News Channel 5 Investigates They are becoming a dumping ground for children that DCS cannot place.
The Children’s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee (CHAT), which represents children’s hospitals across the state, said in a statement that these children are “hundreds of days away from requiring hospitalization.”
TennCare covers the cost of hospital care for children in DCS custody but would not disclose how much taxpayers spend on extended stays.
The Department of Children’s Services said the children are difficult to place in foster care and because of their fragile medical conditions, they cannot live in DCS buildings like some other children.
It usually starts in the pediatric emergency room.
A DCS caseworker brings a child to the hospital with a genuine medical problem.
Often, children have just been removed from abusive or neglectful homes.
But once the hospital said the child could go, DCS said they had no place for the child to go.
State Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Nashville Democrat, was troubled by the details we showed her.
“Our state is failing. I think we’re failing these kids and, frankly, we’re failing DCS,” Campbell said.
For example, a 10-year-old child with muscular dystrophy was hospitalized for 103 days at Children’s Hospital of East Tennessee in Knoxville.
DCS was unable to find a placement for the child after his mother died of COVID-19 and his father was unable to care for him.
Another 10-year-old child with severe autism stayed in the same hospital for 51 days.
He ended up being sent to an out-of-state facility because DCS had no room for him.
An insulin-dependent diabetic patient was hospitalized for several days because hospital records indicated that “DCS would not take (the child) to the office due to the need for insulin injections.”
“Choosing between an office floor and a hospital is not a rational choice,” said Senator Campbell.
DCS keeps a child with a mental health diagnosis at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for 270 days.
The child lived in one room from May 2021 to February 2022.
The agency kept another child at a Johnson City hospital for 243 days, long after the child was supposed to be discharged.
DCS Commissioner Margie Quin, who took over the agency in September, told Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee during a budget hearing that the agency has been receiving calls from hospitals. Worry about children being hospitalized for long periods of time.
“These young guys are hard to locate,” Quinn said.
“They were in the hospital for 100 days and were not seriously ill, but they couldn’t be in the office and they weren’t suitable for transitional housing,” Quinn told the governor.
DCS lacks foster homes and is forced to have some children sleep in office buildings.
A DCS attorney said, “Children in wheelchairs are also difficult to accommodate. The most difficult situations are those who have both medical and behavioral/mental health needs.”
Commissioner Quinn requested more than $8.7 million to fund “assessment treatment homes” across the state, which would house children who are medically difficult to place.
“They do need specialized care, but we don’t have a plan for them,” Commissioner Quinn said during the budget hearing.
Senator Campbell can’t believe the state often has to choose between office floors and hospital rooms.
“Let’s be responsible and give DCS the money we need to care for our children,” Campbell said.
“Our state has larger reserves now than we have in decades, and there is absolutely no reason why we can’t make sure the most vulnerable are taken care of,” Campbell said.
Lee said at the budget hearing that he was willing to fund DCS’s request for more money.
But even if the budget request is approved, help will still be months away — raising questions about what can be done now.
“These are issues that we absolutely should be able to deal with at the Department of Children’s Services without having to send the child to the hospital,” Senator Campbell said.
Here is the full statement from Children’s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee (CHAT):
“Children’s hospitals serve as a safety net for the physical, mental, and mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. For about a decade, the number of adolescents receiving primary education mental health diagnoses in children’s hospitals in Tennessee and across the country has increased significantly because of a lack of readily available services and the systems in place for the delivery of these services. dispersion.
Another group of children admitted to the state’s children’s hospitals are those in DCS custody. These adolescents are often brought to pediatric emergency rooms due to genuine medical or behavioral needs. However, when they are ready for discharge, the DCS team is faced with the challenge of finding suitable placement options, thereby delaying discharge. When these children remain in the hospital, it takes away resources that could be used by other children. Lengths of stay across the state ranged from days to months, with one children’s hospital reporting a longest stay of 276 days.
Collectively, these patients have hundreds of days remaining without requiring hospitalization. DCS frequently cited limited to no placement options and insufficient resources to adequately staff and support the care of these children. New DCS Commissioner Margie Quin recently acknowledged the problem of long-term hospitalization for some children and outlined a plan to address it through important measures including increased funding, increased training and increased support for caseworkers and other issues facing DCS.
“The Tennessee Children’s Hospital Alliance applauds the staff of the Department of Children’s Services for their efforts to address the challenges of finding foster homes for children who are medically fragile or medically ill,” said Mary Nell Bryan, president of the Tennessee Children’s Hospital Alliance. Chronic conditions, such as diabetes. Sometimes there are not enough suitable places to make such transfers quickly. We thank Commissioner Quinn for requesting more funding and for outlining a plan that includes increased training and support for caseworkers. or other DCS Just like those who work in hospitals, the work can be challenging, but it is also extremely rewarding. We urge families to consider adopting children who are frail or have chronic conditions such as diabetes. ”
