Treatment Center Investigated For Childrens' Deaths
Two Girls Die At Same Facility
POSTED: 8:55 a.m. CST March 29, 2002
UPDATED: 9:04 a.m. CST March 29, 2002
HOUSTON -- Investigators want to know if two children were killed while in the care of a local treatment center, according to an exclusive report by the News2Houston Investigators.
They want to know if the staff went too far when restraining children.
Harris County Children's Protective Services places its most difficult children in a large care home in Brazoria County. State records show it has a
$1 million contract. But that home is facing a criminal investigation now that two children have died after being restrained by the staff.
"We're going to look at everything -- look at procedures utilized at the facility because this should not have happened a second time," said Jerri Yenne, the Brazoria County District Attorney.
Daystar Residential Treatment Centers are tucked in a rural area near Manvel, Texas.
Other than basketball hoops and a misplaced ball, it's hard to tell the business houses children for agencies in Texas and other states.
Sheriff's detectives are now looking into the death of Latasha Bush, 15, of Austin. She died after deputies said staff physically restrained her.
News2Houston's investigation found another teenage girl died under the same circumstances exactly one year before that.
Stephanie Duffield was placed in the home by a California mental health agency.
"Now there's a recurrence. Concern needs to be given for the type of restraint techniques that are being utilized," Yenni said.
News2Houston obtained the autopsy report for the first child. The medical examiner said Duffield was a case of "sudden cardiac death following hyperactivity and physical exertion during restraint." Her death was ruled an accident.
The district attorney is now reopening that investigation. But that autopsy caused CPS to close its case last year, and children are still being sent there as the agency waits for the autopsy on Bush.
"We've never felt that these children were in danger, even with the death last year," said Estella Olguin with Children's Protective Services.
Olguin said three staffers who restrained the latest children have been suspended, awaiting the outcome of the investigation.
All staffers are required to be certified on methods of restraining mentally ill children.
"They have annual training and they're tested to make sure they know when to use it and how to use it properly," Olguin said.
Daystar was licensed in 1995, with a capacity of 156 children, from 3 to 17 years old. They're divided up among all the buildings.
The district attorney said a grand jury in Angleton, Texas could get this case in a month, but she won't say where it's individual workers, or the company itself that could face criminal charges.
"The concern exists that there are now two restraint-related deaths from this facility," Yenne said.
Daystar is one of two centers in Texas that handles the most dangerous classification of mentally ill children.
They provide 24-hour care, sometimes on a one-to-one basis for the children.
Some homes are inspected every three years, but the state said that Daystar was inspected every six months because of the trouble associated with severe mental illness.
State officials said they never found any major problems there.
