Bermudian children in care were sent to an institution in Virginia after a high-profile congressional report highlighted incidents there of staff dragging, throwing and hitting residents, and multiple instances of youth-on-youth harm.

The same report concluded that sending youngsters to residential treatment facilities (RTFs) far from home — as the Bermuda Government has done for decades, at a cost to taxpayers of many millions of dollars — could expose them to abuse and harm, and merely remedied “society’s disinterest in addressing their needs”.

Children from Bermuda went to Harbour Point Behavioural Health Centre in Virginia last year, after the facility was scrutinised as part of a “sweeping inquiry” announced by the United States Senate Committee on Finance in July 2022, and after its failings featured in the committee’s June 2024 report, Warehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities.

The Government of Bermuda admitted this week it was unaware of the inquiry but said its child protection agency only used Harbour Point for “assessment purposes” and had “never used this programme as a residential treatment placement”.

The US Senate report noted that the Virginia Department of Behavioural Health and Developmental Services received allegations of two incidents of physical abuse that involved dragging or throwing of children at Harbour Point.

Staff there were also found by the department to have failed to properly de-escalate situations, with video evidence of one staff member hitting a child.

In another Harbour Point case, an internal investigation found a worker hit a child “across the chest” after the child spat in their face.

The report referred to a “substantiated incident of verbal abuse at Harbour Point” in which a child relayed that a worker said “by the end of the night, he was going to punch me in my face”.

In a separate incident, a staff member allegedly said to a child: “I will slap the sh*t out of you, I don’t care. I will slap the sh*t out of you if you keep trying to bite me.”

Documents reviewed by the Senate committee included a parent’s report that their daughter was assaulted by multiple children “multiple times” while at Harbour Point, leading them to withdraw her from care.

The report cited a corrective action plan dated March 2021 from Virginian authorities for Harbour Point.

The two-year-long inquiry by senators looked into four major providers of RTFs in the US: Universal Health Services — the owner of Harbour Point, Acadia Healthcare, Devereux Advanced Behavioural Health and Vivant Behavioural Healthcare.

They found that RTFs “employ a model that has the potential to expose all children in their custody to harm arising from risk of abuse (physical, sexual, harmful use of restraint and seclusion), inadequate behavioural health treatment and non-homelike facility conditions”.

The Royal Gazette reported in January 2024 that Bermudian children had, since 2021, attended Devereux in Florida, as well as Harbour Point, as part of what was then called the “psychoeducational programme” of the Department of Child and Family Services.

A recent public access to information disclosure from the DCFS showed Devereux housed children from the island as recently as 2024.

The Senate report said public reporting of Devereux facilities in Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania included an investigation detailing more than 40 instances of rape and sexual assault over a 25-year period.

It concluded: “The warehousing of these children in RTFs only remedies society’s disinterest in addressing their needs.

“By removing those who are inconvenient from sight, people divest themselves of the responsibility to help them.”

Leaders from Devereux gave evidence to the committee, telling senators they did not believe RTFs were a “natural environment to receive care”.

The committee wrote: “By removing children with needs to live in RTFs, their needs are not addressed.

“Children are suffering as a result. Their lives are ending before they even begin — systematically, by design.

“It is imperative to imagine, and help create, a real world with a place for these children, with the support they need, alongside their communities.”

The Ministry of Youth, Social Development and Seniors said in a statement that the DCFS was not “specifically aware” of the US Senate inquiry involving Devereux and Harbour Point.

“At the time, these were two services used for treatment programmes in the United States,” it said.

“Based on the [July 2024] published date of the Senate report provided, one overseas therapeutic programme child from Bermuda was enrolled in one of the programmes [at Devereux Viera].”

The statement said Harbour Point was used by the DCFS for “assessment purposes”.

It added: “The department has never used this programme as a residential treatment placement.

“Children were referred after the corrective action dates reported in the report provided.

“The department completed standard vetting and assessment procedures before the initial placement.

“This included consultation with the child's assessment team and monitoring throughout the child’s assessment.

“None of the concerns identified in the published report was observed during inspections or visits.”

The Gazette contacted Harbour Point and Devereux, but did not receive responses by the time of publication.

• If you were sent to a residential treatment facility by the Department of Child and Family Services as a youth and want to share you story, please e-mail sstrangeways@royalgazette.com

• To read the US Senate report, see Related Media

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