An Opposition MP has called on the Government to explain how it was “unaware” of a high-profile congressional inquiry into institutions in the United States where it has sent vulnerable Bermudian children.

Robin Tucker said the director of the Department of Child and Family Services had a “duty to know” about the investigation and subsequent June 2024 report from the US Senate Committee on Finance, which highlighted serious failings in the so-called troubled teen industry, including at two facilities recently used by the island’s child protection agency.

The shadow minister for youth and family services also questioned why more had not been done to create a suitable facility in Bermuda for vulnerable youngsters in care who were in need of therapeutic services for mental health and behavioural needs.

“I've asked this question multiple times,” Ms Tucker told The Royal Gazette.

“When I was in the Senate I asked and I'm sure that I've asked that same question when we are in the House [of Assembly].

“Every time, the response I get is that ‘we don't have the services here, our children have complex needs and it will be too expensive, we don't have the volume’.”

Ms Tucker pointed out that many millions of tax dollars were spent on sending youngsters abroad, adding that there seemed to be no appetite in government for even exploring a dedicated local alternative.

She said “picking children up and plonking them into a whole new community, sending them away to people they don't know, places they don't know” was less than ideal, though she acknowledged not every experience was negative.

“But in circumstances where we can keep our Bermudian children at home, why wouldn't we do that?” the One Bermuda Alliance politician asked.

“Why wouldn't we turn every stone we possibly could to keep them home?”

The Gazette revealed last week that Bermudian children in care were sent to Harbour Point Behavioural Health Centre in Virginia last year, after the US Senate report highlighted incidents there of staff dragging, throwing and hitting residents, and multiple instances of youth-on-youth harm.

They were also sent in 2024 to Devereux Advanced Behavioural Health in Florida, another organisation probed by the Senate committee and criticised in its report.

The Ministry of Youth, Social Development and Seniors said last week that the DCFS was “not specifically aware” of the Senate probe.

Ms Tucker noted that the committee’s report was published after a two-year inquiry into “reports of abuse, violence and systemic failures” at US residential treatment facilities including Harbour Point and Devereux.

The inquiry was covered extensively by the mainstream and specialist US media, with more recent coverage focusing on lawsuits launched against several RTFs featured in the report.

“How is it that the Director of Child and Family Services, who has responsibility for sending children in his care to overseas residential treatment facilities, didn’t know about this critical report?” asked Ms Tucker.

“Given his responsibility to safeguard children in his care, doesn’t he have a duty to know?”

She said the director, Alfred Maybury, was supposed to conduct overseas visits every six months to ensure the safety and wellbeing of each child in care abroad.

“Do these visits regularly happen?” she asked.

“Prior reports indicate that the overseas facilities where our children are sent are vetted by the DCFS but, beyond a biannual check-in with the child, is a review of these facilities conducted after placement to ensure the child’s ongoing safety and wellbeing in these facilities remain?”

The Gazette’s reporting last week was informed by a public access to information disclosure from the DCFS showing where children were sent by the Family Court at the request of the department.

It included a facility vetting register which listed the dates of site visits and whether licences and accreditations were verified, as well as the date an approval decision about a facility was made.

There was also a link to a government page about psychoeducational services.

Site visits at Devereux and Harbour Point are listed in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Ms Tucker said the department should release more details about the frequency and extent of follow up visits.

She quoted the US Senate report, which said that in many cases a “child’s wellness is directly correlated with a connection to their community, whether this is faith-based, kin, parents/guardians or agencies and/or clinical staff, both inside and out of the RTF.”

Ms Tucker said: “It is time that Bermuda takes another look at increasing therapeutic services, providing additional programmes and support at home to reduce the number of children being sent overseas. Bermuda’s children deserve better.

“Our children deserve a child protection system that is proactive, informed and vigilant — not one that sends them overseas without independent advocacy, but with close monitoring, strong connection and support.

“The Opposition will continue to demand accountability, transparency and a child welfare system that places the safety and welfare of Bermudian children above all else.”

The Gazette has asked the youth ministry for a response.