1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Ohio must take immediate action to hold youth residential treatment facilities and staff accountable for persistent abuse and neglect. Disability Rights Ohio's report, "Patterns Persist," documents findings from 75 facility visits since 2020: systemic abuse, unapproved and painful restraints, chemical restraint, staff intimidation, and re-traumatizing conditions. As DRO President and CEO Kerstin Sjoberg stated, "problems in these facilities are not rare or one-offs." The tools to fix this already exist — use them. State licensing agencies must enforce accountability, revoke licenses when facilities fail, and rapidly relocate children out of harmful settings. Ohio should establish an abuser registry that bars individuals with substantiated abuse or neglect findings from working in any facility until a State Director removes them. Families whose children were harmed deserve compensation. These are not extraordinary demands. They are the minimum owed to children the state placed in these facilities.