HOUSTON (AP) - Many Texas treatment centers for children in foster care are failing to consistently document the use of restraints, a lack of reporting that the state foster care agency says is "unacceptable."
An investigation by the Houston Chronicle published Friday says the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services requires residential treatment centers to document each time restraints are used to subdue troubled and abused children.
But 54 of the 79 treatment centers, home to thousands of mentally and physically challenged children, have offered only partial information. And 17 of those centers have failed to submit any documentation at all.
The revelations come a month after a 16-year-old boy died at a Brazoria County center after being restrained by staff.
Agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said the lack of reporting was "unacceptable."
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