'Traumatized group': Children spent a combined 1,134 nights in DCS offices in five months

Children in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services have spent more than 1,100 nights in department offices over the last five months, according to data obtained by The Tennessean. 

The numbers show the department’s struggle to find immediate placements for children after it takes them into custody, which it does typically because of threats to the child’s well-being, or moves them between placements. When there is nowhere to place children, due to a lack of foster parents or a dearth of beds in appropriate facilities, DCS sometimes houses children in its offices until other arrangements can be made.

The Tennessean obtained data through a public records request. It showed that children spent 1,134 total days across the department's 106 offices between late April and the end of September. 

Each night represents a night one child slept in the office. So if two children spent one night together in an office, that would appear as two nights in the data, as would a single child spending two nights in an office.

It’s unclear how many children spent nights in offices during that period. DCS data does not differentiate between children who spent time in offices and those who spent time in other short-term transitional housing, as some kids spend time in both. But 605 kids spent a total of 2,195 nights in either DCS offices or transitional housing between late April and September 30, according to DCS data.   

That time covers 162 days, meaning that on average there were about seven kids sleeping in offices across the state every night.

Putting children overnight in offices is a last resort that Tennessee and other states have used in recent years, even before the pandemic. Placing kids in offices can harm kids who have already experienced whatever caused them to be removed from their homes, as well as the trauma of the removal itself, experts said. 

“Nobody thinks that keeping children in an office or hotel or even in a church or a temporary shelter is a good idea,” said Daryl Chansuthus, director of the University of Tennessee’s Social Work Office of Research and Public Service. “You want to move them into a home, but if you’re not even in a family home where there are people who can comfort you, it's even more traumatizing.”

DCS did not answer a series of questions about the data The Tennessean submitted last week. The department released the data more than two months after it was originally requested. 

New commissioner vows to dig for answers

The data comes as new DCS commissioner Margie Quin told a panel of state lawmakers earlier this month that she was “digging” to try and find answers to why the state could not find placements for children in its custody. 

“My employees are being traumatized because they're sitting in offices with real high-needs children, in some cases very angry, very combative, very violent children,” Quin said. “I've got a traumatized workforce, a traumatized group of kids, and we need to expedite the answers to these questions as quickly as we can.”

Office placements can produce dangerous situations. DCS investigators determined a 17-year-old sexually assaulted a 12-year-old while spending the night at DCS offices in Nashville, according to an April NewsChannel 5 investigation which also determined more than 40 children had run away from the facility over the previous year. 

Quin’s comments followed a warning from Knoxville Juvenile Judge Tim Irwin, who told a panel of lawmakers last month that DCS was “near collapse” because of a lack of employees. Irwin implored lawmakers to “throw money” at the problem.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, went even further Tuesday, saying DCS workers had told her “the collapse is happening.” Johnson joined state Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, at a news conference to call attention to the burden placed on DCS workers, who are required to sit with children while they stay overnight in DCS offices. 

“Workers say there are no beds, no showers, and no supplies, except for what they buy with their own money,” Johnson said.

In Davidson County, 52 of 63 child protective services employee positions are vacant, and 45 out of 50 foster care employees are vacant, Campbell said, adding that foster care staff were the ones who “find homes for vulnerable kids.” 

“We have billions of dollars hoarded in reserves,” Campbell said. “We could solve this problem tomorrow by making Tennessee a state that invests in vulnerable kids and invests in the workers who are protecting them.” 

Lack of placements not unique to Tennessee

Experts said the lack of placements was not new and not unique to Tennessee. Legal challenges have forced states to end the practice of using offices, hotels, and even cars to house children while they await placements.

In 2018, Oregon settled a class-action lawsuit over the use of hotel rooms to house children, agreeing to limit the practice. That same year, foster children represented by the National Center for Youth Law filed a federal lawsuit in Kansas over the use of offices and hotels for short-term placements, housing disruption, and inadequate mental health care. In Texas last year, a judge sanctioned the state’s department of Family and Protective Services for violating a 2007 order that barred the overnight placement of foster children at offices. And this summer Washington state committed to implementing a new foster family network and a new class of “therapeutic” foster parent certifications as part of a legal settlement of a class-action lawsuit over kids staying in hotels and offices. 

While states have been struggling with the issue for years, it appears to have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The pandemic produced more traumatized kids while reducing the number of available foster families and open beds, as well as the number of workers to help address the problem, experts said.

In Tennessee, kids coming into the system seem to need more and more help at exactly the time there are fewer people and facilities to provide it, said Ronda Paulson, founder of Isaiah 117 House, a nonprofit that runs houses in Tennessee and nearby states where kids can be placed upon entering state custody. 

“These kids need a bed to get serious treatment and help, and those beds don’t exist,” Paulson said. 

When Paulson’s organization opened its first Tennessee location in 2018, it was not allowed to house a child for more than eight hours, Paulson said. But because of the pandemic and growing need, the state now allows them to keep children up to five days until they can find a more permanent placement, she said. 

“It’s overwhelming,” Paulson said. “We need to open up places that have what these children need.”

DCS provided data on children in temporary placements for all of 2022, but the data did not break out the children staying in offices by region until April 21. Before that, all temporary placements were lumped together. DCS did not answer a question about the change.

The data includes children the department placed in offices or other temporary situations after it removed them from unsafe homes. It also includes kids the department put in offices or temporary placements because parents or providers were no longer able or willing to care for them.

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Finally, children could also be included in the data if they came into DCS custody through the juvenile justice system, but the numbers do not differentiate between those three categories. However, only about 7 percent of the roughly 9,000 kids in DCS custody are there because of criminal justice issues, according to DCS.

What the data does make clear, however, is that some of the 12 DCS regions utilize their offices to house kids at higher rates than others. 

For example, the Mid-Cumberland region consists of the circle of counties surrounding Davidson County. It includes Montgomery, Robertson, Sumner, Trousdale, Wilson, Rutherford, Cheatham, and Williamson counties, several of which are among the wealthiest in the state. 

That region is the most populous of DCS’ 12 regions and represents about 18 percent of the Tennessee population. But that region accounted for 454 of the nights spent in DCS offices between late April and October, or about 40 percent of the total. 

The DCS region with the next highest population, Shelby County, had just 66 days. Davidson County, the third most populated DCS region, had just 10. 

Mid-Cumberland regional administrator Lisa Brookover directed questions to DCS spokesperson Sandra Brandon, who did not answer a question about Mid-Cumberland’s outsized representation in the overnight data. As of Monday, Brandon no longer works for the department, a DCS lawyer said.

Davidson County Juvenile Judge Sheila Calloway was surprised by the discrepancy. 

“I was not aware of that sharp of a distinction between regions,” Calloway said. “I thought it was pretty much the same all around.”

Davidson County had the smallest amount of nights spent in offices of any region, despite having the third largest population. That is likely partly due to Nashville’s population density and many social service organizations. 

But it may be partly attributable to the pressure Calloway has put on DCS in her jurisdiction. Calloway is one of the few – perhaps only –  juvenile court judges in the state that requires DCS to send her a daily list of children awaiting placements in her county, including children sleeping in DCS offices. On Tuesday, her list showed 41 kids awaiting placement, with three awaiting placement in DCS offices, she said. 

She also meets with DCS representatives every Wednesday to go over the list. 

“I think maybe the fact that we’re constantly reviewing the numbers might make a difference,” Calloway said. 

Have you or someone you know been involved with the Department of Children's Services, either as a parent, child, employee or contractor? If so, The Tennessean is interested in learning more about your experience. If you'd like to share please either email investigative reporter Josh Keefe at jkeefe@tennessean.com or call or text him at 207-356-7660.