ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A major U.S. Department of Justice investigation has concluded that children in Alaska with mental health issues are “forced to endure unnecessary and unduly long” institutionalization in locked psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment facilities because no alternatives exist.
The state of Alaska is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide alternatives that would allow kids to stay in their homes and communities, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division found in a report released Friday.
Alaska kids are regularly sent for six months or more to hospitals like North Star hospital in Anchorage or facilities as far away as Texas and Missouri for lack of other options in their home communities, the department concluded.
“Each year, hundreds of children, including Alaska Native children in significant number, are isolated in institutional settings often far from their communities,” said Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Most of these children could remain in family homes if provided appropriate community-based services.”
The Justice Department said it would “work with Alaska to bring the state into compliance with federal law.”
The department began investigating Alaska’s behavioral health system in 2021. Similar federal civil rights investigations in states such as West Virginia have led to reforms aimed at improving mental health offerings for children.
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