House Proceeding on Feb 23rd, 2009 :: 2:17:25 to 2:22:25
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2:17:11 to 2:17:32( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: be postponed. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from new york. for what purpose do you rise? mrs. mccarthy: i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 911. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 911, a bill to require certain standards and enforcement provisions to prevent child abuse and neglect

2:17:25 to 2:22:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Carolyn McCarthy

2:17:33 to 2:17:54( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: in residential programs, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. mccarthy, the gentlen from california, mr. mckeon, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. mccarthy: mr. speaker, i request five legislative days during which members may insert

2:17:55 to 2:18:15( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: extraneous material on h.r. 911 into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. mccarthy: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. mccarthy: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 911, the stop child abuse and residential programs for teens act of 2009. i want to thank chairman miller and the committee staff for working wi me on this

2:18:16 to 2:18:36( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: important legislation. and for mr. miller's personal leadership on this over the years. i would also like to thank mr. platts and mr. mckeon for the work they have done on this important issue. over the years far too many children have been abused in residential treatment facilities that will were billed as places

2:18:37 to 2:18:57( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: where parents could send their kids to help overcome behavioral problems. in many cases children have died in the cares of these facilities. when we started working on this issue two years ago in committee i became outraged over the testimony we heard. in fact, the government accountable office repordly und thousands of cases of abuse and neglect at residential

2:18:58 to 2:19:19( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: programs for teens. in the education and labor committee we heard gruesome accounts of abuse that occurred in residential treatment facilities. these facilities often used highly deceptive marketing practices to bill themselves as safe and effective places for troubled teenagers, to get the help they need so they could get on with their life. brochures will claim, for

2:19:20 to 2:19:40( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: example, that counselors are highly trained, survival experts. but as we heard from the g.a.o., these so-called highly trained survival experts did not recognize the signs dehydration in a 15-year-old girl when she began complaining of blurred vision, stumble, and vomiting three days

2:19:41 to 2:20:02( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: after the fifth day she died. and she laid there dead in the road for almost 18 hours because the survival experts were not equipped with a radio. in other examples we heard of abuse that is included staff members forcing children to remain in so-called stres positions for hours at a time and to undergo extreme physical

2:20:03 to 2:20:25( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: exertion without food, water, or rest. we even heard of children -- a child that died as a result of being denied medically prescribed medications that could have saved their lives. parents are sold a bill of goods about these facilities are enticed by advertising schemes, portraying these programs as highly qualified environments for their children.

2:20:26 to 2:20:48( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: i want to say also there are many good places that children go to, but these are the one that is obviously need to be regulated. when parents send eir children to these facilities, they are often at the end of their ropes and see few if anylternatives. we heard testimony from parents of children who died while in the care of residential treatment facilities. these parents thought they were

2:20:49 to 2:21:09( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: doing the right thing by sending their children. they did research on where to send their children. unfortunately the information they were provided with was misleading. the g.a.o.'s investigate work has shown that a number of programs were deceptive marketing practices to appeal to parents if even uncovered deception, fraud, and conflict of interest.

2:21:10 to 2:21:31( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: scruppings and deception have been the hallmark of many aspects of the system surrounding residential treatment centers. in fact, i recently relayed what we discussed that two judges were charged after it was found they sent their children to facilities in which they themselves had financial interests. this is the height of corruption

2:21:32 to 2:21:52( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: andists impact is felt by the most vulnerable among us, children in trouble. this bill would create necessary national standards on some very basic human rights. for example, we say that child abuse and neglect is prohibited. this should be common sense. we say that acts which humiliate a child are prohibited. this should be common sense.

2:21:53 to 2:22:13( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: we say staff must not deny children food and water. this should be common sense. another important provision is geared to help parents find good residential treatment facilities. we create a national website which will contain data on residential facilities and require programs to include information on the website in their materials.

2:22:14 to 2:22:26( Edit History Discussion )

Carolyn McCarthy: finally we'll give money to the states to help them create their own licensing procedures and a public database on programs. this legislation is desperately needed to prevent any more children from dying unnecessarily.