N.C. shut down a group home last year. The US just gave it a contract to house migrant children

The U.S. government plans to send immigrant children to shelters run by a group home recently shut down by North Carolina, a building contractor with no experience in residential care and a Texas children’s shelter with a track record of state violations, a Reveal and WRAL News investigation has found.

New Horizon Group Home had its license revoked by North Carolina in July 2018, five months after the facility admitted its first resident. Yet in April, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the federal agency that oversees the care of unaccompanied children, awarded New Horizon a $4 million grant.

When it opened, New Horizon cared for children ages 9 to 16. But state regulators soon found that conditions at the group home “present an imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the clients and that emergency action is required.” The state cited New Horizon for a series of violations, including underqualified staff, inadequate staffing levels and use of an unapproved “timeout” room as punishment. One child told inspectors that an employee slapped and choked him. A 9-year-old boy said he found a blade inside the home and cut himself.

Under state law, the firm cannot receive any new license from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services until 2023. New Horizon is challenging the state’s decision, saying the state audit was inaccurate. It also has applied for a new license. However, if the decision is upheld, New Horizon will have received some federal grant money despite being prohibited from housing children for the next four years.

Read more: https://www.revealnews.org/article/nc-shut-down-a-group-home-last-year-the-us-just-gave-it-a-contract-to-house-migrant-children/