Two reported sexual assaults at state-contracted group homes spur concerns over supervision

A boy who was sexually assaulted in a state-contracted group home in June was forced to sit in a plastic folding chair, isolated from other youth for several hours each day, according to his mother.

Speck Homes for Boys’ contract with the state of Oklahoma requires “24-hour awake intensive supervision” of the minors in its care. But the assault was captured on surveillance video in the home’s dining room just before noon on June 29 as staff and other youth bustled through the house.

The 14-year-old boy’s mom, Susan, told The Frontier that staff at Speck Homes for Boys regularly isolated her son, who has autism, to the dining room. The Frontier is using Susan’s first name only and a pseudonym — Eric — for her son to protect his identity.

Since June, two sexual assaults, including Eric’s, have been reported in the homes — one at each of the organization’s two Oklahoma City locations.

Read more: https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/two-reported-sexual-assaults-at-state-contracted-group-homes-spur-concerns-over-supervision/