Disability Rights Arkansas

United Methodist Children's Home Dacus / United Methodist Children's Home (Bono)

*Photos taken by DRA staff during onsite monitoring visits. Photos reflect the most recent conditions observed by DRA staff but may not reflect the current conditions at the facility. If you are associated with a facility and have updated information or photos you would like to share, please contact DRA at rstanford@disabilityrightsar.org

Location: Bono, Arkansas

Population Served: Children and adolescents in need of out of home psychiatric care in a residential setting

# of residents per unit: 25 Residents per room: 3-4 Capacity: 25

Contact with family (Calls and visit schedule): Clients have regularly scheduled phone call opportunities. The number of actual calls depends on the clients wish to utilize these opportunities. In person visitation (assuming no quarantine precautions) is available every weekend and can be scheduled at other times as needed by the family or guardian.

Restraint utilized? Yes Chemical Restraint utilized? Yes Seclusion utilized? Yes

Treatment Components:

Clinical Director - In process of hiring.

Therapists: 2 full-time therapists (1 LCSW, 1 LPC)

Treatment modalities offered: Facility declined to identify any specific modalities available

# of individual therapy sessions/week: Minimum 1 per week scheduled. May vary upon the treatment plan of the client.

# of group therapy sessions led by a licensed mental health professional/week: minimum of 1 with 2 preferred.

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Police Report

Disorderly Conduct

Officer responded to facility for possible poisoning from a fire extinguisher that some juveniles opened and sprayed each other with. Upon arrival, facility nurse stated the kids were acting fine and their blood pressure was good. Nurse stated she needed dispatch to call Poison Control to see if there was anything she needed to do for the juveniles. Dispatch advised nurse would need to contact Poison Control.

Police Report

Disorderly Conduct

Officer dispatched for juvenile acting up and threatening to hit everyone. Upon arrival, the teacher stated he had spit on her and charged her with a stick. Officer spoke with juvenile who stated he wanted to kill himself and did not want to hurt anyone. Teacher advised officer they would evaluate him there at the facility. Juvenile calmed down.

PRLU or OLTC

Buildings and Grounds, Visit Compliance Report

  • Licensing Specialist: Chelsea Vardell.
  • Facility visited from 10:20am – 11:15am. Census: 14. MARs reviewed for 3 residents. Licensing Specialist viewed staff attempting to de-escalate a resident in which staff was responding appropriately to the resident in attempt to keep him and other resident’s safe.
  • Regs out of compliance –
    • R912.4 – Bathroom on the resident unit was visibly clogged with toilet paper. Maintenance was called to unclog the toilet on site. Corrected 5/17/22.
    • R911.15.d – Bedroom 119 was viewed to have a pair of shorts with strings still attached. Staff removed the clothing item on site. Corrected 5/17/22.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • ER Visit (Swallowed Foreign Object)
    • Client swallowed a Lego and was taken to the ER due to throat pain. No further details.

PRLU or OLTC

Non-Standard Review, Visit Compliance Report

  • Licensing Specialist: Chelsea Vardell.
  • No site visit conducted. Licensing received a late incident report notification on 5/3/22.
  • Regs not correctable –
    • R110.17 – The incident report was not sent to Licensing by the next business day following the event.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • ER Visit (Self-inflicted Injury)
    • Client was in a verbal altercation with a peer when he punched a door. Client was taken to ER for an x-ray due to his hand being red and painful. No further details.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • ER Visit (Peer Altercation)
    • Client was in an altercation with peer in which he injured his hand. Client was taken to ER for further evaluation. No further details.
    • Agency was cited for R110.17 due to reporting the incident 12 days after the event occurred.

Medicaid Inspection of Care

Inspection of Care Report

  • Included: IOC
  • No deficiencies noted.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • ER Visit (Accidental Injury)
    • Client was playing basketball when a peer threw him the ball and hit him in his genital area. Client was taken to ER for further evaluation. No further details.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • Arrest
    • Client became aggressive and assaulted staff. Police were called and client was arrested for assault.
    • Specialist followed up on 4/7 to determine whether client will return to facility or be discharged.

Police Report

Battery Third Degree

Two staff members stated juvenile had choked and punched them. Both staff had redness to face. The second staff member also said she had her head slammed into a metal door. Both refused EMS. Juvenile told officer he was “pissed over them talking about his brother” and said he did punch them. Juvenile was arrested and booked into Craighead County Juvenile Jail.

PRLU or OLTC

Background Check Review, Visit Compliance Report

  • Licensing Specialist: Chelsea Vardell.
  • Specialist completed a virtual review of background checks for staff. Agency will follow up with the Regulatory Check unit to resolve the pending status of 2 staff members.
  • Regs not correctable –
    • R103.8 – Staff member was hired on 11/1/21, but her maltreatment central registry check was not initiated until 11/16/21. Please ensure all required regulatory checks are initiated within ten days of hire.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • Elopement
    • Client eloped from facility by climbing fence while he was outside playing basketball. Local police were notified of elopement. No follow-up details.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

  • Census: 15. Buildings and grounds walkthrough conducted (gym not able to be viewed due to ice/snow accumulation blocking the entrance). MARs reviewed for 3 residents.
  • TA –
    • R910.1 – Please ensure ice/snow accumulation is removed on the walkway and in front of the gym door to ensure the safety of residents.

PRLU or OLTC

Children's Records Review, Visit Compliance Report

  • Specialist reviewed 5 children’s records.
  • TA –
    • R904.1.n – No nightly visual observations are documented in the chart for November – December 2021. Ensure these are uploaded in resident’s EMR.
    • R904.1.m – No daily behavioral observations are documented in the chart for November – December 2021. Ensure these are uploaded in resident’s EMR.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • Arrest
    • Client became aggressive/assaultive towards staff and wouldn’t respond to disengagement techniques. Police were called and the client was arrested.
    • Specialist followed up on 12/15; Staff confirmed that a review was conducted, and no issues were found. The client has been discharged from the facility.

Police Report

Battery Third Degree

Staff stated juvenile had been aggressive and twisted her arm and scratched it; When other staff members intervened, he acted like he would punch her. Officer was advised the jail was full and not accepting anymore prisoners. Staff stated she would like a report made.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • Maltreatment
    • Client was refusing to follow prompts from staff member while being escorted back to his room. Client reportedly fell backwards onto staff member and was caught under the arms by staff. Staff member then picked client up under his arms and transported him down the hallway.
    • Child Abuse Hotline was called and accepted. Staff placed on suspension pending the results of the investigation. Specialist emailed staff on 11/24/21: Staff confirmed the facility will update the ICA and ensure staff member has no direct or unsupervised contact with children until conclusion of investigation. Licensing Specialist visited facility and discussed the incident, reviewed camera footage, received nursing notes and written incident reports. Licensing was notified that staff member resigned from their position.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • ER Visit
    • Client was transported to ER after punching a dresser multiple times and a window. Client complained of pain in his right hand. No follow-up details.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • Maltreatment
    • Staff witnesses reported to management that staff member used excessive force on client as client was acting out aggressively.
    • Child Abuse Hotline was called and accepted. Staff was suspended pending the results of the investigation. Specialist emailed staff to confirm the report was accepted for investigation and received a confirmation number. Specialist visited facility on 11/19/21 and discussed the incident, reviewed camera footage, obtained nursing notes and witness statements previously written on the incident.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

  • Specialist discussed incident and reviewed video footage in which resident was assaulted by 2 peers. Footage shows ratio 6 residents/1 staff. Staff responded quickly and nurse assessed within 3 minutes of incident. Resident will move to a different bedroom (1 peer was his roommate) and will be on peer restriction to ensure his safety.
  • Specialist discussed another incident in which resident attempted to elope, threatened staff with screws, self-harmed with a pencil, then attempted to hang himself with socks tied together and onto a light fixture in his bedroom. Resident was placed on suicide precautions and assessed using the Columbia Suicide Severity rating scale. It is unknown where screws came from, but staff will continue to look into this.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • ER Visit
    • Client was assaulted by two peers while lying in his bed. Both punched resident multiple times in the face. After staff removed the peers and were transporting client to the nurse’s station, one of the peers punched client again in the face. Client was taken to ER.
    • Specialist visited facility to view video footage; Staff to resident ratio is 1:6.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • Suicide Attempt
    • Client attempted to elope from facility from an unlocked door when staff intervened. Client began threatening staff with screws that were then taken from the resident. Client then got a pencil from a peer and proceeded to self-harm with it until staff were able to obtain the pencil. Client then made a rope of socks and attempted to tie them to the light fixture and his neck; Staff intervened.
    • Client was assessed by a nurse using the Columbia Suicide Rating Scale and determined not to need acute placement. Staff was unaware of how the resident was able to access screws on the unit but will have staff look at the unit and attempt to have the resident disclose how he was able to find screws.

Police Report

Assault Second Degree

Officer was contacted by Dacus RTC on 11/11/21 in reference to an assault that had already occurred. Officer arrived on scene to collect witness statements and spoke to the victim. No other info.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident

  • X-ray (Peer Altercation)
    • Client was in an altercation with peer and injured his hand punching peer. Client received X-ray.
    • No follow-up details.