United Methodist Children's Home Little Rock

Resident was not following instructions and pushed a staff member as she was walking out the door. The staff member backhanded the resident, hitting him in the face. Other staff members told the staff member to leave the room. The resident refused to be assessed by the nurse after the incident. When he was later assessed, he showed no markings or bruises. The staff member who struck the resident was suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Licensing Specialist: Kendra Rice

Program Coordinator visited the facility to review the video footage. The staff member was observed backhanding the resident in the footage.

Facility was cited for 109.1.g: Staff engaged in unprofessional conduct that could be viewed as physically harmful to a child, 110.9.a: The facility failed to immediately report the incident to the child abuse hotline, 905.4.g: Staff used physical harm as a form of behavior management.

Resident reported allegations while in acute care of a staff member at the PRTF slapping and grabbing her. Staff member has been suspended pending investigation. A report was made to the AR Child Abuse Hotline and accepted for investigation.

Licensing Specialist: Kendra Rice.

Facility reported that resident who made the allegations was the same resident who attacked the staff member named in the complaint, and caused the staff member to seek medical attention. Licensing team reviewed camera footage. During camera review, client can be heard informing the staff member she was going to tell, and the staff was heard stating “I don’t give a shit who you tell.” Staff was not observed slapping or grabbing the resident.

• Facility cited (110.12): Agency shall notify Licensing Unit by the next business day when a report of maltreatment is accepted by the child abuse hotline.
• Facility cited (109.1): Unprofessional conduct toward resident.

The CACD case was found unsubstantiated. Licensing investigation determined allegation of slapping/grabbing is unfounded. Staff will complete retraining prior to returning to directly work with residents.

Client reported during her individual session that Staff 1 came into the bathroom with her, and that they were initially “joking around” by throwing tissues at each other but then Staff 1 tried to put her head into the toilet. Client stated that she was trying to “fight against” staff but the staff member was successful in putting client’s hand into the toilet. Client stated that she “somehow ended up on the floor with a split lip” and reported that the Staff 1 told her not to tell what happened because it would get her in trouble and to inform the nurses that she fell and split her lip. Client reported that during the altercation, Staff 2 closed the bathroom door and informed other clients that “they did not need to see this.”

Client also reported another incident that occurred on 02/26/24, in which Staff 2 “threw her on the ground and was on top of her,” threw a shoe at her, and was pushing and hitting her during the altercation.

• During camera review of the bathroom, client and staff are observed horse playing around. Staff does follow the client into the bathroom as other staff is in the foyer and at the door of the bathroom. You can hear but not see the client and staff laughing and joking. Staff had poor boundaries and was instructed that this can not happen moving forward. Facility has not found any evidence of the “busted lip” reported to nurse.
• During camera review of the next incident, client is observed yelling and cursing at staff after her guardian phone call. Staff redirected client about behavior, and client threw a shoe at staff. Staff picked up the shoe and took it into the BI office.

Licensing Specialist Chelsea Vardell reviewed camera footage for both incidents and requested nursing notes. No concerns were noted.

The CACD case was found unsubstantiated. The Licensing complaint was unfounded. Both staff involved received individual in-service retraining on CPI techniques. Staff can be removed from their ICA and return to normal job duties.

On 2/6/24, client was spitting on staff repeatedly. After reviewing video from 2/6/24, staff was observed to use inappropriate crisis management. Staff reacted poorly after being spit on several times by resident. Staff pulled resident off the couch and held the resident down. A hotline call was placed and accepted for investigation.

Licensing Specialist: Kendra Rice.

Licensing visited facility 2/12/24 and reviewed camera footage and requested documentation of staff member’s suspension. Resident was placed on 60K Focus and assault precautions.

• Facility cited for standard 905.4g: It appeared that staff member grabbed at resident due to resident’s behavior.

Licensing founded this complaint. The CACD case was found unsubstantiated. On 3/14/24, the facility provided training documentation for staff member mentioned in the incident and the ICA was approved to be lifted on 3/15/24.