Disability Rights Arkansas

United Methodist Children's Home Little Rock

*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

Methodist Children’s Home operates multiple programs on a single campus. Police responses to this campus often do not identify the program they are responding to. All reports plausibly related to the PRTF or Qualified Residential Treatment Program/Group Home (QRTP) have been included here. Where we can be certain the response was to the QRTP it is noted.

Location: Little Rock, AR                   Population Served: Children and adolescents in need of out of home psychiatric care in a residential setting

# of residents per unit: 20 Residents per room: 1 Capacity: 40

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: LCSW                    Therapists: 1 full-time therapist (LCSW)

Treatment modalities offered: Facility declined to identify any specific treatment 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.

UMCH LR Report (combined)

Photo Appendix to report

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Police Report

Assault

Staff advised officer he wanted to make an assault report. Staff stated that on 10/5/23, a juvenile became combative and grabbed an aluminum stick-type object. When staff tried to take the object from juvenile, he stated she struck him in the head with it. Staff advised he took possession of the object after the altercation and did not have any injuries. Officer provided incident report and instructed staff to contact the prosecuting attorney’s office if he wanted to press charges.

PRLU or OLTC

Medical, Notice of Incident

Client had an X-ray on finger after complaining of pain. There was no findings of dislocation or fracture.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident, Self-Harm

Client became upset and punched the cafeteria window with his right hand. Client complained of pain and an x-ray was ordered. In-house x-ray results: Fracture of the neck of the fifth metacarpal with angulations, acute (Boxer’s fracture). Client was transported to Arkansas Children’s Hospital ER for further evaluation on 9/28/2023.

Email sent to facility 9/28/23 to notify licensing of any follow-up results when received. No licensing concerns noted in this report.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

Facility visited 9/26/23 and video reviewed of the early morning hours of 9/24/23 and 9/25/23. No issues noted.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

Facility visited and video reviewed for the late-night hours of 9/15/23 and 9/16/23. All night visual checks were conducted within 30 minutes.

Police Report

Information Report

Staff advised officers that a juvenile pushed a door in his face while being escorted through the facility. In an effort to stop the door from hitting his face, he used his hand to stop the door and his hand was injured. Juvenile was transported by MEMS to acute care for her behavior issues.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

Visit conducted and video reviewed from the early morning hours of 9/10/23, 9/11/23 and 9/12/23. All checks were conducted within 30 minutes.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident, Self-Harm

Client was upset about having to leave the gym and punched a hallway door. He was assessed by the nurse due to swelling and bruising of his right hand. In-house x-ray results: No findings of a fracture. No licensing concerns noted from this report.

PRLU or OLTC

Accidental Injury, Notice of Incident

Client was playing a game in recreational therapy when she fell and hurt her left foot. She was assessed by the nurse for pain in the left ankle and joints of the left foot. In-house x-ray results were normal with no indications of a fracture. No licensing concerns noted from this report.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

Facility visited 9/6/23 and video reviewed of the early morning hours of 9/3/23 and 9/4/23.

Facility cited 907.6: 46 minutes in between night visual checks in video viewed.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.
Buildings & Grounds was conducted and the following areas were observed: Group rooms 1 & 2, dayroom, milieu, therapist office, rec therapy room, sleeping areas, bathrooms, grounds. MARs checked for 5 residents. No licensing concerns noted during visit.
Video review was conducted for the early morning hours of 8/20 and 8/21 of Halls A, B, C, & D. All checks conducted within 30 minutes of each other.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.
Monitor visit conducted 8/16/23 and video reviewed of random areas of UMCH to check ratios for 8/14/23 and 8/15/23 (Classrooms, Cafeteria, and Boy’s Dayroom viewed). No licensing concerns noted.

Police Report

Battery

Officers responded in reference to a battery report.

  • Staff 1 reported that on 7/7/23, Juvenile 1 struck him and pulled his hair repeatedly, requiring physical therapy for his neck.
  • Staff 1 reported that on 8/15/23, Juvenile 2 attacked him with a chair and kicked him on the “privates” after he corrected juvenile for exposing his genitals and making sexual comments/gestures towards staff.
  • Juvenile 1 attacked Staff 1 again on 8/15/23 by stabbing him on the arm with a pen. Staff 2 stated she attempted to take the pen away from the juvenile, who then struck her in the face and then bit her leg.
    Staff 1 advised that there have been several other incidents between 7/7/23 and 8/15/23 and felt it was needed to file a police report for staff safety. Officers advised Staff 1 and Staff 2 on how to obtain a warrant.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.
Facility visited 8/9/23 and video reviewed of the early morning hours of 8/6/23 and 8/7/23 (Halls A, B, C, and D viewed). All nightly visual checks conducted within 30 minutes.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.
Facility visited from 10:45AM-12:00PM and random video review conducted for the early morning hours of 7/29/23 and 7/30/23 (Halls A, B, C, and D viewed). All night visual checks conducted within 30 minutes.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Facility visited 7/27/23 and camera footage reviewed for the late night/Early morning hours of 7/24/23 and 7/25/23.

7/24/23:Hall A checks conducted at 12:01 AM, 12:17 AM and 12:29 AM. Hall B checks conducted at 12:04 AM, 12:17 AM and 12:28 AM. Hall C checks conducted at 12:00 AM, 12:15 AM and 12:31 AM. Hall D checks conducted at 12:01 AM, 12:16 AM and 12:31 AM.

7/25/23. Hall A checks conducted at 12:02 AM, 12:17 AM and 12:32 AM. Hall B checks conducted at 12:00 AM, 12:15 AM and 12:28 AM. Hall C checks conducted at 12:00 AM, 12:04 AM and 12:15 AM. Hall D checks conducted at 12:00 AM, 12:04 AM and 12:14 AM. All night supervision checks conducted within less that 30 minutes.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident, Peer Altercation, Visit Compliance Report

On July 26, client was sitting in the dayroom playing cards with her peers. Another client got up, picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting client in the nose. Client was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital for an x-ray to the face. There was no findings of anything broken or fractured. Client’s guardian is pressing charges on the other client, incident number for this is [REDACTED].

Licensing narrative: 7/27/2023- Program Coordinator submitted a FOIA request to the Little Rock PD for the incident report mentioned in this case. Facility visited 7/27/23 and camera footage reviewed of incident involving client getting hit in the nose by a chair thrown by another client. Staff/Client ratio 3:13 in day area. Peer who throws chair is calmly playing cards with another client. Peer calmly stands up, grabs a plastic chair off a stack of chairs, and throws it in the middle of the day area. The chair bounces and hits client who is laying in the floor. It appears as if looked up right as the chair bounced in her direction. Staff immediately respond to peer who threw the chair and client police report obtained regarding guardian pressing charges on client who threw the chair. Email sent 7/28/23 to inquire if client was arrested for charges.

Received email from Craig Gammon of UMCH 7/28/23 as follows: I do not believe she was arrested. She was admitted to acute hospitalization at after the incident. She has or will be discharged from our program at UMCH. The guardian of the injured client has contacted the LRPD and is in the process of pressing charges, but we do not know the current status of that action. Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

Police Report

Battery

Grandmother of juvenile called to report that juvenile was in the hospital for an injury sustained in a fight at the facility. Officer made contact with the juvenile at the hospital, who stated a peer threw a chair at her and it hit her in the nose. Juvenile stated she didn’t know if it was broken or not, but she was being discharged upon officer’s arrival. Officer advised staff member present that it would be considered a Battery 3rd degree and warrants could be obtained. The grandmother was notified as well.

Medicaid Inspection of Care

Corrective Action Plan, Inspection of Care Report

Deficiencies were noted during the Inpatient Psychiatric Inspection of Care (IOC) conducted at the facility.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Monitor visit conducted today to review timely night supervision checks. Halls A,B,C,D reviewed for the early morning hours of 7/16/23 and 7/17/23.

7/16/23: Hall A checks conducted at 1:08 AM, 1:14 AM and 1:28 AM. Hall B checks conducted at 1:15 AM, 1:30 AM and 1:34 AM. Hall C checks conducted at 1:02 AM, 1:20 AM and 1:32 AM. Hall D checks conducted at 1:00 AM, 1:15 AM and 1:30 AM.

7/17/23:Hall A checks conducted at 1:27 AM, 1:43 AM and 1:57 AM. Hall B checks conducted at 1:18 AM, 1:30 AM and 1:45 AM. Hall C checks conducted at 1:00 AM, 1:16 AM and 1:31 AM. Hall D checks conducted at 1:15 AM, 1:31 AM and 1:45 AM. All night supervision checks done within 30 minutes. Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

PRLU or OLTC

Accidental Injury, Notice of Incident

On July 11th, client was in the gym playing in rt where client “Twisted” his ankle. An x-ray was ordered and performed and the results are “No acute fracture”. Licensing narrative: no licensing concerns noted from this incident.

PRLU or OLTC

Notice of Incident, Staff Neglect, Suicide Attempt, Visit Compliance Report

On June 30 2023, about 6:45 am, client was on the unit in active tantrum, yelling, screaming, attacking staff. Staff removed other clients from the hallway, and during this client went into her bedroom and grabbed a pair of pants and wrapped them around her neck, stating “I want to kill myself”, staff intervened and removed the pants from the clients neck. Client was assessed by the nurse and no markings were found. Client, later in the morning, was transported by MEMs to the behavioral hospital in Maumelle.

Licensing narrative: Facility visited 7/5/23 in response to self-report incident of client demonstrating suicidal behavior. Video reviewed of incident. Around 3 minutes go by with ligature wrapped around client’s neck before staff enter the hallway and remove ligature. Staff can be seen from hallway camera sitting, not looking in on client. Regulations out of compliance: 907.2 – staff failed to supervise an escalated client for 3 minutes while client made suicidal gesture. 907.3 – no staff were present nor supervising an escalated client for 3 minutes. Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

PRLU or OLTC

Visit Compliance Report

Buildings & grounds conducted. 2 day rooms observed. Staff/Client ratio 4:17 and 2:9. Milieu observed staff client ratio 1:2. Halls a, b, c, and d observed to be clean, safe, and in good repair. Bathrooms were clean with functioning sinks, toilets, and showers. One bathroom was closed due to having a clogged toilet and staff report that maintenance had been notified. The bathroom/Client ratio was still within licensing limits. Hall b, room 2218, one client was laying down in her bed. No staff were present on the hall b. Staff was immediately notified who reported that the client was ill and being checked on every 15 minutes. Staff were advised that client needed to be supervised within ratio. Client was immediately moved from the bedroom to the dayroom for direct staff supervision. Cafeteria and gym observed to be clean, safe, and in good repair. Two fire extinguishers observed in the kitchen which was clean and sanitary. MAR checked for: [REDACTED]. All initialed and up to date. Regulations out of compliance: 907.3 – a client was laying down in her bed in hall b, room 2218. No staff were present on hall b. Licensing Specialist: Clayton DeBoer.

Police Report

Runaway

Officers responded to the listed location for a runaway report. Upon arrival officer made contact with staff, who advised that a juvenile ran away from this location. Officer entered juvenile into ACIC entries and deletions as a runaway/Missing person.

Police Report

Non Police Incident

Officers were advised that the accident happened on the highway. Officers called ASP to assist. No further action was taken.