News of the death of an 11-year-old foster child three months ago in a state-contracted home in Greenville has recently come to light, raising questions about the facility and its record of deficiencies.
The incident became public after Texas Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) mentioned it during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on February 3. At one point, committee members were discussing a budget proposal to add regulatory staff to inspect long-term service care providers.
“Tragically, in my district, there was an 11-year-old boy who passed away this past November while he was under the care of a licensed residential treatment center which has since had its license revoked and children placed in other centers,” Paxton said, per The Texas Tribune.
“The investigation is ongoing so I will not speak to particulars of the case but I would like to just chime in on this issue as it is something very tangible and concrete in my district.”
The child reportedly died in a Greenville movie theater during a group outing on the day before Thanksgiving, but it is unclear what caused his death. Other children who also lived at the facility told the Lone Oak school district police chief Joe Sterner that the boy had recently suffered a head injury, and just before the movie outing, he had been complaining of pain in his stomach.
“I guess when they were about to head out to go to the movies, he was in the bathroom, crying real bad that he was hurting real bad and they still told him to get on the van,” Sterner said, per the Tribune.
When the movie was over, and the lights came up, the child was found dead in his seat with blood coming from his nose. It is unclear whether the staff members overseeing the group sought medical care for the child.
Following the boy’s death, the state’s contract with Thompson’s Residential Treatment Center, where the boy had lived, was canceled, and the 20 other children residing there were moved to other facilities. The treatment center had provided housing and treatment for the most traumatized and mentally ill foster care children, the Tribune reported.
“HHSC determined Thompson’s Residential Treatment Center posed an immediate threat to the health or safety of children,” Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokesperson Jennifer Ruffcorn wrote in an email to the Tribune.
According to a state database, 84 deficiencies had been reported at Thompson’s over the last five years, with more than a third occurring in the past year. Twelve of those deficiencies were considered the most severe and included physical altercations between residents, staff, and children.
One local law enforcement officer reportedly told the Tribune that the facility was known as the “runaway center” because police were often asked to locate residents who had run away from the treatment facility.