• “After they restrained the kid, he died when they restrained him, from improper restraint. After he got to the hospital in two weeks, he ended up dying from the staff restraining him.”

    NY Lived Expert

  • “I was overdosed when I was in care. ...And the thing about it is, they don’t really correspond with the doctor...So, while I was supposed to be taking two pills, they were giving me five.”

    NY Lived Expert

  • “I feel like if I had adequate enough support, or a way to express how I feel, then I wouldn’t have been in this situation.”

    NY Lived Expert

  • “By strengthening families, we can create a community where children thrive and can be resilient in their environment. Failure is not an option.”

    Sabrina Jaar Marzouka, Dutchess County Community and Family Services Commissioner

  • “They didn’t have no remorse or care when it comes to putting their hands on their children, and also injections. They’ll give you medicine or whatever, almost like they don’t hear you.”

    NY Lived Expert

  • “So they actually put me in solitary confinement…I don’t know if this was legal, but they actually had me strapped up. And like one of those strait-jackets... I was only 12.”

    NY Lived Expert

  • “And it took them not once, it took them seven times for them to actually hear that I was being bullied and assaulted on a daily basis for being gay … ”

    NY Lived Expert

  • “I lived in a cycle where I, when I tell you, I really just didn’t want to live. I had nothing to look forward to. I was just in a dark bubble … nothing was worth it to me.”

    NY Lived Expert

  • “Residential care is meant to be a temporary, therapeutic intervention, but it became a destination for too many of our young people.”

    John Befus, Westchester County Department of Social Services First Deputy Commissioner

Congregate Placements are Expensive and Ineffective

Congregate facilities licensed as “Qualified Residential Treatment Providers” in New York can cost up to $1,347 per child per day, over $491,000 annually per child, which is up to 50 times the cost of family-based care. Despite high costs, QRTPs have worse outcomes than other placements.

Congregate Placements are Not Actually Therapeutic

While most congregate settings in New York are “QRTPs,” these facilities often lack licensed medical staff, leaving children without clinical treatment. In these facilities youth have reported medical neglect, mismedication, and overmedication. Research has shown that institutionalization leads to significant delays in physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development.

Congregate Placements are Often Carceral and Harmful Environments

Young people say that many congregate settings in child welfare feel like prisons, where youth face severe punishments, including physical restraint and isolation. Many young people who have experienced these settings identify as “survivors” of those placements, and report violence, bullying, maltreatment, poor education, and abuse (physical, sexual, and emotional). Young people report that these settings fail to provide a healing environment and are unsafe.

Congregate Placements Disproportionately Harm Black and LGBTQ+ Youth

Black and LGBTQ+ youth are disproportionately placed in congregate care settings, where they face heightened risks of trauma, mistreatment, and systemic neglect. In New York State, Black youth represent 15% of the general child population, yet comprise 41% of the foster care population and 57% of youth in congregate placements. While state-level data does not capture the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth in the foster system, it is known that LGBTQ+ youth are placed in these settings at significantly higher rates than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. 

Congregate Placements Cause Long-Term Trauma

Youth in congregate facilities suffer lasting trauma and mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. Many survivors experience homelessness and poverty. Up to half of all young adults from these placements are under-credited academically, with substandard education creating barriers in their future education and career prospects.

New York’s Obligations to Children and Youth Require Higher Standards

The government is responsible for the safety, stability, and well-being of youth in state custody, including congregate facilities. Lawmakers have a moral and legal duty to ensure safe, effective environments that meet youth needs and help them thrive.

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