Full Text of SR0254 102nd General Assembly
SR0254 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Children and Family | 3 | | Services, Illinois Department of Human Services, the Illinois | 4 | | Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Mental | 5 | | Health, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, and the | 6 | | Illinois State Board of Education promulgate rules and | 7 | | procedures to govern the use of restraint and seclusion with | 8 | | children and adolescents in social services, medical, and | 9 | | educational settings; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Manual restraint is defined as anytime an adult | 11 | | staff member, responsible for the care of a child or an | 12 | | adolescent, manually holds a child to prevent the child's free | 13 | | movement or normal access to the child's body; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Seclusion is defined as the involuntary | 15 | | confinement of a child in a room or an area from which the | 16 | | child is physically prevented from leaving; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Numerous sources document the harmful physical | 18 | | outcomes associated with manual restraint, including | 19 | | dehydration, choking, loss of strength or mobility, | 20 | | incontinence, and injuries, including bruises, rug burns, | 21 | | broken bones, and cardiopulmonary complications, or death; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Children and adolescents who experience restraint | 2 | | express negative social-emotional consequences, including | 3 | | fear, rage, anxiety, a lack of understanding about why they | 4 | | were restrained, profound alienation from adult staff | 5 | | responsible for their care, re-traumatization from their own | 6 | | restraint, and vicarious traumatization from witnessing the | 7 | | restraint of their peers; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Adult staff, responsible for the care of children | 9 | | and adolescents, who implement restraints may be exposed to | 10 | | biological material, such as saliva or blood, without | 11 | | appropriate protective equipment or may sustain injuries, | 12 | | including scrapes, bruises, sprains, scratches, bites, or | 13 | | broken bones; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Children and adolescents placed in seclusion have | 15 | | experienced a wide variety of self-inflicted injuries, such as | 16 | | cutting, pounding, head banging, and suicide; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, High frequency of restraint and seclusion | 18 | | episodes are associated with turbulent workplace environments, | 19 | | uncertainty, lost productivity, low morale, and potentially | 20 | | detrimental influences on the quality of care delivered; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the | 22 | | Child has stated that restraint and seclusion may violate |
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| 1 | | children's rights, including their right to be free from | 2 | | cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, their | 3 | | right to respect for bodily integrity, and their right not to | 4 | | be deprived of their liberty; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Over the last two decades, national | 6 | | organizations, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health | 7 | | Services Administration, the Child Welfare League of America, | 8 | | the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, and | 9 | | the National Association of State Mental Health Program | 10 | | Directors, began supporting programs to prevent and reduce the | 11 | | use of restraint and seclusion; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Education warned on | 13 | | multiple occasions that secluding students can be dangerous | 14 | | and that there is no evidence it is effective in reducing | 15 | | problematic behaviors among children and adolescents; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The Statewide Youth Advisory Board for the | 17 | | Department of Children and Family Services, which provides the | 18 | | Department and General Assembly with the perspective of | 19 | | youth-in-care, voted that reforming use of restraints was a | 20 | | top policy priority; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, The National Association of State Mental Health | 22 | | Program Directors' position statement on restraint and |
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| 1 | | seclusion illustrates that practices should only be | 2 | | administered in the least restrictive method and should never | 3 | | be used for purposes of punishment, discipline, or | 4 | | convenience; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Education found Illinois | 6 | | had the highest number of state-level seclusion totals within | 7 | | schools across the country; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Research has shown that children and adolescents | 9 | | often see seclusion as a form of punishment and can be | 10 | | traumatized by the practice; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The use of restraint and seclusion are based on | 12 | | the staff assumption that controlling children and adolescents | 13 | | by force will reduce dangerous behaviors and maintain | 14 | | community safety, although academic research shows that such | 15 | | coercive interventions can maintain and intensify the very | 16 | | behaviors staff are trying to control; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Research shows that inexperienced or inadequately | 18 | | trained staff are involved in more restraint and seclusion | 19 | | incidents than experienced staff in child welfare, mental | 20 | | health, juvenile justice, and educational settings; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Strategies to reduce restraint and elimination |
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| 1 | | may include leadership in organizational culture change, using | 2 | | data to inform practice, workforce development, inclusion of | 3 | | family and peers, specific reduction interventions, and | 4 | | rigorous debriefing; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Service providers may select from various | 6 | | available training curricula, supported by data and academic | 7 | | research, to implement organizational change and focus on the | 8 | | reduction of restraint and seclusion; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Research by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health | 10 | | Service Administration deemed one training curriculum, the Six | 11 | | Core Strategies, an evidence-based intervention after an | 12 | | eight-state evaluation; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, Restraint and seclusion reduction training | 14 | | curricula include trauma-informed principles as foundational | 15 | | components; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, When Massachusetts developed and implemented a | 17 | | statewide initiative to reduce or eliminate the use of | 18 | | seclusion and restraint among children and adolescents for | 19 | | psychiatric facility workers, the number of workers' | 20 | | compensation claims decreased by 29 percent, and the amount of | 21 | | compensation paid decreased by 98 percent; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, A shared vision across child and adolescent | 2 | | serving organizations, which is grounded in academic research | 3 | | and data, will help unite professionals under the common goal | 4 | | of restraint and seclusion reduction; therefore, be it
| 5 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL | 6 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge policy | 7 | | decisions of State agencies and the Illinois General Assembly | 8 | | to align with the goal of preventing, reducing, and ultimately | 9 | | eliminating, the use of restraint and seclusion with children | 10 | | and adolescents; and be it further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That it is the overarching policy of the State | 12 | | of Illinois that restraint and seclusion should only be used | 13 | | as a last resort to protect a youth from harming themselves or | 14 | | others and should never be used for punishment, discipline, or | 15 | | convenience; and be it further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That until use of restraint and seclusion is | 17 | | ultimately eliminated, State agencies who employ restraint and | 18 | | seclusion, as well as contractors to those agencies, must | 19 | | ensure that only staff members with certified training who are | 20 | | experienced in restraint and seclusion employ these methods to | 21 | | reduce incidents of harm; and be it further
| 22 | | RESOLVED, That we urge all administrative staff of the |
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| 1 | | State of Illinois who promulgate rules and procedures that | 2 | | govern the use of restraint and seclusion with children and | 3 | | adolescents, including the Office of the Governor, the State | 4 | | Board of Education, the Department of Human Services, the | 5 | | Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of | 6 | | Public Health, and the Department of Juvenile Justice, to | 7 | | operate under the shared vision that restraint and seclusion | 8 | | are behavior management interventions of last resort and work | 9 | | towards their reduction.
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