LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas legislators will convene inquiries July 9 into abuses of children in the custody of the Youth Services Division.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette began a six-part series Sunday on the division's problems, including physical abuse of delinquent children in the division's care. The division is a part of the state Department of Human Services.
Boys have alleged they were beaten or raped at the division's Observation and Assessment Center in North Little Rock. The center has been plagued with problems since it opened in 1995. The Democrat-Gazette obtained incident reports detailing allegations of abuse dating from 1997. Older incident reports had been throw out.
At the first hearing, Human Services Department officials will be asked to testify on what people knew about the problems and when they learned of them, said Sen. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, chairman of the Senate Committee on Children and Youth.
Legislators will try to determine whether administrators within the division were "slow to respond to initial allegations of abuse," he said. The list of department officials who will be asked to testify has not been completed, Ross said Thursday.
The department also has been asked to prepare a list of specific allegations of abuse and mismanagement within the division, he said.
Ross said the Senate committee will meet in conjunction with the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs. The first hearing will be held at 10 a.m. in Room 272 of the state Capitol.
"When we take children into custody, the state takes on an enormous responsibility," Ross said. "It's our responsibility to make sure children are not abused. We need some answers to figure out how we can keep this from happening again."
Sen. Mike Beebe, D-Searcy, who is a member of the Senate committee, said legislators need to get to the bottom of the problem.
"We need to determine as quickly as possible whether the allegations are true," Beebe said.
Then, Beebe said, legislators need to pinpoint whether problems developed because of a "system failure or a personnel problem."
If it is a system failure, he said, lawmakers need to establish safeguards to protect children from abuse.
If it is a personnel problem, he said, lawmakers need to find out who is to blame. The responsible employees must be fired, he said.
Beebe said he is upset that he wasn't informed about the problems. He said he wants to know who knew about the problems and why they weren't reported to lawmakers.
When asked if legislators feel responsible for the problems, Beebe said, "It comes back on everybody. It's all of our fault."
House committee Chairman Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, said she, too, wants answers. Legislators were "quietly assured" earlier this year by the division's acting director, Larance Johnson, that problems were being corrected, she said.
Johnson resigned April 22, and former state Rep. Paul Doramus of Benton took over as director June 1.
"I just can't understand how this could be going on as long as it was and there was no public disclosure or outrage," Madison said.
At the first hearing, the committees are expected to review two audit reports on security and sanitation at the division's facilities. In April and May, audit teams from the Department of Correction and the Department of Health inspected the observation and assessment center and the Alexander Youth Services Center.
Among other things, auditors found that knives were readily accessible, fire exits were blocked, some toilets backed up into adjoining cells when flushed, and the kitchen was filthy.
Earlier this week, Rep. Dennis Young, D-Texarkana, asked Gov. Mike Huckabee to call a special session of the Legislature to address the problems. Through a spokesman, Huckabee said the problems can be fixed administratively without a session.
Young also has drafted a study proposal that would put the Correction Department in charge of delinquent youths in state custody. That proposal will be discussed by lawmakers today at the 9 a.m. meeting of the Legislative Council.