Abuse complaint fades County finds 1 charge against KIDS too weak

One of the complaints against KIDS of El Paso County Inc. that helped put the program in jeopardy was investigated by local authorities, who decided not to prosecute.  El Paso police looked into a complaint by ***, 18, who said he was falsely imprisoned at the center.  Detectives made no arrests but referred the case to County Attorney ***, Lt. *** said. *** did not prosecute, determining that the case was not strong enough to take to trial.  "*** made one statement and then he made another.  We found that there was too much disparity to go with the case," *** said. *** complaint and two others led to an investigation by the state Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, The commission investigation found 56 violations at KIDS, including physical abuse, neglect and civil rights violations.  The commission said it will revoke KIDS' license unless the violations are corrected by April 12.  KIDS, 6500 Boeing, treats people between 13 and 21 years old who have eating disorders, problems with alcohol or drugs or other behavioral problems.  Most of KIDS clients are from El Paso County and southern New Mexico. *** lawyer, ***, disputed *** comments about contradictions in *** statements.  "That is absolutely inconsistent with the truth," *** said Wednesday. *** made his first complaint to police in March but withdrew it because he feared it would ruin his 17-year-old sister's chances of being released from the program, *** said.  She entered the program a month after he did.”  He (***) said he didn't want to prosecute just for that sole reason," *** said.  As soon as his sister was released in May, *** told Lucas he wanted to prosecute, *** said.  Officials with the KIDS program continued to decline comment Wednesday. ***, the program's lawyer, said KIDS probably will call a news conference early next week.  "We are not in a position, until the board meets again, to make a comment," he said.  The Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse received the other two complaints about KIDS in April and May of 1987.  The May complaint was referred to the commission by the Texas Department of Human Services' El Paso office.  According to the commission's report, a 15-year-old client of KIDS ran away from the center and told police he had been tortured by other clients.  According to the report, the teenager told police: "At times, several of the kids in the program grab him, stretch him by the arms and legs, raise him about 3 or 4 feet and then drop him to the ground.”  The commission said a police report was written on the incident, but police could not find it Wednesday.  At the commission's request, a caseworker from the Department of Human Services interviewed the boy and decided he "was not in immediate physical danger and did not need to be removed," the commission report states.  In the April complaint, the great-grandmother of a boy in KIDS wrote the commission and claimed clients were beaten, screamed at and forced to sign papers admitting to crimes they had not committed.  The report states that KIDS was not asked to respond to the complaint because the woman had no first-hand knowledge of the allegations.  After receiving the complaints, commission investigators inspected KIDS in May and October.”  While KIDS of El Paso cooperated fully in the May investigation, it was not fully cooperative during the October investigation," the report states. “The program expressed concern and displeasure at the interruption of therapy caused by the interviews with clients by the investigator, allowed parents to harass the investigator and would not provide ... a copy of its policy manual upon request by the investigator."  The investigators also interviewed the people who made the three complaints, along with current and former KIDS clients, parents and grandparents of current and former KIDS clients, KIDS employees and staff members and law enforcement personnel.  The investigators found that clients were coerced into entering the program, held against their will and harassed by staff members to re-enter the program once they had left it.  Health care for clients was inadequate and KIDS did not have an alcoholism and drug abuse counselor on the clinical staff, according to the report. Report on KIDS program. Some findings about KIDS of El Paso County from a Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse report, "KIDS allowed staff and clients to physically restrain other clients, which in many instances led to physical and emotional abuse.  Clients were not provided a humane and safe environment; they were afraid and scared and in the case of one client, the treatment was both reprehensible and inhumane.  The program took no documented steps to discipline or remove the staff who perpetrated the act."   “Although allegations were made that KIDS of El Paso abused clients through nutritional deprivation, the board of inquiry could not document these allegations were valid for substance abuse clients (at the center), although the allegations may have occurred in the host homes" where KIDS clients are kept overnight.  The allegations "raise significant concern regarding the nutritional requirements of the clients who were suffering from anorexia and bulimia.”  "Clients did not have privacy in regard to their personal needs ... because they were supervised while in the bathroom and had to seek and receive permission to use the bathrooms if they needed relief at time other than those scheduled.  When permission was denied, clients soiled themselves and then were harassed for doing so.”