The family of a Baltimore City teenager who died at a group home voiced support for legislation requiring staff of juvenile programs to undergo training and evaluate children?s progress.
“I miss my son. That?s why I?m here: for other children, to keep them out of harm?s way,” Felicia Wilson testified Thursday before the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.
Her 17-year-old son, Isaiah Simmons III, died last month at Bowling Brook Preparatory School in Keymar after staff restrained him for three hours.
Simmons? uncle, Jeffrey Wilson, and sister, Danielle Carter, also testified that the state legislature needs to fix the juvenile system to protect children in the state?s custody.
Carter said she and a friend from Malawi talked about how deaths frequently occur in developing countries? facilities but not in the United States.
“This is not something we expect to happen in America,” she said.
State Sen. Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, reintroduced legislation that failed in past years that would require all staff members who work at Maryland?s privately and publicly run juvenile residential facilities to undergo state-approved training and certification and be at least 21 years old.
His bill also asks the Departments of Juvenile Services and Human Resources and the Governor?s Office for Children to evaluate juvenile programs to monitor how successful they are in rehabilitating delinquent youth.
“We?re one of the worst states in the country for recidivism,” Zirkin said. “This creates some semblance of outcome assessment.”
The evaluations dovetail into Gov. Martin O?Malley?s goal to establish a State Stat program that encourages officials to create a data-driven policy, Zirkin said.
Some senators expressed concern about how much it would cost to implement evaluations, but price estimates won?t be available for six months.
Zirkin advocates an overhaul of the state?s juvenile programs, arguing that troubled children should be housed in state-run facilities, not private homes like Bowling Brook.
“Senate Bill 177 does not cure all. The system is a disaster,” he said.
