Millcreek Behavioral Health in Fordyce, Arkansas, is an institution to which foster kids from several other states are sent for mental health treatment. According to a March 11, 2020 ProPublica Illinois report by David Jackson, dozens of children treated in the facility have “reported mistreatment and violence.”
Some children who were sent to Millcreek say that it’s a “horrific” and “violent” place. They report being bribed to fight other kids, and being beaten by the employees to the point where they sustained broken bones and bruises. One 11-year-old boy said “a female worker pushed him down, grabbed him by the hair and put her foot on his back.”
After the parent of one of the children learned of the abuse and reported it to the Fordyce police, nothing was done, although she was allowed to speak to her son. Parents have been left no choice but to take their children out of the mental health facility because of the abuse.
The ProPublica Illinois report was co-published by the Chicago Tribune and was also reprinted in Raw Story. Otherwise, there has been no further coverage of this story by either corporate or independent news organizations.
Source: David Jackson, “Why a Mental Health Institute for Foster Children Became Known as ‘the Misery Mill,’” ProPublica Illinois, March 11, 2020, https://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-dcfs-children-out-of-state-millcreek-behavioral-health-arkansas.
Student Researcher: Ronald Wright (Indian River State College)
Faculty Evaluator: Elliot D. Cohen (Indian River State College)