The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) is preparing to revoke the license of Visions for Youth, the Springfield-based foster care provider whose staff member was videotaped attacking a 16-year-old resident in August. Click here for that story.
“A proposal to enter an adjudication order has been sent to the center’s director, with the final result likely being the revocation of the license,” said Traci Bell-Thomas, a spokeswoman for ODJFS. A department investigation of Visions for Youth, initiated after the videotape surfaced, is ongoing, Bell-Thomas said.
The attack, recorded by security cameras at a community center in Springfield, showed a burly staffer leading a youth out of a worship service, slamming him to the ground in a hallway, and pinning him until other residents arrived. According to William Stout, who was conducting the service and who turned over the tapes, the staffer had struck the student in the throat after he fell asleep during the service.
Twenty-four foster children from four counties were removed from the facility after the tape became public in September. The facility is closed.
The state investigation has likely uncovered other problems at Visions for Youth, according to Bell-Thomas. “It’s probably more than [the videotaped attack],” she said. “There were other incidents, that just happened to be one.” She could not provide an estimate of when the state action would be concluded.
Attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.
