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Judge upholds state's decision to remove children from problematic Robeson group home

A judge has upheld a decision by state regulators to abruptly shut down a residential mental health facility for children last year amid allegations of abuse and neglect, saying staff at the group home "failed miserably" to treat and care for the boys in their custody.

Posted Updated
New Horizon in Lumber Bridge
By
Tyler Dukes
, WRAL investigative reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — A judge has upheld a decision by state regulators to abruptly shut down a residential mental health facility for children last year amid allegations of abuse and neglect, saying staff at the group home "failed miserably" to treat and care for the boys in their custody.
WRAL News first highlighted the operator of the troubled Robeson County group home, New Horizon, last month after reporting that the company received a $3.9 million federal grant to house migrant children picked up alone or separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

New Horizon has never held the state license required to house those children. And the company didn't apply for such a license until mid-July, months after receiving the grant from the federal Administration for Children and Families.

But the ruling, issued Thursday by Administrative Law Judge Donald Overby, lends more weight to a move by state Department of Health and Human Services officials to deny New Horizon's application for that license, which federal officials confirm is required by the conditions of the grant.

'Wholly ill-prepared'

Overby found that state officials acted reasonably when they gave New Horizon hours to suspend operations and relocate the children at their facility in Lumber Bridge, which had opened its doors less than 45 days before. He also sided with state's decision days later to penalize the company $9,000 and revoke the facility's residential mental health treatment license for violations that amounted to serious neglect, harm and abuse.

"This facility was wholly ill-prepared to accept these clients with Level IV needs," Overby wrote.

A state investigator found that the seven boys at the facility, all of whom suffered from serious mental illnesses, spent most of the day inside watching TV and playing video games. Evidence showed one staff member pinned a boy against a wall and choked him. A 9-year-old was left alone in an unapproved "time-out" room the size of a janitor's closet.

Overby found these claims credible enough to devote part of his decision to address evidence from New Horizon that was "180 degrees different from information gleaned" from the state's investigation. He wrote that there seemed to be no reason that DHHS consultant Gloria Locklear, "a veteran and skilled investigator," would have lied or misunderstood what she saw at the facility.

Witnesses for New Horizon, including owner Barbara Brockington, "are the only ones who stand to gain from completely changing the narrative that was obtained during the survey," Overby wrote.

"It is specifically found as fact that Ms. Brockington was not truthful in her testimony and is, therefore, not credible," Overby wrote.

Knicole Emanuel, who represents New Horizon in the case, said in a phone interview Thursday evening that they dispute the credibility portion of Overby's ruling.

"I will tell you my client was not lying, nor were her witnesses," Emanuel said.

She said they disagree with the decision to uphold the state's license revocation, a ruling Brockington plans to appeal in state Superior Court.

A woman who answered a call to Brockington's number earlier Thursday afternoon hung up when a WRAL News reporter identified himself.

DHHS spokesperson Kelly Haight declined to comment Thursday afternoon. A spokesperson with the state Department of Justice, whose lawyers represented DHHS in the case before the Office of Administrative Hearings, did not return a call seeking comment.

Overby's decision raises serious doubts about whether New Horizon will ever house migrant children at a planned facility in Scotland County, where the company hoped to house 72 boys ages 7 to 17 years old.

DHHS has said in the past that a ruling upholding New Horizon's license revocation would mean, under state law, that the company couldn't secure a necessary residential childcare license until 2023.

That's the rationale DHHS officials used in their letter to New Horizon July 31 denying its residential childcare license.

Emanuel said New Horizon plans to appeal that decision too. That process could take months.

It's unclear what all that means for the New Horizon's federal grant money.

The communications office for the federal Administration for Children and Families stopped answering questions from WRAL News on July 29, saying only that the agency "has no additional information to provide regarding the referenced grant."

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, housed within ACF, requires care providers to be licensed within 75 days of an award.

That deadline has long since passed.

Four other New Horizon facilities get green light

Overby did reverse the state's decision to allow the expiration of licenses for four other New Horizon mental health facilities scattered across the southeastern portion of the state.

One of those facilities offers residential treatment for less serious mental health issues, while the others focus on outpatient services.

DHHS revoked those licenses in January after the agency said New Horizon failed to complete the annual renewal process.

State officials may not have ever received those renewal applications, Overby wrote, but New Horizon showed "clear and convincing evidence" that Brockington sent them in the mail weeks before the deadline.

When Brockington eventually called the state to ask why she hadn't received her renewed licenses, Overby said, officials could have granted her a temporary license while she hand-delivered proof the applications were sent on time.

Given that good-faith effort, he said, revoking the licenses because for missing the deadline would be "a miscarriage of justice."

"It has been found that the Level IV facility was a failure; however, that does not comport with the history of the other four facilities owned by petitioner," Overby wrote. "While the decision in the Level IV facility may have prospective ramifications, it would be improper to apply those facts to the other four facilities."

Both parties have 30 days to file an appeal of the decision in state Superior Court.

Editor's note: This story was updated Thursday evening to include comments from New Horizon's attorney.

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