#AdvocacyMatters: They Deserve Better

May 15, 2026

"I don't feel safe here."

"This place is not helping."

"The staff aren't helpful. They make things worse."

These are some of the direct quotes from youth living in Ohio's Youth Residential Treatment Facilities (RTFs) to advocates on Disability Rights Ohio's Abuse & Neglect team.

When numerous facilities that house some of Ohio's most vulnerable children and youth regularly struggle to meet state defined minimum standards, systemic changes must occur. Informed by 75 visits to Ohio's Youth RTFs spanning more than six years, DRO is sounding the alarm: Ohio's children deserve better.

Earlier this week, we released "Patterns Persist: Alarming Concerns in Ohio's Residential Treatment Facilities for Children and Youth." This position paper calls for faster, more impactful action to be taken against facilities, and the need for new tools to help safeguard the youth living in these settings. These recommendations come after more than six years of investigations and monitoring activities discovered persistent and pervasive issues in Ohio's Youth RTFs:

• Serious and systemic cases of abuse and neglect,
• Unapproved and painful restraint techniques,
• Inappropriate use of restraint including chemical restraint,
• Peer-to-peer bullying and staff intimidation,
• Poorly supervised, unstructured, and re-traumatizing environments,
• Failures by agency leadership to provide safe, trauma-informed cultures

"This is a 911 call. This is kids are being hurt and things are not happening," Disability Rights Ohio President & CEO Kerstin Sjoberg told The Columbus Dispatch. "Working behind the scenes with facilities and state officials is just not moving the way we needed. We cannot wait any longer. We have to address this now."

Ohio's children and youth deserve better. Ohio has the potential to become a national leader in the provision of quality, safe, trauma-competent, and recovery-promoting care for children and youth.

You can read the full report here, and you can view a factsheet by clicking here.

#AdvocacyMatters