Deep reforms needed to ensure camp safety

Human instinct when a child is in distress is — or at least should be — to rush forward to find a remedy. So how is it that complaints about how children were treated at Connecticut summer camps commonly inspired inertia? The state Department of Children and Families and the Office of Early Childhood Development announced over the summer that Camp Shane in Kent was being shuttered while the agencies investigated complaints about the safety of children there. The camp, which focused on weight loss, said it was closing because of staffing issues. But a subsequent probe revealed it falsified medical records and lacked appropriate medical oversight.

That kind of allegation didn’t sit well with our Hearst Connecticut Media news colleagues, who decided to dig deeper into how such complaints were handled across the state. What they found should alarm anyone.

The reporting, fueled by records received through Freedom of Information requests, suggests problems beyond those cited by parents. More than 100 complaints were filed about more than 80 camps over a five-year period. These are serious allegations, about children being bullied or left unattended, mishandled medication and inappropriate contact.

Staff from the Office of Early Childhood Development seldom issued formal censures, though they did work with camps to try to prevent repeat issues. The excuse offered is that they lacked guidelines to follow. So they commonly reported an inability to substantiate claims and closed cases. They are tied up in knots made from their own red tape. Not a single camp license was suspended or revoked in records going back to 2015.

For parents who filed the complaints, that amounts to a shrug over the potential mistreatment of their children.

In the wake of Hearst news reporting, state lawmakers are suggesting first steps in reforms. Legislators, by nature, tend to be reactive rather than proactive. That’s why so many laws are dedicated to victims of horrifying crimes or accidents.

Some lawmakers now say they can do better on this issue. How will they? How should they?

For starters, they will need to look back as well as forward. The Department of Children and Families and the Office of Early Childhood Development should have recognized the problem and contributed to developing a better process years ago. These agencies, as well as the camps, represent dozens of professionals whose primary job description is to keep children safe. Yet this machine didn’t work, and no one called for repairs.

Creating a new machine means checking every step in the process, from ensuring thorough background checks for counselors to training staff and volunteers to crafting clear policies for what to do when a parent, a child or an observer blows the whistle.

It should be difficult to get a license to take care of children. It should be even harder to violate the terms of that license and continue to operate.

Will changes be made to better protect Connecticut’s children? We’ll be watching to make sure they are.

These agencies, as well as the camps, represent dozens of professionals whose primary job description is to keep children safe. Yet this machine didn’t work, and no one called for repairs.