Wise County Behavioral Health’s new address is 295 Wharton Ln NE, Norton VA. New Phone Number: 276-260-9991

prea information

Policy statement:
Frontier Health shall be committed to a zero-tolerance standard for all forms of sexual abuse/assault/misconduct/harassment or rape with-in its congregate care facilities for children and youth and shall be committed to reducing the risk of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, assault, misconduct and rape through implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) as outlined in Public Law 108-79, Section 3.

Purpose:
The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for Frontier Health’s Division of Children’s Continuum Services zero–tolerance for all forms of sexual abuse and sexual harassment, and the implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to provide a safe, humane and appropriately secure environment free from threat of sexual abuse/ assault/ misconduct/harassment or rape provided for all residents living in congregate care settings.

 

FH INVESTIGATIVE POLICY – REPORTING ALLEGATIONS

 

  • Duty to Report-Tennessee Code Annotated 37-1-403 and 37-1-605 Pursuant to TCA 37-1-403 and 37-1-605, any person who has knowledge of or is called upon to render aid to any child/youth that is being sexually abused or sexually harassed has the duty to report such abuse.
  • All allegations of sexual abuse must be reported to the DCS Child Abuse Hotline 1-877-237-0004.
  • Any report that is called into the hotline has to be entered into TFACTS as a serious incident. The entry into TFACTS triggers this as a potential PREA incident and notifies those responsible at the state level for monitoring same.
  • Failure to comply with the “duty to report” requirements will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination and /or criminal charges.
  • Children/Youth may report allegations of sexual abuse/ assault/ misconduct/ harassment to local law enforcement agencies and remain anonymous upon request.
  • Staff shall accept reports made verbally, in writing, anonymously, and from third parties with no time limit should the grievance involve a PREA violation. Such reports shall be documented on a client contact form.
  • Apart from reporting to designated supervisors/House Managers, DCS and local law enforcement agencies, staff is prohibited from revealing any information related to a sexual abuse report to anyone, other than to the extent necessary, to make treatment, investigation and other security and management decisions.
  • Frontier Health will ensure that the name of the person or persons reporting the allegation is kept confidential.
  • Retaliation or negative consequences for reporting sexual abuse/ harassment or cooperating with sexual abuse/ harassment investigations will not be tolerated and may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.
  1. For a period of ninety (90) days following a report, the PREA Coordinator, along with the respective PREA Compliance Manager, will monitor the treatment of residents or staff that made a report and the resident who were reported to be abused to identify attempts at retaliation or negative consequences and will act immediately to remedy any such actions. Monitoring will include, but no be limited to:
    • Resident disciplinary reports ( Behavioral Reviews)
    • Negative staff reviews or requests for transfers
    • Periodic status checks of residents
  2. Monitoring will continue beyond 90 days if evidence indicates a continued need.
  3. If any individual involved in a report expresses fear of retaliation, appropriate measures will be taken to protect that individual.
  4. Responsibility to monitor will terminate if the allegation is found to be unfounded.

For child abuse reporting, please visit the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services website: CLICK HERE

REPORTS

Frontier Health 2014 PREA Report: DOWNLOAD HERE

Frontier Health 2017 PREA Report: DOWNLOAD HERE

PREA Data Report 2020-Link House (LH): DOWNLOAD HERE

PREA Data Report 2020-Sullivan House (SH): DOWNLOAD HERE

PREA Audit Report 2020-Link House: DOWNLOAD HERE

PREA Audit Report 2020-Sullivan House: DOWNLOAD HERE

PREA FH Annual Report 2020-2022: DOWNLOAD HERE

2023 Link House Final PREA Audit Report: DOWNLOAD HERE

2023 Sullivan House PREA Audit Report: DOWNLOAD HERE

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