A facility in New York that housed migrant youngsters faces allegations of bodily abuse, together with putting some youngsters in isolation in a so-called “red room,” in keeping with a number of sources who spoke with NCS about what’s unfolded at the shelter.
The accounts from federal sources and baby welfare consultants describe a heavy-handed method to punishment for potential behavioral points in recent times, prompting an inside review by the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is charged with the care of migrant youngsters, in keeping with two of the sources.
The shelter, known as the Children’s Village, has a number of areas throughout New York serving children, together with US residents, although the abuse allegations stem from their therapy of migrant youngsters at the Dobbs Ferry location. The Children’s Village has served unaccompanied migrant youngsters since 2004.
Children had been allegedly crushed by a “special” unit, akin to a safety group, together with at instances, out of the view of cameras. They had been additionally allegedly held in restraints for a number of minutes, past protocol in place to make sure security. Children had been additionally involuntarily taken to a room as punishment, in keeping with a supply accustomed to the scenario.
The federal authorities has lengthy funded shelters, just like the Children’s Village to look after migrant youngsters who crossed the US-Mexico border alone — or extra just lately, been swept up in an inside immigration enforcement operation — till they are often reunited with a US-based sponsor, like a dad or mum.
Over the final 12 months, the Trump administration has made it more durable for folks and guardians to retrieve their youngsters from authorities custody and directed federal brokers to ask migrant teenagers whether or not they need to voluntarily depart the nation.
Issues at the Children’s Village, nonetheless, seem to pre-date the Trump administration — and continued in current months.
NCS relied on a number of sources, together with inside federal company paperwork, in addition to baby welfare consultants, present and former HHS officers, and sources accustomed to the Children’s Village to doc the allegations levied in opposition to the shelter.
In a assertion to NCS, a spokesperson for the Children’s Village stated: “We have zero tolerance for any form of punishment.”
“All teens in our care deserve the highest level of care, support, and professionalism from every adult responsible for their well-being. Allegations of employee misconduct are deeply distressing, and if received, we make an immediate report to the authorities. We will take all necessary steps to ensure that any staff member found to have engaged in misconduct is addressed appropriately and without hesitation,” the spokesperson added.
The shelter, which has housed a whole lot of migrant youngsters aged 12 and up over time, stopped receiving children in late January — and those that had been of their care have been moved elsewhere — over “significant child welfare concerns,” in keeping with an inside HHS doc reviewed by NCS.
One teen who was transferred to a different facility recalled spending 4 days alone in what he described as a “red room” with a crimson gentle and no door, in keeping with an account shared with a shelter clinician in early January and reviewed by NCS .
Over these 4 days, the teenager stated he didn’t bathe and was solely offered bread for meals. The boy stated the room was situated close to the shelter’s safety workers workplace, so personnel may monitor him whereas he was confined to the room.
The teen additionally recalled a so-called “special” unit that might swoop in when fights occurred or restraints had been required. He stated he was thrown to the ground and hit, in addition to positioned in restraints, almost two dozen instances.
In a assertion to NCS, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon stated the Office of Refugee Resettlement “takes all allegations of misconduct involving children in its care extremely seriously.”
“Upon receiving an allegation related to this facility, ORR acted immediately to transfer all unaccompanied children to other locations and referred the matter to the appropriate federal investigative authorities. The safety and well-being of children in ORR care is a top priority, and any credible concerns are addressed swiftly and thoroughly,” Nixon added.
According to baby welfare consultants, a number of teenagers housed within the facility have shared comparable experiences concerning the “special” unit. Concerns over that group’s response — which allegedly concerned bodily abuse — had been raised to New York authorities in recent times, two sources stated.
Unaccompanied minors who crossed the Southern border could quickly lose vital authorized service
A supply accustomed to the Children’s Village stated that the shelter acquired minors final 12 months with acute behavioral points from different ORR suppliers, and they often required bodily interventions, arguing that it was for his or her security and that of others. The identical supply stated that as of late 2025, exterior displays that reviewed one of the Children’s Village immigrant applications reported that youngsters felt protected and safe.
The shelter has program workers who work with youngsters and supervise them and individually safety workers who roam the campus and are known as in if there’s a struggle or altercation or if a baby is behaving in an aggressive method. The allegations shared with NCS had been primarily in opposition to the safety workers, additionally known as the “special” group.
Other youngsters had been additionally held in what children known as the “red room,” however was identified amongst workers because the “crisis room,” and held there for hours as punishment for conduct, in keeping with one other supply accustomed to Children’s Village.
New York regulations permit for so-called “de-escalation rooms” to “assist in calming a child’s escalating behavior” however not as a type of punishment. A toddler must consent with the intention to be positioned in a de-escalation room. Sources say the “red room” at the Children’s Village was not voluntary.
Sources described the “red room,” because it was informally identified, as a tight area that acquired its title from the crimson ground and crimson carpet lining the partitions. There is a singular overhead gentle and no door. There is nothing else within the room.
“It sounds like real abuse,” one of the sources stated. “If a kid was subjected to that in their home, not allowed to shower, kept in a confined space for that long, they’d be considered to be in an abusive situation.”
Neha Desai, managing director of Children’s Human Rights & Dignity at the National Center for Youth Law, informed NCS her group spoke with youngsters at Children’s Village in 2019 who additionally reported alleged abuse, bodily restraints and use of a “red room.”
“One youth described a ‘special unit’ of men who came in when children were ‘behaving badly.’ The youth told us he saw the men in this unit throwing children against the wall,” she stated, including that one other boy described “being physically restrained by the ‘special unit’” and taken to the “red room.”
Complaints have been submitted with the New York State Justice Center over circumstances at the Children’s Village in recent times, in keeping with baby welfare consultants. Some of the kids who had been housed at the power have been contacted by authorities with the Justice Center in current weeks, in keeping with these consultants .
One of the sources accustomed to the Children’s Village equally informed NCS that as a type of oversight, the shelter reviews allegations of workers misconduct towards children to ORR and the New York State Justice Center.
The New York State Justice Center, which receives reviews of abuse and neglect, declined to remark particularly on what reviews its acquired however informed NCS in a assertion that “The Children’s Village is within the Justice Center’s jurisdiction,” however that “specific information on investigation findings would require” a file request.
NCS additionally submitted a file request.
Founded in 1851, the Children’s Village offers companies for kids in want in New York in addition to migrant youngsters who arrived within the US with out a guardian, according to its website.
The facility gives normal look after migrant youngsters, together with a therapeutic group house for kids scuffling with psychological well being, in addition to a class often known as heightened supervision, which additionally contains teenage boys whose historical past, like a earlier run in with legislation enforcement, or present conduct requires extra supervision by workers.
The Dobbs Ferry location is laid out like a campus with dozens of cottages serving a selection of applications and youngsters, together with US citizen children. The campus contains a recreation heart, a medical clinic, a chapel and a faculty. There are 18 cottages assigned to migrant youngsters and round 17 cottages assigned for US citizen children who could also be there for a quantity of causes, together with children in foster care and these needing a safe residential setting given their historical past, in keeping with the supply accustomed to the Children’s Village.
There had been round 50 migrant youngsters or fewer at the power during the last 12 months. The Children’s Village can accommodate 187 migrant youngsters.
According to ORR, heightened supervision amenities “maintain stricter security measures than a shelter, include close staff supervision, and extra support.” The allegations concerning the therapy of teenage boys at the Children’s Village seem to largely be about their time within the heightened supervision facility.
The children at the power are a combine of those that arrived at the US-Mexico border alone or as a end result of an inside enforcement motion the place their sponsor was detained with out them — a phenomenon that has occurred extra regularly below the Trump administration’s newest crackdown.
The children have often skilled a kind of trauma and are in custody for a extended interval.
“They might be acting out for a variety of reasons and sometimes staff will interpret it as threatening when in fact it could be mental health issues or frustration about their situation,” a former Health and Human Services official informed NCS.
“You start with a fraught position where it’s not even clear that some of the kids in those facilities should be in them and the more closed nature of it could create potential problems,” they added.
Mark Greenberg, a former senior Health and Human Services official, stated there are a set of core necessities that ought to apply to all baby migrant amenities.
“They have behavior management strategies, that they’re trauma informed, that they don’t use or threaten corporal punishment. That they do not use seclusion, except on an emergency basis and only that they don’t use personal restraints except on an emergency basis,” he stated.
Greenberg famous that any allegations of bodily abuse are notably regarding.
“There should not be beatings under any circumstances. That’s clear and not going to vary on the nature of the facility,” Greenberg added. “This sounds extreme and deeply disturbing and not something that’s supposed to happen,” Greenberg stated of the Children’s Village allegations.
ORR funds 171 facilities and programs throughout 24 states for the care of unaccompanied youngsters till they are often positioned with a so-called sponsor, like a dad or mum or relative. The amenities usually are not designed for long-term stays, however amid a spate of new restrictions which have made it more durable for teenagers to be launched to sponsors, youngsters are remaining in custody for weeks, if not months.
There had been 2,173 migrant youngsters in HHS custody in March, in keeping with the latest available federal figures. The common size of keep at a facility in fiscal 12 months 2025 was 117 days, according to federal data, up threefold from the 12 months prior.
A 2019 HHS inspector common report said the Children’s Village acquired $16.7 million in federal funds for the care and placement of almost 500 youngsters when the HHS carried out its review.
That report, which was half of a broader review of ORR amenities, discovered “potentially harmful conditions,” like unsanitary circumstances in some bogs and accessibility to dangerous cleansing merchandise, and issues over the use of federal funds. The Children’s Village disagreed with many of the findings within the inspector common’s report however agreed to take corrective actions.
An ad-hoc monitoring go to carried out in January by federal officers revealed “significant child welfare concerns” that had been elevated to ORR, in keeping with a supply accustomed to the matter.
The go to was prompted by an unaccompanied minor who, after being moved to a different placement, reported abuse.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement officers launched a mission to evaluate the scope of incidents at the power, in keeping with an HHS official.
“As part of its oversight work, ORR can run checks of significant incident reports to figure out how frequently a situation has happened and at which providers. It would be situation dependent, but certainly that would be done when there was a complaint about a specific provider,” stated Jen Smyers, a former ORR deputy director who served below former President Joe Biden.