The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "human services" ...
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Hospital at Risk
My investigation of the Minnesota Security Hospital, a state-run facility that provides psychiatric treatment to nearly 400 adults deemed "mentally ill and dangerous," uncovered high rates of violence and injuries of employees and patients at the facility, a critical shortage of psychiatrists, and widespread confusion among employees about what to do when a patient becomes violent. I found that much of confusion was the result of the abrasive, threatening management style of head administrator David Proffitt, who was hired in 2011 to reform the facility. I began investigating Proffitt and found he was hired without a basic background check. I uncovered many troubling details from Proffitt's past, including domestic violence, a PhD from a now-defunct online degree mill, a forced resignation from his previous job as the administrator of a private psychiatric hospital in Maine, and other failings. The state ordered Proffitt to resign and the Minnesota legislative auditor began an audit of the department's hiring practices. The assistant commissioner of the Department of Human Services who led the hiring search also resigned. The governor proposed $40 million in renovations to address safety concerns. Regulators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration visited the facility for the first time in 21 years. The facility also implemented new training for employees to reduce violence. My investigation of the facility continues.
Tags: Psychiatrists; domestic violence; injuries
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Failed to Death: Protecting Colorado’s Children
In a joint investigation with the Denver Post, 9NEWS uncovered 72 of the 175 Colorado children who have died of child abuse over the past 5 years were known to the agency that is supposed to keep them safe--human services. The series revealed how those children were “Failed to Death” by each and every person they had ever known. Reporters fought for access to public documents, police reports, and court records, along with convincing key stakeholders to allow them unprecedented access to every step of the child welfare process. The reporters uncovered a system where accountability and transparency is nearly non-existent and caseworkers find it nearly impossible to assess which children will live and which will not. Since the series first aired, the Colorado Legislature has put a priority on fixing the child welfare system.
Tags: child welfare; FOIA
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Broken Shield: Police force fails to protect state’s most vulnerable residents
Decades ago, California created a special police force to investigate crimes and unexplained injuries inflicted upon some of society’s most vulnerable citizens – men and women with severe autism and cerebral palsy living in taxpayer-funded institutions. This police force, the Office of Protective Services, works exclusively at state developmental centers that have been the scene of horrific abuses. We sought to bring this story to readers in many forms, from working on all platforms, distributing condensed versions and delivering broadcast video stories to our partners, to creating a graphic novel video on one particularly human story -- a woman who was raped, apparently by a janitor. We also created an ebook of the series of stories and an interactive tracker that detailed key milestones of legislation drafted and signed into law. Producing this work on every platform helped to maximize audience reach and heighten the impact.
Tags: Autism; cerebral palsy; taxes; taxpayers; Office of Protective Services; abuse
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Hidden suffering, hidden death
The deaths of severely disabled Illinois residents who lived at home cared for by friends and relatives were not being investigated by the state agency specially created to protect them — the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Human Services. The reason given for not investigating?The agency's internal documents showed that that OIG considered the dead to be "ineligible for services," even when victims died shortly after being hospitalized on an emergency basis and after the agency had received calls on its hotline alleging that the disabled person had been abused or neglected. The Belleville News-Democrat's wide-ranging investigation initially focused on the deaths of 53 of these home bound disabled adults.
Tags: Department of Human Service; Office of the Inspector General; OIGl; victims
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Bad Medicine
"This series details the history of a Kansas City area neurosurgeon who has a long history of malpractice cases involving paralysis, disfigurement and deaths yet maintains a spotless Kansas medical license."
Tags: FOI; malpractice; Department of Health and Human Services
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Watchdog website and its web pages
The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com started this project in 2008 with the Right to Know page, a collection of databases developed internally to go along with stories and links to relevant public information. That site became part of the Watchdog page in 2009. In 2010, the staff continued to evolve the Watchdog page with "mini-sites" of investigative topics, such as a political corruption case at the Oklahoma Legislature; the staff's FOI fight over the birth dates of public employees; and allegations of bid-rigging with a married lawmaker and lobbyist for a private company seeking a state juvenile justice contract. Other "mini-sites" under Watchdog include ongoing coverage of the state Department of Human Services and the federal stimulus package.
Tags: continuous coverage; online; watchdog; bid-rigging; Department of Human Services; federal stimulus; FOI; Right to Know
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Trafficked
Youth Radio covered the issue of human trafficking into the sex trade, a problem prevalent in Oakland. Their coverage focused on the perspectives of the trafficked teenagers.The story "pieces together what life is like for girls who are kidnapped or ensnared by pimps -- and how law enforcement criminalizes juvenile victims, arresting them three times as often as the traffickers who exploit them."
Tags: prostitution; human trafficking; kidnapping; Youth and Family Services; Oakland, California; sex trade
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Home or Nursing Home: America's Empty Promise to Give the Elderly and Disabled a Choice
"A new legal right gives the elderly and young people with disabilities in the Medicaid program the right to get their long-term health care at home, not in a nursing home. But the NPR investigation found that thise new right to choose one's care at home is largely denied to those who want it."
Tags: nursing home; elder care; disabled; long-term care; medical care; community-based care; Department of Health and Human Services; American with Disabilities Act; Olmstead Decision
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Sold On Craigslist
The popular classified website Craigslist was found to be selling underage prostitutes through it's adult services section. The website was not screening ads as promised to uncover trafficking and it was profiting from the sales.
Tags: Craigslist; underage prostitution; prostitution; human trafficking; adult services; classified; advertising; prostitute
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"Welfare Waste"
Welfare funds can be, and often are, misused. A review of "two million state welfare transactions" by the KSTP-TV team reveals that EBT cards were used more than 100 times in liquor stores during the course of one month. They also found the money was spent on things like lottery tickets and tattoos, and the practice is entirely legal.
Tags: FOI; Department of Human Services; EBT; Minnesota; Virgin Islands; Data Practices Act