Minnesota regulators have documented several incidents of sexual contact involving troubled and mentally ill children and teens at the St. Cloud Children's Home, and have cited the facility for lax supervision.
In findings issued late last month, the state Department of Human Services fined the home $5,000 and placed its license on conditional status for two years after investigating eight allegations of sexual contact that occurred between January and June 2011.
The home was blamed in six of the allegations — in some cases for poor supervision of the children and teens, and in others because the home failed to conduct required assessments of the children for their risk of committing sexual offenses.
In one incident, a 17-year-old reportedly forced a 15-year-old to perform oral sex while a staff worker was just down the hall, trying to bond with other teen residents over a game of Guitar Hero. The victim in that case had a history of being physically and sexually abused.
While the home, operated by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud, has made improvements, a penalty was warranted due to the breakdowns in supervision that allowed the incidents to occur, said Jerry Kerber, inspector general for the department.
"That lack of supervision, from our perspective, is what really contributed to some of the incidents, including some sexually exploitive behaviors," Kerber said on Wednesday.
No similar case like this has occurred in at least five years, he added.
Catholic Charities agreed to the fines and findings that the home was responsible for maltreatment. But it appealed the conditional license on Friday on the grounds that it has carried out many of the state's requested improvements.
