RALEIGH – The North Carolina Division of Facility Services issued a summary suspension last week of the license for a group home based in Charlotte where a child died on Sept. 11, after being restrained by staff.

The suspension of the license for Covenant Group Home No. 2, at Snow Creek Lane, was effective Sept. 16. The home is a four-bed residential treatment facility for children and adolescents who are emotionally disturbed or who have a mental illness. The suspension forbids new admissions, and requires relocation of any children remaining in the home. Currently there are no children in the care of the home.

The suspension is based on a finding by the Mental Health Licensure and Certification Section of the division. Conditions at the group home “present an imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the clients and that emergency action is required to remove the danger,” states a letter delivered to Ronda Carson, executive director of the home, from Stephanie Alexander, chief of the section.

The suspension is a preliminary result of a thorough on-going investigation of the home by surveyors from the state agency which turned up the following violations:

-- The facility failed to assure that staff trained in the use of emergency safety interventions including physical restraints and alternatives to physical restraints.

-- The facility failed to assure that restrictive measures not be used in a manner that causes harm or abuse.

-- The facility staff failed to continually assess and monitor the physical and psychological well-being of the client and the safe use of restrictive intervention.

-- The facility staff failed to assure that the restrictive intervention was discontinued immediately at any indication of risk to the client’s health or safety.

Covenant Group Home No. 2 may contest the summary suspension of its license by filing a petition for a contested case hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings within 30 days.

The agency’s investigation into the death of the client continues, and upon its completion an assessment will be made regarding the facility’s status.

Source: North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services