A 17-year-old girl in New York’s North Country has been living in hospitals since late August, not because she needs inpatient care, but because there is nowhere else for her to go. A June stay-away order barred her from returning to her caregiver’s home following reported behavior problems, and in the months since, she has moved through four homes and four facilities. Her lawyer, Rebecca Simser, says the teen doesn’t qualify for voluntary or involuntary inpatient treatment, so she’s sitting in emergency room beds rather than receiving one-on-one mental health care. She’s also not in school.
Simser is asking a court to declare her client “destitute” so the Department of Social Services would be required to take custody. According to Simser, Jefferson County DSS has told her it will not file that petition, leaving the teenager in a kind of legal and emotional limbo that hospitals were never designed to handle.
The scope of this problem extends well beyond one case. State data shows that 52 children experienced delayed hospital discharges over three months last year, adding up to more than 5,100 days of medically unnecessary inpatient care. These are kids occupying hospital beds not because they need medical treatment, but because the system lacks a safe place to send them. What do you think should happen when a minor has nowhere else to go? Share your thoughts with us.
