Introduction

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked by the Congress to review state and federal oversight of residential facilities for youth in response to a number of allegations of abuse and neglect within these facilities. As part of this review, GAO is administering national Web-based surveys to three state agencies--child welfare, health and mental health, and juvenile justice-- to determine how states provide oversight for government and private residential facilities for youth within their state. You were identified as the primary contact for health and human services in your state. GAO plans to summarize the information states provide in a report. Although most responses will be aggregated, individual state responses may be used as illustrative examples. Your participation in this survey will help GAO provide the Congress with a national perspective regarding state oversight of residential programs for youth. The scope of GAO's review is summarized on the next page. We ask that you pay particular attention to the scope statement and limit your responses only to facilities within the scope. Please coordinate with other staff in your agency to ensure that your agency's response covers all the facilities included in the scope. If you have any questions about the scope of GAO's review, please call one of the GAO staff persons listed on the contact page below.

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Full Report: GAO-08-346

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