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DCF details standardized reporting, definitions for restraint and seclusion in youth care
Summary
Department for Children and Families officials told the Human Services Committee they have consolidated incident reporting, drafted a universal reporting instrument to go live in July, and are working with the Office of Child and Family Youth Advocate to improve timeliness and completeness of restraint and seclusion data.
Tyler, the High‑End System of Care Director for the Family Services Division of the Department for Children and Families, told the committee the department has drafted a universal restraint and seclusion reporting instrument and will require programs to submit standardized reports so the department can batch information to the Office of Child and Family Youth Advocate (OCYFA).
The change is designed to give OCYFA and DCF a single, program‑level view of incidents and to reduce gaps created when reports went to different internal offices. Tyler said the department will ask programs to submit all incidents to the specialized services unit and, when appropriate, to the residential licensing investigative unit (RLSI), and that DCF hopes to “be operational with that form starting July.”
Why this matters: OCYFA has been asking for comprehensive incident data. Committee members and DCF staff said inconsistent definitions and fragmented reporting made it difficult to track seclusion and restraint across in‑state and out‑of‑state residential placements, to compare types of restraint, or to respond quickly when incidents indicated a program-level pattern.
Key definitions and limits
Tyler said DCF uses the residential licensing definitions from the state licensing unit (RLSI) to identify restraints and seclusions. The department currently treats mechanical restraints as a subset of “restraint” and does not report chemical restraints in in‑state residential programs because chemical restraint requires hospital‑level administration; Tyler said chemical restraint capacity exists at the Brattleboro Retreat, which is regulated outside DCF. Tyler said, "There are no use of chemical restraints within any of our in state residential programs. A chemical restraint would need to be under the administration of, a hospital level of care." He also said only one in‑state program (Red Clover) has capacity for mechanical restraint.
On seclusion, DCF told the committee it has treated voluntary "time out" differently from seclusion: if a youth is enclosed and cannot leave, or is held in such a space longer than DCF's working threshold (discussed at the hearing as about 15 minutes), that episode is considered seclusion. Multiple committee members stressed that a time‑based threshold is imprecise and asked DCF to tighten definitions.
Past reporting, data gaps and numbers
Officials described a transition from multiple fragmented reporting streams toward a consolidated process. Tyler said reporting historically went to district family services workers, the specialized services unit and RLSI depending on the circumstance; that produced overlaps and omissions. DCF presented year‑by‑year submissions to OCYFA: in an early half‑year of 2023 one program provided most submissions (DCF said roughly 95% of the reported incidents came from that program), the department reported 338 incidents in 2024, and in early 2025 DCF had 11 reporting providers. Tyler said the OCYFA believes some incidents remain unreported and cited a previous OCYFA figure that appeared to indicate dozens of restrained individuals the OCYFA had identified but that did not match DCF's batches.
Standardization, technology and contracts
To address the inconsistencies, DCF has created a six‑page, fillable PDF reporting instrument with all the incident elements Tyler described: incident details, de‑escalation attempts, injuries, supervisory review, parent notification and follow‑up actions. The department and OCYFA also discussed building a web form and ultimately a CCWIS (Child and Family Services Information System) module to automate submission and distribution. Tyler told the committee he will press for restraint and seclusion reporting to be built into CCWIS but noted CCWIS rollouts can take years.
Committee members asked how out‑of‑state contracts reflect Vermont reporting expectations. Tyler said the department is negotiating to include reporting obligations in out‑of‑state contracts and indicated there may be operational negotiation with providers that serve multiple states. Committee members requested sample contract language for both in‑state and out‑of‑state placements.
What the department will do next
Tyler said DCF will require programs to submit all incidents to the specialized services unit so the department can consolidate them, will begin operational use of the universal form in July, and will continue working with OCYFA on access to raw incident reports. OCYFA told DCF it prefers direct access to raw incident reports; DCF is exploring shared‑drive or web solutions while waiting for a CCWIS module.
Ending
DCF officials told the committee they have improved timeliness and structure in reporting but called the system "still imperfect" and said more automation and clearer definitions are needed. Tyler will return to the committee in January with further updates and DCF staff committed to sharing sample contract language for out‑of‑state placements when available.
