News
What We Do: Monitoring Facilities and Institutions
March 3, 2025
What is monitoring?
Through our access authority, Disability Rights South Carolina has the power to access sites where services and treatment are provided to individuals with disabilities. With this authority, our advocates conduct site visits to monitor compliance regarding the rights and safety of clients and/or speak with clients/staff/service providers to provide information and training.
What is the goal of monitoring?
The goal is to ensure safety and appropriate care for individuals with disabilities. When we discover problems, we advocate for reports to be made so abuse/neglect can be investigated/addressed and improvements to policies and procedures to address those issues.
What do we do during a site visit?
The protocol can vary based on the site. For example, monitoring for a detention center may look different from monitoring conducted at a Community Residential Care Facility (CRCF) also known as an assisted living facility. Some examples of the things we do are:
- Talk with clients to get an understanding of their concerns
- Talk with staff
- Conduct a walk-through of the site to assess any regulatory concerns and to gain an understanding of the clients’ day-to-day lives.
- Ensure that the clients know their rights.
- Ensure that clients know how to contact us with questions and concerns
- Ensure that our contact information is posted on-site at the end of our visits.
- Check to see if facilities are notifying clients of their rights through posters about DRSC and other entities that address abuse and neglect and rights violations.
Last fiscal year our team conducted 137 monitoring visits
- Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ): 30 visits including the Broad River Road campus and DJJ regional evaluation centers
- Department of Disabilities and Special Needs Regional Centers: 16 visits spread over the 5 regional centers
- Community Residential Care Facilities (CRCF): 71 visits
- Psychiatric Hospitals: 8 visits
- Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTF): 8 visits to PRTFs for juveniles
- Community Training Homes-II (CTH-II): 4 visits