Texas inspectors find series of violations at youth shelters

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - State regulators found approximately 150 health violations at more than a dozen shelters across Texas housing children taken into custody while attempting to cross the border illegally.

The Houston Chronicle reports violations over the last two years include inadequate supervision, lack of timely medical care and children given medicine to which they were allergic.

The shelters are operated by Southwest Key Programs, which runs 16 of the 35 shelters in Texas that contract with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Southwest Key housed nearly 2,600 children last month.

The inspection reports offer a rare glimpse inside shelters housing children who were either separated from their parents by authorities or who attempted to cross the border alone.

A Southwest Key spokeswoman says the violations amount to less than 1 percent of the standards that were reviewed by regulators.

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