Amanda Simmons Publishes “Judicial Solutions to End Institutional Child Abuse” in the ABA Judicial Division Record
Amanda Simmons, founder of Ambika Law, PC, authored “Judicial Solutions to End Institutional Child Abuse,” published in the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division Record (Winter 2025). Written for a judicial audience, the article pairs a candid account of the “troubled teen industry” with a practical Judicial Bench Card for Congregate Care Placements — a checklist judges can use to protect children before and during placement in a residential treatment facility.
The ABA Judicial Division is the arm of the American Bar Association that serves judges and judicial-system professionals, and its Record is the Division’s member publication. Reaching sitting judges directly, it is an ideal forum for Simmons’s central message: that an informed, proactive judiciary is the final safety net for a child facing long-term placement far from home.
Simmons opens with her own experience. As a teenager she was sent to a therapeutic boarding school later described in the media as a “torture chamber,” where she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a headmaster who had already pled guilty to similar crimes against another student. Despite that history, the judge imposed only a minimal punishment — a fine and community service — and allowed him to remain in a position of authority over vulnerable young women. The leniency of that decision, she writes, still haunts her, and it grounds the article’s core conviction: that judges who understand the dangers of these institutions can prevent harm before it happens.
The article then surveys the landscape. The troubled teen industry spans group homes, therapeutic boarding schools, and other residential treatment centers that operate with minimal regulation and often house children placed by juvenile justice, child welfare, schools, and private payers all at once. More than $23 billion is spent annually on these placements, yet oversight remains inconsistent and children are frequently sent out of state — introducing jurisdictional confusion, weak reporting systems, and opaque licensing standards. Simmons connects private-equity profit motives and the 2007 “Kids for Cash” scandal to a system that too often prioritizes revenue over children’s welfare, and she situates the reform effort within the ABA’s 2023 Resolution 605 and the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
The heart of the piece is the Judicial Bench Card, which Simmons developed over the past year with input from judges and fellow attorneys. Its guiding principle is that, ideally, a child should be treated within their own community and not sent to residential care at all — but where placement is unavoidable, the judiciary must ensure the child is as safe as possible and returned home without unnecessary delay. To that end, the bench card equips judges with pointed questions to ask about any facility, including:
Whether children are strip-searched on admission, a practice Simmons notes is deeply traumatizing and yields contraband in less than 1% of cases;
How far the facility is from the child’s home, and whether in-state alternatives were considered before an out-of-state placement — with strict adherence to the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) when one is unavoidable;
Whether the program uses solitary confinement, seclusion, physical or chemical restraint, or isolation, and whether written policies govern them;
The average length of stay and the strength of the discharge and reintegration plan, including school and community supports;
The credentials, experience, and supervision of counselors and therapists;
How a child can report abuse promptly and confidentially, without fear of consequences;
Whether guardians ad litem and attorneys are permitted unannounced visits;
How often, and by what means, a child may contact family and counsel, and what visitation is provided;
Whether loss of contact, forced silence, or restricted communication is used as punishment;
Whether children are penalized for criticizing the facility under points or level systems;
What the facility’s reporting requirements are and how it reports to state agencies;
Whether the education provided complies with the child’s IEP and the IDEA;
What recreation and opportunities for self-expression are available;
The cost per day — often exceeding $1,000 — and whether out-of-state marketing is driven by Medicaid reimbursement; and
The facility’s maximum capacity and staffing levels, to guard against overcrowding and neglect.
By turning oversight into a concrete set of questions, the bench card gives judges a structured way to scrutinize placements and demand accountability. The article reflects Ambika Law’s trauma-informed mission and Simmons’s conviction that a single, well-informed judge can change the course of a child’s life.
Read the full article in the ABA Judicial Division Record: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/judicial/resources/jd-record/2025/judicial-solutions-end-institutional-child-abuse/
