PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The U.S. Department of Justice and Rhode Island have struck a deal over allegations the state's child welfare agency violated the civil rights of hundreds of children who were warehoused in a psychiatric hospital. Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha announced the five-year agreement Thursday, saying the R.I. Department of Children, Youth and Families must now work under a court-appointed monitor to come into compliance with multiple federal laws he said have been violated. TARGET 12: Federal probe finds RI regularly warehoused children in psychiatric hospital The agreement comes six months after Cunha unveiled the results of an investigation that alleged DCYF had regularly placed children and teenagers with behavior issues at Bradley Hospital. The DOJ found the children were left to languish, sometimes for more than a year, instead of being discharged to more appropriate levels of care. A Target 12 investigation first revealed the issue in 2020. "This is not a declaration of victory," Cunha said during a news conference. "Success is not a court filing. Success is getting kids who don't need to be there out of a locked ward and back into safe homes and communities with a chance to laugh, to play, to learn and to have a childhood. But today is an important step towards that goal." ‘It’s inhumane’: DCYF kids stuck at RI psychiatric hospital without education As part of the agreement, DCYF must hire a consultant to assess the overarching problems and then make recommendations. The state will then create an implementation plan that must receive approval from the court-appointed monitor. The child welfare agency must also create an advisory group to solicit community input, and the state is expected to release progress reports publicly each quarter. "The eyes of this office, the eyes of a federal judge, and equally importantly, I hope and believe, the eyes of the public will remain on this issue to ensure that no child in our state is deprived of their civil rights in this way," Cunha said. To help address the issue of warehousing, which state officials have blamed on staffing and bed shortages in the past, Cunha said the state must come up with "a workforce development plan to address workforce shortages." The state is also expected to recruit and retain more therapeutic foster care parents, and offer mobile-crisis assistance "in order to stabilize emergencies and keep children out of hospitals in the first place," he added. The consent decree covers children who are admitted to Bradley, along with children with open cases with DCYF, children in state custody and children who are receiving voluntary behavioral health care. Cunha emphasized Bradley, an East Providence behavioral hospital, wasn't to blame for the warehousing. The agreement also covers children admitted to an emergency room for behavioral issues three or more times in the past year. Cunha called this group an "at-risk population." The five-year agreement will be monitored by the court and Cunha said he's confident the oversight will spur state officials to do what's needed to rectify the problem, which has persisted unabated for years. He declined to comment specifically on internal negotiations between his office and the state, but he acknowledged there would be costs associated with fixing the problems, saying the state would be responsible for those expenses. If the state doesn't fix the problems, he added, the court can hold DCYF in contempt. "The district court has the ability to impose any number of remedies for the violation of its order," he said. The consent decree filed Thursday morning had not yet been assigned to a U.S. District Court judge. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. Eli Sherman ([email protected]) is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook. Tim White contributed to this report. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Watch Now: Livestreaming SIGN UP NOW