Boys and Girls Home 2101 Court Street, Sioux City, IA 51104

"I was here as resident for approximately a year around the mid 2010s and seeing from past reviews my story needs to be heard too I would not send your child hear nor even think about it 2 particular cases should have dropped as lawsuits I was in a unlawful restraint had a really heavy weight person on my knees 30-45 minutes where to this day I'll forever live with that experience as I have a popping bursitis pocket that is very abnormal and causes daily pain and intimidation methods of seclusion and thinking they can have the upper hand had me locked in the seclusion room I was pissed said they were lucky I couldn't run away and that's when the administrator of all people was the one who was watching me decided to let me go and no one stopped me where they proceeded to think that calling the cops as I did that could stop me by that point when I was found I had called my parents and was signed out within two weeks this place finds the weakest links and the amount of unlawful and unfair treatment is down right disgusting and this place should not be existing still if I had a word in it"

"They locked me in an 8x10 cement box for a week, pulled out for 15 minutes then back in for 7 until a month passed. I lost my mind and my soul. Mind you this was 1997 or ‘96? I’d already been in placement a couple years. Before I got to experience BGH. The rules there were inconceivable. No looking around the room, no looking at the clock, raising your hand to ask to walk through doorways, raising your hand to ask permission to pour your milk from your cereal bowl to your cup but going to time out because you accidentally said yes ma’am instead of sir after being told you could. Getting multiple more confronts from your peers because they had to or else they’d get confronts for enabling. So I said yes ma’am right? Everyone’s hand in the room shoots up. Perfectly straight arm. Perfectly straight hand. If it’s not you’re confronted for laziness. Staff: Yes Ryan? Ryan: Yes ma’am may I confront peer Adam for calling a sir a ma’am? Staff: yes. Ryan: Yes ma’am. Excuse me peer Adam this is a confront for calling a sir ma’am. Me: *raises hand Staff: yes Adam? Me: Yes ma’am my I accept peer Ryan’s confrontation for calling a ma’am a sir? Staff: Yes. Me: Excuse me peer Ryan I accept your confrontation for calling a sir a ma’am. Me: *raises hand Staff: yes Adam? Me: Yes ma’am may I get out of my chair and go to timeout ma’am? Staff: Yes. I get out of my chair but I’m confronted multiple other times. I accept. Timeout is hands and feet together. Hands on knees, back straight not using back of chair because that’s laziness, stare at wall. Don’t move, don’t itch, stare at wall. “Legally” they were supposed to only leave you there 4 hours but I’ve done 6. When asked to resolve my timeout I can’t remember all my confrontations. Standing timeout. Still can’t remember. Got more confronts because I’m flustered and scared because I know the consequences as do all my peers in the milieu staring at their hands on the table in a diamond shape. I’m going to the control room. And if I can’t remember my confronts now I won’t remember in a few days either. Or weeks. But at this point I don’t want to be tortured. I don’t want to know I can take paint off a cement block with a wet washcloth because staff picked me to wash that single brick all day. I don’t like the smell of paint. I’ll be 42 next month and the 5 years of my life from 1994-1999 will never go away. I was in 26 different places all PMIC all for mental health reasons. Never because I was a bad kid. I was 12 when I went in. BGH was by far the most traumatic experience I’ve ever had. I did 2 day treatments in Ames Iowa, C-5 in Sioux City for 30 days (99% spent in control room) and 9 1/2 months Ward House Boys and Girls Home next to C-6 and Brick House was across the park and everyone went to school at Sloan School. I got my nose broke by Chad Johnson a staff member there. Please don’t send your kids to placement. You give people power and they’ll abuse it. I did nothing wrong and to this day I’m messed up. Writing this made my heart race and I sweated with anxiety. This place absolutely ruined me. Shame on you for putting your children through this."

"If I could I would rate this place in the negative but I can't so this place is so unprofessional and unpleasant the walls are falling apart it is so dirty and the staff treat clients like garbage"

"I was sent here as a teenager. A girl on my unit wrote me (also a girl) a note asking me out. And gave it to someone else to give to me. They turned it into staff and instead of pulling us aside quietly they brought all of the girls into the day room and asked me what my answer was in front of everyone. I had to say no because otherwise they would drop my level and I would be stuck there even longer. The other girl ran out of the room crying. This is absolutely abusive and homophobic behavior. The staff didn't face any consequences for their actions."

"i was sent here for 5 months and it honestly was not as bad as everyone makes it seem. I had a great therapist who i truly connected with and most of the staff were very nice and you could tell how much they wanted to help you and see you get better. Although there were some staff member who were just rude, like this one guy with braces who one time said that he hopes people get super mad so he has a reason to put them in a hold. i filed multiple staff reports against him and he came to confront me in person and tell me im wrong for what i did. overall i think it really helped me. We also really didnt get to get out much becuase if one of our peers was in trouble than we all had to stay in. so instead of going down to the lunchroom to eat we had to eat on the ground outside our doors for months."