NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Sex trafficking and meth use.
Both have happened to children spending the night in DCS offices and transitional homes, according to a report that examines "severe child abuse" in Tennessee.
The 17-member Second Look Commission reviews child abuse cases across the state and reports back to the legislature with recommendations.
This year's report had a section involving children staying in the Department of Children's Services' "Transition Homes and Offices."
It raised questions about supervision in those settings, including a child reported using meth while staying in a DCS office, and one child convinced a younger child to run away from a transitional home and then sex trafficked the child.
Attorney Marcia Lowry is with A Better Childhood, which has brought a class action lawsuit against DCS on behalf of foster kids in state custody.
"You can't expect kids to stay in offices and not have terrible things happen," Lowry said.
"If kids have access to meth, then what kind of supervision are they getting? There's just no supervision for these kids," Lowry said.
The report found DCS forced the child to give up the meth, take a drug test and searched his belongings - but there was no follow-up or investigation to see if other kids had access to Meth.
Late last year, the Tennessee Comptroller blasted DCS for housing hundreds of kids in offices overnight in 2025.
One child spend more than100 nights in a DCS office.
DCS Commissioner Margie Quin told lawmakers earlier this month that fewer kids are staying in offices at the start of 2026.
"We are working our way out of this problem. We have a plan to work our way out of this problem," Commissioner Quin said.
Commissioner Margie Quin put up pictures of facilities DCS plans to build called Welcome Centers across the state as part of the DCS "real estate plan."
She said the Welcome Center would house kids when they first come into state custody.
But DCS will not break ground on those facilities until late this year, which means that hard-to-place kids will likely still go into transition homes.
Transition homes were set up across the state to keep kids from having to stay in offices while waiting to be placed in foster care.
"It's going to continue to improve the legislature has resourced DCS with historic resources," Commissioner Quin said.
The Second Look commission found "a child with a history of being sex trafficked," and "recruiting others" ran away from a transition home with a younger child and "trafficked the younger child."
The report found DCS simply returned the older child to a transition home with other children, meaning the runaway could recruit others for trafficking.
"What do we expect to happen to these kids? They are being destroyed by these circumstances," Attorney Marcia Lowry said.
The Second Look Commission found repeated runaways at transition homes were not properly documented.
One child ran away eight times, but only two reports were filed.
Commissioner Quin told lawmakers they would "do a better job monitoring what's going on in these transition homes."
DCS has said hard to place kids have stayed in offices in other states across the country.
But Marcia Lowry said Tennessee is unusually bad, and that is why A Better Childhood filed the class action lawsuit.
