NORTH STONINGTON, Conn. (AP) – Two state officials say the Department of Children and Families did not properly oversee a facility where teens were being treated for drug abuse and mental illness were involuntarily injected with medications.

Staff at Stonington Institute used the medications to restrain at least five boys, about 16-years-old, who were considered at the time to be out of control.

Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal say DCF should have discovered the involuntary injections sooner so fewer children would have been “assaulted with needles.”

The practice of involuntary injections has been stopped and no lasting harm to the teens has been reported.

DCF says the agency handled the situation promptly and effectively.