(CNN)The federal agency charged with the care of unaccompanied migrant children couldn't quickly identify and address cases of sexual misconduct in 2018, hindering its ability to prevent future incidents, according to a newly-released watchdog report obtained by CNN.
The findings are the latest in a series of reports prompted by the Trump administration's controversial "zero tolerance" policy, which led to the separation of thousands of families, and reveal another set of flaws in the government's handling of children.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement has come under scrutiny in recent years over allegations of sexual and physical abuse of minors -- a point acknowledged by the Health and Human Services inspector general as a reason for opening up the review.
While incidents laid out in Thursday's report range in type and severity, the inspector general found that reporting systems in place hindered the agency's ability to identify threats and prevent future incidents.
"This ability is critical because even a single individual can cause immeasurable harm if he or she poses a threat to the well-being of minors in ORR's care," the report states.
In two reports Thursday, the HHS inspector general detailed findings that reveal shortcomings in the agency's safety measures, including an ineffective reporting system for incidents of sexual misconduct and failure to include required security measures in inspection checklists.
Migrant children who arrive at the US-Mexico border without a parent or guardian are taken into custody by the Department of Homeland Security and referred to US Health and Human Services. While the children are in care, case managers work to place them with a sponsor in the United States.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, an agency within the Health and Human Services Department, requires facilities to flag any "significant incidents" -- ranging from medical emergencies, self-harm, runaway attempts and incidents of a sexual nature -- through reports. Incidents can happen before children were in custody or while in custody.
The HHS inspector general analyzed incident reports submitted to ORR by 45 ORR-funded facilities between January 1, 2018, and July 31, 2018 -- and conducted site visits in August and September 2018 -- to, in part, examine information collection within the incident reporting system. At the time, the selected facilities cared for 72% of the minors in custody.
Between January and July 2018, 761 incidents "involving conduct of a sexual nature" had been submitted by the selected facilities, representing around 3.5% of the total number of incidents that facilities reported to ORR during that time period.
Half of the 761 incidents fell under the category of "inappropriate sexual behavior," which includes blowing a kiss to someone or making sexual comments or gestures, while 32% of the incidents were considered to be "sexual abuse."
The overwhelming majority of the incident reports described conduct between minors, particularly teenagers, according to the report. Of those, some included consensual activity like kissing, which must also be reported by facilities.
Other incidents involved alleged sexual conduct by facility staff members against a minor, ranging from a youth care worker accidentally opening a bathroom door while a minor was inside to a staff member kissing a teenager.
The HHS inspector general found that systems in place to capture incidents were not effective for oversight purposes.
"In response to incidents of a sexual nature that facilities report to ORR as Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment, ORR policy requires that facilities take certain immediate steps to protect minors in their care," the report states. "However, ORR's incident reporting system lacks designated fields for facilities to indicate whether they took all required steps or to explain why they did not."
Among the designated fields missing was whether facility staff members accused of sexual conduct against a minor have been suspended as required.
Facility staff also expressed confusion in determining which incidents should be reported, according to interviews with the HHS IG.
One program director included in the report said, "With ORR, when we seek help, we get different answers. We talk to other programs and have learned that for the same type of situation, a (Federal field specialist) for one program gives one answer but a (Federal field specialist) for another program will give a different answer."
The inspector general also identified issues with checklists used by facility staff to check physical security measures and found a lack of reporting up to ORR.
Physical security measures include controlled entry and exit from premises, communications and alarm systems for all residential areas and video monitoring, according to the report. Of the 40 facilities' inspection checklists, 39 were missing prompts to check one or more required physical security measures, the HHS IG found, prompting concern about risks to children.
"If facilities do not regularly check that their security measures are functioning, children potentially could be exposed to safety risks. For example, if a facility has inadequate controlled entry and exit measures, it could lead to unauthorized individuals entering a facility or children leaving unnoticed," the report states.
To remedy the issues, the HHS IG listed recommendations on both reports. On reporting, the watchdog suggested systematically collecting key information about incidents "that allows for efficient and effective oversight," tracking and trending incident report information "to identify opportunities to better safeguard minors," addressing staffing shortages and improving guidance.
In regards to physical security measures, the inspector general recommended that facilities "develop and implement" methods to make sure checklists include all required measures, that results are regularly reported and that ORR determine whether enhanced measures are necessary.
The Administration for Children and Families, of which ORR is a part, agreed on all accounts and described efforts underway to address the recommendations, including rolling out a new system that will have an "upgraded ability to capture additional information" about incident reports of sexual conduct and updating training materials. The federal agency also said it has developed new measures to ensure all required physical security measures are checked.