TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Andrew Martinez was 18 and hoping to become a firefighter when his heart suddenly stopped. The cardiac arrest and oxygen deprivation left him with brain damage, and the outgoing high school senior ended up in The Kidz Korner, a nursing home for children in Plantation, Fla.

Andrew’s dad, Marcello Martinez, said he would love to care for his son, now 20, at home, but he was never told he could have in-home care. Other parents of children with special needs in Florida have the same story. A U.S. Justice Department investigation found that the state “has planned, structured and administered a system of care that has led to the unnecessary segregation and isolation of children, often for many years, in nursing facilities.”

Children in nursing homes are big business. Each child cared for in a nursing home costs $550 a day, more than twice what Florida pays for elderly residents and even more than the state pays for around-the-clock nursing care at home, the state conceded in court documents.

“If you follow the money, you’ll see the influence,” said Nancy Argenziano, a Republican who served in both the Florida House and Senate, where she chaired the committee overseeing nursing homes. “It’s incredible.”