Adopted and Locked Away: Kids promised 'forever homes' instead confined in for-profit institutions

[Jilly_in_VA]

*Note: This is a horror story. Do not read all the way through unless you have a strong stomach OR are prepared to raise hell.

She was 13 years old and scared of the dark when she arrived at a residential treatment center that had promised her adoptive parents it would help her heal — from the pain of not knowing who her mother was or why she’d given her away.

Kate plugged in a night light in the dorm room. She had needed one since she was sexually assaulted at another facility, she said.

Her roommate turned it off. She panicked. She ran and then curled into a ball, heaving, weeping. Three employees followed her — to comfort her, Kate thought.

Instead, they threw her face first into the carpet, she said, yelling that she was “OIC” — “out of instructional control.” For what seemed like an hour, they held her down, Kate said, one on each arm, the third holding her legs.

Kate would be institutionalized for most of her adolescence — until she could sign herself out as an adult. The Utah facility was her third stop in a sprawling network of loosely regulated, for-profit residential treatment centers, wilderness programs and boarding schools that’s become known as the “troubled teen industry.”

https://apnews.com/article/adopted-children-boarding-schools-treatment-investigation-e5d8dab2e4db1f2f4c5abbfaf0d97c52

It gets a whole lot worse. I was ready to cry by the time I reached the end. This "troubled teen industry" needs to be ended once and for all. I thank Paris Hilton for the Her work on it, but more needs to be done NOW.

[Faux pas]

1. ...

[yellow dahlia]

2. Bookmarking to read,

after I eat my lunch.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. It might cause you to lose your lunch

OTOH, if you read it before, you might not be able to eat your lunch. You decide.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. publicly traded company Acadia Healthcare has been scrutinized as it has come to dominate the business. Lesser known ent

publicly traded company Acadia Healthcare has been scrutinized as it has come to dominate the business. Lesser known entities like FHW and Embark Behavioral Health are often backed by private equity firms, which aren’t required to disclose their inner workings publicly. Those investor groups didn’t respond for comment.

Private equity’s focus on fast profits is especially troublesome, said Eileen O’Grady, who researched the industry for a 2022 report for the watchdog organization Private Equity Stakeholder Project. She found problematic facilities often reopen under new names, which makes them harder to track and less accountable to litigation.

[OGBuzz]

5. That was difficult to read. I thought child abuse is illegal in America.

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. It's supposed to be

These outfits get away with it as "treatment" because they are so poorly regulated.

[Kid Berwyn]

7. A Forever Home

Adoption and Fostering should not be for profit.

Thank you for the heads-up, Jilly_in_VA. I will be sharing.

[generalbetrayus]

8. "The broader industry was born in Utah and remains concentrated there, but facilities have opened in rural communities

across the country."
Why am I not surprised ...