Tag Archive | runaway
12/06/2022  

896. Trails Carolina

Trials Carolina opened in 2008. In 2014 a 17 year old boy died while on the run from the program. He broke a limb and froze to death. A article from WBTV speak about an abusive environment where people had to wear clothes they have stools in for days due to lack of proper toilet access, the employees only are given the minimum level of training and the issues the teenagers are sent to the program to be cured off, the employees are not equipped to handle.

In 2017 a 17-year-old survived running away from the wilderness program.

While this setup is the normal for most wilderness programs in operation, it still only result in the families losing money without getting the help they hire the wilderness program to cure.

It cannot be fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

05/06/2022  

895. Riverside Academy

Riverside Academy in Wichita, Kansas is now closed. People who passed the building like in the 2010’s could read graffiti with the wording:

  • “Burn this place.”
  • “Youth were abused here … systematically.”
  • “This is a bad place.”

Taking into account that the facility was run by Sequel Youth & Family Services which is a for-profit company which have been the center of a attention by authorities in several states, the statements could very well be true. We can see reports of children running away from the facility before it closed.

It could not have been fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

27/02/2022  

881. Meadowlark Academy (II)

This facility is located near Cheyenne in Wyoming. It is not to be confused with the academy of same name in Kansas. It is owned by an organization named “Rite of Passage”.

The structure of this program is not known. It seems that it very much functions as a group home instead of a full-blown behavior modification program with levels and isolation.

In 2021 there was a high profiled escape attempt. An employee was also arrested on charges of felony Child Abuse. It cannot be a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

15/08/2021  

853. Lava Heights Academy

Lava Heights Academy run by the same company who ran the now-closed Red Rock Canyon school and Mount Pleasant Academy is mentioned in an article where a mother realized that her son had run away when the police in Arizona picked him up. The facility had not reported him missing and as result of that the police were not looking for him. He could have been hurt by criminals while without adult company living in the streets.

Why did they fail? Maybe it is because the employees are not given the conditions they need.

A former employee writes:

Company pretends to care, but gets rid of good people and keeps bad ones in supervisory and management positions. Examples are they have nurses working as direct care staff.

Pros
Free meals

Cons
Management doesn’t care about people

It is clear that is the only good thing is free meals then you do not get caring employees. Employees who will speak out against management if the children placed at the facility do not the treatment set up in their treatment plan.

It cannot be a good place to be as a teenager in need of treatment.

Sources:

Update 2022

An employee was arrested charged with with rape, sexual abuse of students

Source:

29/06/2020  

794. Summits View

The facility located in Walnut, Mississippi has been under investigation from the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services for some time due to testimonies from former students and former employees. Recently the facility came into yet more focus as a teenager ran away which prompted a search on federal level. Later a second boy ran away but was found very soon.

If the testimonies are just half truth it is very serious and it will be certain to state that it cannot be fun to be there as a teenager. Handcuffs are supposed to be used by law enforcement. Not everybody else.

Sources:

04/08/2017  

586. Oak Plains Academy

Oak Plains Academy which used to be known as Chad Youth Enhancement Center didn’t report to the family of a teenager that she had run away, so they could aid in the search. A mistake which could be fatal if the girl would be taken advantage of during her time on the run.

When it was known as Chad Youth Enhancement Center a 17 year old boy was strangled when an employee tried to restrain him by holding both his hands against the boys neck. In 2005 a 14-year-old-girl from Long Island died after a confrontation with other employees.

A large number of negative reviews made by former residents can be found on the Internet. It cannot be fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

02/08/2017  

584. Magnolia Academy

Magnolia Academy in Tennessee was a for-profit group home located in Columbia, Tennessee. Sixty girls escaped from the facility in the period from 2011 to 2014.

In fact the entire firm – ResCare – running the facility seems to have difficulties. A wilderness program was shut down by the authorities years earlier.

For a long time all the involvement the authorties did was to bring the girls back. None seemed to ask why the girls ran or they would be better served if the courts gave them community service tasks they could do after school instead of probation and a stay at these low-security group homes where they would interact with girls exchanging what they learned about crime. Acts should result in consequences not in learning courses in crime which too often is the case when you lock minors up.

While it sounded that the girls saw their stay at these facilities as an adventure in the long run it could not have been fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

03/06/2017  

558. Hawthorne-Cedar Knolls RTC

During the last few years this residential treatment center has spiralled out of control. Residents assaulting people in town, riots and a number of runaway resulting in the local police to have responded to 827 calls.

Now the enrollment has been ordered to stop.

But the question people should ask themselves were: Is it fun to be there as a teenager?

The number of runaways and all this acting out is a clear signal that is not a fun place to be.

Sources:

29/01/2017  

509. Realations Group Home

The number of runaways from the Realations Group Home in Tulsa seems to send a message that there is too many children for the numbers of employees to handle. Many runaway attempts and two death are the result of understaffing.

There are ideas about relocating the facility to the countryside but what should that change? If there is not enough employees at hand the children will still wander off and be killed in the nature instead of the traffic.

It cannot be fun to be there as a child.

Source:
Child deaths, hundreds of police calls from youth group home prompt discussion at City Council (Tulsa World)

18/12/2016  

503. The Oakley School

The Oakley School in the South summit area in Utah was for many year owned by Aspen Education Group but is now under independent ownership.

While it was under AEG ownership it was often used as a step-down placement compared to the more restricted Island View “treatment” center.

Still reports of runaways were reported.

The events which took place during the AEG ownership will be covered by a documentary which currently is in the planning phase.

Also former students describe it as a holding place where the students revert to old ways once they are out.

It cannot be fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

April 2017 update:

The faciltiy announced that they will close during the summer of 2017: The Oakley School announces closing (Park Record)

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