“Young adults like Plaintiff, were often sent to Defendants’ [sic] under misleading pretenses and under the guise that the program provided adequate mental health treatment,” the lawsuit alleges.
A series of lawsuits accuses a North Carolina-based company of misleading parents about the true nature of a “troubled teens” program.
According to WCNC, the defendant company, Trails Carolina, had its licensed revoked shortly after a 12-year-old boy suffocated to death less than a day after beginning his course. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which launched an investigation into Trails shortly after the incident, says that it has already identified several other violations.
Although Trails Carolina has since closed, WCNC notes that it was owned by Family Help & Wellness, a company that operates more than a dozen similar programs in states across the country. The lawsuit names both Trails Carolina and its parent company as defendants.
Trails and Family Help, attorneys claim, failed to provide children with adequate medical care, food, and clothing, “despite the façade of providing a safe and therapeutic residential and wilderness program for children and young adults.”
One parent, whose son is identified by the pseudonym “John” in the lawsuit, said that their child was traumatized by their experience with Trails Carolina.
“Instead of providing him treatment for his depression, as promised in their marketing and promotional materials, the Defendants’ [sic] and their employees subjected John to severe neglect, inhumane conditions, forced him to perform unpaid labor, and abused him emotionally and sexually,” the lawsuit alleges.
The complaint states that, contrary to the program’s apparent promise, children only received therapy from licensed mental health professionals for about one hour per week.
“Instead, Defendants rely on field staff, who are only required to be 21-years-old and possess a G.E.D., to ‘carry out’ ‘individualized’ therapeutic treatment plans,” the lawsuit says.
“Young adults like Plaintiff, were often sent to Defendants’ [sic] under misleading pretenses and under the guise that the program provided adequate mental health treatment,” the lawsuit alleges.
In one instance recalled in the complaint, a parent said that their son was forced to camp outside in “freezing weather,” with staff purportedly threatening that “if he were unable to make a fire, he’d be forced to eat his food dry and cold and freeze at night.”
Children who shared doubts about their treatment were purportedly coerced into staying silent, with counselors frequently redirecting blame.
“[The child] quickly discovered he had no choice or option to leave the program, as he and his parents had previously been told,” the lawsuit says. “Instead, he [was told that] he would be forced back or even arrested if he attempted to leave.”
Sources
Trails Carolina wilderness camp refutes allegations in sexual assault complaint
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