Teen Treatment Industry

April 26, 2022

Under scrutiny, company that claimed to help troubled youth closes many operations and sells others

Many of Sequel’s behavioral health treatment centers are sold or closed following abuse allegations. But some facilities might have new life under a different name and one of the original founders.

April 12, 2022

More citations and new concerns follow Utah's increased oversight of troubled-teen industry

One year after the first regulatory reform in 15 years, one lawmaker says the state’s tools are still not strong enough. “There are certain violations that absolutely merit a facility being shut down.”

April 5, 2022

How Utah became the leading place to send the nation's troubled teens

A lawmaker cites the state’s “clean look, clean feel” and strong family values. But the answer is a complex combination of history, culture and weak rules and regulations. Regulators haven’t closed a facility in the last five years.

March 29, 2022

Discreet discipline: Here's why Utah will soon make it easier to search a teen treatment program's violation history

Six years ago, a cruel disciplinary act against a young girl was kept secret — she had been forced to sit in a horse trough filled with cold water for 30 minutes. The incident only became public after the Sent Away team released a database of records that included every violation report documented at youth treatment facilities statewide. Today the state is planning to release violation and disciplinary information online.

March 22, 2022

Shutting down a teen treatment facility in Utah is no easy task, even after serious allegations

Opening a youth treatment center is relatively simple in Utah. But state regulators often can't — or won't — shut a place down after abuse is alleged.

March 15, 2022

How 'inappropriate boundaries' for staff can lead to sexual abuse at Utah teen treatment centers

Inappropriate contact between children and staff members has happened with some frequency in Utah’s teen treatment programs. Between November 2018 and July 2021, state regulators investigated at least 20 reports of staff pushing the boundaries with children, sometimes amounting to sexual abuse. State records show that 13 people resigned or were fired from youth treatment facilities after allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior during that time, according to a data analysis from Sent Away journalists.

March 8, 2022

'Blindfolds, hoods and handcuffs': How some teenagers get to Utah's youth treatment programs

“Secure transport services,” a shadowy corner of the teen-treatment industry, are almost entirely unregulated. Parent-hired transporters can pull kids from their beds, handcuff them, hold them down or blindfold them. In Utah, a legislator who recently sponsored a bill that brought regulatory reform to the state’s booming teen-treatment industry said he wants to take a closer look at how kids from all over the country are getting to the state for treatment.

December 3, 2021

Sequel to close New Mexico youth facility amid more abuse allegations

The once-ascendant youth treatment company has agreed to shutter its 14th center in the past three years following a state report that found abuse of kids with autism, including one resident who was allegedly whipped with a tree branch.

June 23, 2021

The teen got a concussion. The school got a pass.

Up until 2019, the agency regulating Utah’s massive youth treatment industry rarely cited facilities for violating rules — even after cases of abuse. After a 2016 incident left a teenager with a concussion, state regulators listened to his mom’s complaint — and then did nothing about it.

May 21, 2021

Sequel confronts more abuse allegations amid concerns about its finances

The embattled youth treatment company will soon shutter its Northern Illinois Academy, the 13th closure since 2019, while creditors doubt it can repay its debts.

April 2, 2021

Former residents of troubled youth facility receive settlement money

The families of 17 kids settled their lawsuit against the owner of Mesabi Academy for $1.495 million, even as more treatment centers closed, forcing youth with mental health needs to wait months for care.

March 26, 2021

How Utah has let its many youth treatment centers off the hook

Utah has become a national center for youth treatment, and it goes easy on the industry. At one facility, teen girls were forced to sit in a horse trough as punishment, and state regulators chose not to punish the people who did it.

March 10, 2021

New data underscores Utah's lax oversight of youth treatment programs

Over the course of hundreds of inspections, regulators marked the programs as “compliant” 98 percent of the time. And in recent years, the state noted even fewer violations than before.

February 10, 2021

Embattled Sequel closes three more facilities

Following abuse reports, the company has now shuttered a dozen youth treatment centers in the past two years, including its flagship academy.

December 14, 2020

California hands Sequel a major setback

The state’s decision to no longer send children to out-of-state youth treatment facilities capped two difficult weeks for the embattled company.

December 9, 2020

Washington becomes latest state to ditch Sequel

State officials decided to no longer place foster children with the company following an APM Reports investigation and reports of abuse.

September 28, 2020

More than 40 states have sent their most vulnerable kids to facilities run by a for-profit company named Sequel. Many of those kids were abused there.

A yearlong investigation led by APM Reports finds the company took in some of the most difficult-to-treat children while keeping costs low in pursuit of profit and expansion. The result was dozens of cases of physical violence, sexual assault and improper restraints. Despite repeated scandals, many states and counties continue to send kids to Sequel for one central reason: They have little choice.

September 28, 2020

How Sequel wins business from California

Nonprofit operations in Utah and Wyoming allow the company to earn money treating its kids.

June 18, 2020

After boy's death, Hennepin County finally severs ties with troubled facilities

County officials had kept kids in out-of-state residential treatment centers despite reports of abuse.

August 23, 2019

Reverberations still felt after Mesabi's closure

• Legal settlement nears • Some former residents are in jail or charged with crimes • Whistleblower has no regrets • The state changes how it regulates juvenile facilities • Buhl can't find a buyer for the building KidsPeace left behind

February 21, 2017

Final investigation reveals 'fight club,' lack of oversight among problems at Mesabi

Findings released after investigation into charges of maltreatment, safety violations, poor supervision and training. Governor wants oversight system changed. The center closed June 30 after an investigation by APM Reports.

August 25, 2016

Investigators find four cases of maltreatment at defunct Mesabi Academy

Nearly two months after a juvenile correctional facility in northern Minnesota was closed, county officials found evidence of maltreatment in the actions of Mesabi Academy employees.

June 8, 2016

Where to go? The stories of three families after Mesabi Academy

Families and counties are scrambling to place children after Mesabi Academy said it would close its doors June 30. Hennepin and Ramsey counties have sent more complaints about the correctional facility.

May 26, 2016

State, county and federal supervision didn't convey worry about Mesabi Academy

A flawed, confused system prevents judges, social services officials and guardians from discovering critical information about the condition of the residential treatment facilities regulated by the Department of Corrections. Mesabi Academy, scheduled to close next month, is a case study. Since opening in 1998, the juvenile correctional facility had been seen as a reliable jobs provider, receiving subsidies from government and tens of millions of dollars in loans from its parent. But attempts to sustain the business may have compromised resident and worker safety.

May 26, 2016

Incidents and complaints at Minnesota DOC juvenile centers, 2009-2016

Minnesota's Department of Corrections tracks reports about the 60-plus juvenile residential treatment centers it licenses. But it does little to disseminate that information. APM Reports obtained the data about what the department calls incidents and complaints for 2009 to March 2016 and sorted it in this searchable table.

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