Inside a taxpayer-funded treatment center for adoptees, tales of abuse, neglect and little oversight
Inside Calo Programs in Missouri, a taxpayer-funded treatment center for adoptees: an Associated Press look at abuse, neglect and little oversight.
Troubled Teen Industry News
Latest updates, investigations, and reports monitored by our team.
Essential reporting
Reporting on the troubled teen industry we think everyone should read.
An Oklahoma boarding school promised help for troubled girls. Students say they got punishment instead.
Ashlynd Baecht's investigation of New Lifehouse Academy, an unlicensed Christian program for girls in rural Oklahoma: restraint, food restriction and unpaid labor, by former students' accounts.
An Investigation into Military-Style Juvenile Boot Camps and the Death of Gina Score
Gina Score, 14, collapsed on a run at a South Dakota state boot camp and died of heatstroke while staff took her collapse for defiance. Bruce Selcraig's account of the camp and the system around it.
About Canyon State Academy, Savage Leadership Challenge, State Training School in Plankinton
Child Sexual Abuse
Child-on-Child CSA
Graphic Descriptions of Assaults or Injuries
Substance Abuse
Suicide
Facilities:
Unnamed prestigious independent school, Unnamed renowned boarding school, Leigh Day, Slater & Gordon, Boarding Schools’ Association, National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac)
Key Figures:
Andrew Lord, Richard Scorer, Gabrielle Shaw, Robin Fletcher, Judge Peter Blair
Also covered by:
WAFF (Oct 11, 2026)
Escape
Facilities:
Pathway Facility (Pathway of Madison County, LLC)
Expose
Provo Canyon School Closure
'I was strangled, I was hit': Troubled teen industry victims fighting back
Child Sexual Abuse
Graphic Descriptions of Assaults or Injuries
Facilities:
Provo Canyon School, Therapeutic boarding school (unspecified), Remote wilderness camps (unspecified)
Also covered by:
Indianapolis Star (Oct 6, 2026)
Child Sexual Abuse
Facilities:
Marion County Juvenile Detention Center, Marion County juvenile detention
Lawsuit
Oregon Youth Authority and Oak Creek Youth Facility Reach Settlement in Former Employee Lawsuit
Peer Violence
Racism
Facilities:
Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility, Oregon Youth Authority, Morrison Child and Family Services
Law Enforcement Abuse
Facilities:
Juvenile Detention Center (Manassas, VA), Juvenile Detention Center
Forced Labor
Child Death
Racism
Facilities:
House of Reformation (Cheltenham Youth Detention Center), Forgotten Children Initiative, Georgetown University
Key Figures:
Will Smith
Child Sexual Abuse
Sexual Misconduct
Facilities:
Goshen Secure Center, Brookwood Secure Center, Brentwood Residential Center for Girls
Key Figures:
Perla Serrano Rivera, Maya Hayes, DaMia Harris-Madden
Child Sexual Abuse
Substance Abuse
Suicide
Self-harm
Facilities:
Bar None, Volunteers of America, Minnesota Department of Human Services
Key Figures:
Peter Villareale, Karina Forrest Perkins
Arrest
Marion County Juvenile Detention Center worker charged with attempted sexual misconduct with a minor
Child Sexual Abuse
Facilities:
Marion County Juvenile Detention Center
Key Figures:
Kyle Vancura
Child Sexual Abuse
Facilities:
Pasco Juvenile Detention Center
Key Figures:
Thomas Black III
Lawsuit
Wyoming Boys School Abuse
Also covered by:
WyoFile (Oct 2, 2026)
Seclusion
Physical Restraint
Facilities:
Wyoming Boys School, Wyoming Department of Family Services
Substance Abuse
Facilities:
Olympia Department of Corrections group home, Thurston County Sheriff's Office, Department of Corrections group home
Medical Neglect
Death
Safety Violations
Facilities:
Hartwood Foundation
Key Figures:
Sean McGinnis, Heather Norton, Leslie Mehta
Child Death
Forced Labor
Physical Restraint
Racism
Facilities:
House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children, Cheltenham Youth Detention Center
Key Figures:
Marc Schindler
Child Sexual Abuse
Facilities:
Pasco Juvenile Detention Center
Key Figures:
Thomas Wayne Black
Graphic Descriptions of Assaults or Injuries
Facilities:
Mart State Juvenile Correctional Facility, Texas Juvenile Justice Department, McLennan County Jail
Conversion Therapy
Spiritual Abuse
Physical Restraint
Seclusion
Self-harm
Substance Abuse
Facilities:
Albert J. Solnit Children’s Center – South Campus, UConn Health (John Dempsey Hospital), Connecticut Department of Children and Families, Connecticut Department of Public Health, Barrins & Associates, Center for Children’s Advocacy
Key Figures:
Dr. Yann Poncin, Dr. Akashdeep Aujla, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, Becky Simonson, Frank Gregory, Sarah Eagan, Josh Michtom
Facilities:
hotels, agency offices, emergency rooms, residential providers, kinship care placements, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, Maryland Department of Human Services
Key Figures:
Alger Studstill
Facilities:
ProPublica-Arkansas Times Curiosity Academy, ProPublica-Mountain State Spotlight Curiosity Academy, ProPublica-Assembly Academy
Key Figures:
Kaelin Clay, Jodi S. Cohen, Jennifer Smith Richards, Jennifer Berry Hawes
Physical Restraint
Involuntary Transport
Facilities:
private transportation companies, residential treatment centers
Key Figures:
Gretchen Whitmer, Cam Cavitt, Paris Hilton
Physical Restraint
Chemical Restraint
Self-harm
Facilities:
psychiatric residential treatment centers, group homes, therapeutic group homes, psychiatric hospitals
Physical Restraint
Facilities:
Southeast Michigan Psychiatric Hospital, 11:11 Media Impact, ARC West Michigan
Key Figures:
Rep. Cam Cavitt, Sen. Jim Runestad, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Paris Hilton, Kyra Frankowski
Facilities:
Comprehensive Behavioral Health
Key Figures:
Ebonie Bourgoin
Facilities:
Pearl Youth Residence (Comprehensive Life Resources) – Tacoma, WA, Project RENEW (Clarvida) – Anaheim, CA, Project RENEW (Clarvida) – Santa Ana, CA, Newport Healthcare St. Cloud residential facility – St. Cloud, MN
Child Sexual Abuse
Sexual Misconduct
Staff Misconduct
Safety Violations
Facilities:
Evins Regional Juvenile Center, Texas Juvenile Justice Department
Key Figures:
Yuliana Mares, Gerardo Puente, Todd Hanks, Luis Alexander Jesus, Christopher Cuadra, Jacquevias James Watkins, Fidel Garcia
Conversion Therapy
Spiritual Abuse
Homophobia
Facilities:
unspecified conversion therapy program in Sydney, private home in South Hobart, Tasmania
Key Figures:
assistant minister (unspecified church)
Physical Restraint
Involuntary Transport
Key Figures:
Rep. Cam Cavitt, Paris Hilton, Governor Gretchen Whitmer
Child Sexual Abuse
Staff Misconduct
Sexual Misconduct
Safety Violations
Survivor Stories
Humiliating Punishments
Facilities:
Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center (Kearney)
Key Figures:
Jessica Camacho
Facilities:
Newport Academy St. Cloud teen treatment center, Monroe Operations, LLC (doing business as Newport Healthcare), Minnesota Health Real Estate Holdings
Key Figures:
Onex (majority owner of Newport Academy)
Racism
Facilities:
Toppenish School District
Key Figures:
Dr. Toron Wooldridge
Sexual Misconduct
Spiritual Abuse
Child Sexual Abuse
Suicide
Substance Abuse
Facilities:
5Rock Ranch
Key Figures:
Michael "Scott" Bradley, Christy Bradley, Dr. Steven Spotts, Dr. Randall Kinnison
Physical Restraint
Medical Neglect
Child Death
Autism-Specific Abuse
Facilities:
Midlands Center, MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Northeast
Key Figures:
James B. Moore III, Scott Evans, Aleksandra Chauhan
Physical Restraint
Graphic Descriptions of Assaults or Injuries
Facilities:
Kiva Adventure Ranch
Key Figures:
Isaiah Ensoa Faausus Tuiasosopo
Physical Restraint
Graphic Descriptions of Assaults or Injuries
Peer Violence
Facilities:
youth treatment center, Washington County Jail, Children's Justice Center, Washington County Sheriff's Office
Key Figures:
Isaiah Tuiasosopo
Child Sexual Abuse
Staff Misconduct
Sexual Misconduct
Substance Abuse
Facilities:
New Jersey Training School, Female Secure Care & Intake Facility
Key Figures:
Jerome Block, Tara Oliver
Physical Restraint
Peer Violence
Safety Violations
Facilities:
Harbour Point Behavioural Health Centre, Devereux Advanced Behavioural Health
Key Figures:
Robin Tucker, Alfred Maybury
Also covered by:
The Banner (Sep 29, 2026)
Child Sexual Abuse
Facilities:
Charles H. Hickey Jr. School
Key Figures:
Ronald Neverdon
Graphic Descriptions of Assaults or Injuries
Physical Restraint
Facilities:
Kiva Adventure Ranch, Children's Justice Center
Key Figures:
Isaiah Enosa Faausu "Tui" Tuiasosopo
Humiliating Punishments
Seclusion
Facilities:
New Lifehouse Academy, Adult & Teen Challenge of Oklahoma, The Cross Christian Academy, Cognia
Key Figures:
Jennifer Hembree
Facilities:
Britt Technical Youth Academy, Les Peters Academy, Wayne Halfway House, Pinellas Technical College, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Hillsborough County juvenile detention center
Key Figures:
Janus Pierre, Amanda Slama, Jeff Brandes, Darryl Rouson
Also covered by:
KOIN.com
Child Sexual Abuse
Facilities:
Clark County Juvenile Detention Center
Facilities:
Fox Run
Key Figures:
Former CEO of Fox Run