Montana

Facilities in Montana

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Montana

Montana licenses these programs under their own category - Private Alternative Adolescent Residential or Outdoor Programs - so there is a regulator whose job is specifically this industry. Oversight moved in 2019: the legislature dissolved the old PAARP board at the Department of Labor and gave licensing to DPHHS, which has since revoked a program's licence outright. Complaints to the Licensure Bureau are always anonymous, and the corrective actions it imposes are published.

Time limits in Montana: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Two years from the injury for assault, battery or false imprisonment. Negligence and other personal injury claims have three years. Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-204(1), (3)
If it happened before you turned 18: The time while the injured person is a minor does not count, so the clock starts at 18: assault or battery claims by the 20th birthday, negligence claims by the 21st. There is no longer deadline for non-sexual physical abuse of a child. Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-401(1)
If the program was run by or for the government: Less certain A claim against the State must first be presented in writing to the Department of Administration, which has 120 days to decide (the deadline to sue pauses for those 120 days); claims against a county or city are filed with its clerk. The ordinary 2- or 3-year periods still apply. Mont. Code Ann. § 2-9-301
Child sexual abuse: The civil SOL for CSA, trafficking, and CSAM claims is age 27 against all defendants, with a limited 3-year discovery rule and revival up to age 27. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Five years from the crime for felony assault on a minor (victim under 14, offender an adult) or other felony child abuse. Misdemeanor child endangerment: one year. The clock does not wait until the child turns 18. Mont. Code Ann. § 45-1-205(2); Mont. Code Ann. § 45-5-212
Assault: Five years from the crime for aggravated assault or any other felony. Misdemeanor assault: one year. Mont. Code Ann. § 45-1-205(2)
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for felony and misdemeanor CSA offenses. Trafficking: There is no SOL for trafficking. CSAM: There is no SOL for CSAM offenses. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Montana Board of Behavioral Health (Department of Labor and Industry)

Multiple professions

The Department and its licensing boards take action against unprofessional, incompetent or unlawful practice, up to discipline of the licence. The Board of Behavioral Health covers mental health counselors, licensed professional counselors, addiction counselors and social workers; psychologists have their own board, and the same complaint route serves both.

To bring formal charges the Department needs evidence in the form of a document or a statement - a complaint with nothing behind it will not get far.

Use this whenAnyone holding a Montana behavioral health or psychology licence. The Department's licence search shows current status and any disciplinary history.

HowUse the online licence complaint form. There is a downloadable paper form as an alternative, and an FAQ written for complainants rather than licensees.

This board covers the clinician, not the program. A complaint about a facility goes to the DPHHS Licensure Bureau instead, and the Department's own page says so.

406-444-6880
File a complaint
More about this body
DLIBSDCOMPLAINTS@MT.GOV
By postBoard of Behavioral Health, 301 S. Park Avenue, 4th Floor, Helena, MT 59620

The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Montana DPHHS, Quality Assurance Division, Licensure Bureau

Licenses and regulates private alternative adolescent residential and outdoor programs, inspects them, imposes corrective action and can revoke a licence. It has done so: Montana permanently revoked one program's licence and removed the children from another.

Use this whenThe program itself - conditions, staffing, supervision, how it treats the young people in it.

HowContact the Licensure Bureau by phone or post. The corrective actions it imposes are published on the Bureau's website, so it is worth reading what a program has already been cited for.

DPHHS states that complaints against the programs it licenses are always kept anonymous.

406-444-6794 Licensure Bureau Chief 406-439-2504.
More about this body
By postDPHHS Licensure Bureau, PO Box 202953, Helena, MT 59620-2953

Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Montana Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline (Centralized Intake)

The statutory intake line for child abuse and neglect. Where a complaint covers both abuse and a licensing breach, the Child and Family Services Division leads the child protection side of the investigation and the Licensure Bureau handles the licence.

Use this whenA child at a Montana program right now. Montana's own rules require the programs themselves to report suspected abuse to this number.

HowCall. It takes reports around the clock.

1-866-820-5437 24 hours a day, every day.
More about this body

Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Montana Office of the Child and Family Ombudsman

An independent office in the Department of Justice that reviews how the child protection system handles a case and publishes its findings. Useful when a report has already been made and nothing happened.

It reviews the state's handling rather than investigating the program directly, and it does not licence anybody.

Use this whenA family or young person who reported something and has hit a wall.

HowFile a request for assistance online.

Disability Rights Montana

Montana's Protection and Advocacy agency, with federal authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy.

Use this whenA Montana program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-245-4743 Main line 406-449-2344 voice/TDD.
More about this body

National reporting channels, and the same list for other states