Utah is home to almost youth residential treatment centers, and in the past five years, they have seen nearly 12, children come through their doors, with some of those young people bouncing from one facility to another.
Teens covered by Medicaid sent thousands of miles away after being hospitalized for depression or anxiety. Children who commit crimes. And they are students with disabilities sent to another state by their school districts. They come from every state in the country, and even farther away, from places like Bermuda. A number of these children say they were helped by the therapy they received in places that run the gamut from campuses tucked into commercial areas to ranches on remote lands, from specialized facilities to huge centers that seek to treat many conditions and issues.
A detailed analysis by The Salt Lake Tribune shows that the bigger facilities, often controlled by companies that own many treatment centers, have the most out-of-state contracts. The Tribune spoke with nearly a dozen young people who spent time in Utah facilities, many of whom detailed physical and mental abuse. The newspaper also scoured financial records, court documents, police logs and more to examine an industry that gets little scrutiny.
One reason why: The kids neglected, mistreated or abused are not from here. They were , the number given to identify laundry and other belongings.
They had tried to run away from a place in Alaska and then had been hospitalized. That hospital recommended the Springville treatment facility to their father and stepmother. Instead they were put in a place far away from home and family, where staff threatened the residents and said no one would believe them if they spoke out about abuse.
