Falcon Ridge Academy, where these crimes occurred, is meant to house teenage girls with behavioral issues usually resulting from trauma. Sequel declined to make Ripley available for an interview, and instead set up an interview with Birmingham, who handles compliance. Enter your email below to receive notifications of new stories. In a civil lawsuit filed Monday against Lakeside Academy and Sequel Youth and Family Services, the family said the teen screamed "I can't breathe" as staff members placed their weight on his chest for nearly 10 minutes. All rights reserved. If they cant get qualified people to do their job, they need to shut them down.. Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Emotional & Psychological Abuse. If you or a loved one was the victim of abuse at one of these facilities, contact TorHoerman Law for a free, no-obligation case consultation with a member of our team or use our chatbot below to receive a free instant online case evaluation today. The records revealed reports of child abuse and injury reports had been made to state agencies in Alabama, yet the facilities would still pass inspections. Youth Counselor Supervisor (Former Employee) - Courtland, AL - August 17, 2022. Overall rating. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Sequel employees have also faced criminal charges for abuse. Sparkman, the Alabama Department of Human Resources spokesman, said the agency could not comment on individual cases. The operation housed a significant number of children from Oregon, which stopped sending them to Sequel treatment centers in 2020. For more information about potential legal action, you can contact an experienced Sequel abuse lawyer at TorHoerman Law for a free, no-obligation case consultation. Hunter is now receiving psychiatric treatment at a hospital, she said. Is responsible for the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of the facility. Then children began to talk. Records show that about two weeks later, Department of Human Resources Commissioner Nancy Buckner forwarded two new contracts with Sequel to Alabama Gov. Sequel Youth & Family Services provides a broad spectrum of treatment programs to people of all ages with behavioral, emotional, and physical challenges. The company dreamed of dominating Americas $220 billion behavioral health care industry. Sequel declined to comment on Hunters case and his familys lawsuit. These cookies do not store any personal information. Falcon Ridge Academy had the highest rate of sex crimes reported in the state of Utah. Last August, Sequels Pompano Youth Treatment Center failed a state inspection that found a range of deficiencies at the 24-bed Florida treatment center. That's not what we saw.". Christy Johnsons heart dropped in February when she first stepped into a facility for children with serious mental and behavioral health issues in Courtland, a few miles from the Tennessee River in northern Alabama, run by Sequel Youth & Family Services. That national corporation also owns Woodward Academy and Forest Ridge Youth Services in . Glenda Marshall, a program coordinator for Oregons state child welfare agency, wrote in a 2016 email to Shoemaker that the state had been struggling to find placements for foster youth. A wonderful and professional legal team. The records revealed reports of child abuse and injury reports had been made to state agencies in Alabama, yet the facilities would still pass inspections. 2. More than 40 States Have Sent Their Most Vulnerable Kids to Facilities Run by a for-Profit Company Named Sequel. Birmingham said Sequels marketing agents play a key role in receiving feedback from state officials and in helping the facilitys staffers get what they need to care for their residents. Sequel staff members shared the companys side of the issue and discussed how to deal with concerns among state lawmakers. Marshall also traded messages with Sequels marketing staff monitoring Gelsers social media activity when the lawmaker toured Sequel facilities that year. Websites for three former Sequel facilities in Utah and Tennessee indicate that they are now run by Rite of Passage, a company based in Nevada. 2020 AbuseGuardian.com. It's privately held, so details about its financials are hard to come across. If you or a loved one suffered injuries or other damages as a result of abuse suffered while under the protective care of a Sequel youth facility you may qualify for legal action. Forms of abuse that qualify for the Sequel lawsuit are: If you have suffered the loss of a loved one due to abuse at a Sequel facility, or you represent the estate of a victim, or you are the legal guardian of an underaged victim, you may be able to represent the victim in a lawsuit. For children who qualify . Before they got out, the two crossed paths at a psychiatric hospital, where they were sent after trying to harm themselves. Oregon state Senator Sara Gelser has spent years demanding accountability for Sequel, and she is continuing the crusade against Vivant. There were feces on the floor, stuck inside the doorframe, stuck around the window.. Alamo Drafthouse revealed it is selling itself as the dine-in cinema chain filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday -- and one of its new co-owners is a private-equity firm that has been engulfed in a . At that point, I was so depressed I didnt know what to do, Laurie said. Legal action is being strategized by our attorneys for Horizon Therapeutics failure to properly warn patients of potential hearing loss side effects. We have been lucky to have Sequel programs available to serve our kids, Marshall wrote. Sequel formerly ran the following facilities: Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Sequel Youth and Family Services, alleging abuse of all sorts and negligent behavior of staff and management. "My client lived a house of horrors," Tommy James said. The level of abuse is staggering and very disturbing. Parents, guardians, and the state expect these children to have positive peer culture, get back on track with school, and have intensive therapy. Sequel is playing hide the ball, and theyre trying to avoid accountability and responsibility for [what they did] to these children and our clients, said Tommy James, an attorney in Birmingham, Alabama, who has three suits pending against Sequel facilities now controlled by Vivant. Once the child has an accident they are then humiliated by staff members in front of the other children and made to sit in their urine or feces., Local police, the employee told Landers, called Courtland a death trap., Landers referred questions to the Department of Human Resources. We were both in a really bad place, Laurie said. The same facility will reopen under a new name with new services while an attorney prepares to file another lawsuit against the facility. Following a barrage of abuse scandals and media attention, including a 2020 investigation by APM Reports, the company has shut down close to half of its treatment centers and sold most of the rest to a new company called Vivant Behavioral Healthcare. Laurie didnt know it at the time, but her future husband, Tristan Broadrick, was also struggling in Sequel facilities in Alabama. And when we identify circumstances in which we are not providing care to the par that we expect it to be provided, we intervene with it. The teen's family suit against the school and the company that owns it, Sequel Youth Services, seeks $100 million, alleging negligence. The other residents in the unit were 18 and 19 years old. Begin Your Path To Healing & Justice. Everything you need to know about the Disney California Cookware / 16 hours ago If you are representing the estate of a loved one who has died as a result of abuse, or as a result of self-harm from abuse, you may qualify to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Sequel or at-fault parties. Multiple state departments have urged their respective states to cut ties with Sequel Youth and Family Services while some states have recently signed contracts, one in Alabama worth almost $13 million. A lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Sequel Youth and Family Services, LLC in Macon County, Alabama Circuit Court, asserting claims of severe abuse and neglect of a 15-year-old boy at Sequel's . Ohio recently revoked the license of a Sequel psychiatric facility in Columbus over multiple instances of violence. No parent would ever want their child to spend even one hour in a Sequel facility.. After helping launch YSI, Ripley became the chief executive of Precision Tune Auto Care. Last year, Tennessee, which had paid Sequel up to $608 a day per child, suspended admissions to Kingston and the states Medicaid agency terminated its contract with Sequel. An NBC News investigation sorted through tens of thousands of documents and found dozens of reports of sexual and physical abuse. Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and California have also either shut the facilities or are ending their relationships with Sequel Youth and Family Services in wake of concern around the abuse. You may be eligible to file a Hair Straightener Cancer Lawsuit if you or a loved one used chemical hair straighteners, hair relaxers, or other similar hair products, and subsequently were diagnosed with: Over one million people, who were present at Camp Lejeune (North Carolina) between 1953 and 1987, may have been exposed to toxic substances in the water. But the marketing push could not overcome concerns several states had after Cornelius Fredericks death this year. Ohio announced recently that it was forcing the Sequel Pomegranate location to relinquish its license to operate the treatment facility. The lawsuit alleges: Tevin did not receive the necessary mental health treatment he needed but was instead physically abused and emotionally traumatized at Sequel Tuskegee. In July 2020, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program sent a letter to DHR leaders, which stated Sequel's . Ripley did not return a voicemail message seeking comment, and Altamont didnt answer an email inquiry. In Alabama alone, Sequel received nearly $25 million in Medicaid payments from 2018 to this August. It also ran outpatient programs in a handful of others. 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The company has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding and tens of millions more from private equity firms to expand to new locations, while deploying a sophisticated marketing strategy to convince state officials to send more children, despite government inspections flagging violations at Sequel locations in at least nine states, the records show. Multiple lawsuits have been filed in Alabama, alleging rampant abuse in Sequel's . Its part of what we do, Jarrett Shoemaker, a Sequel marketing agent, wrote to a Washington state child welfare official in 2014. They described physical abuse by staff, Johnson said, and being denied medical care. Many of Those Kids Were Abused There. Officials at Sequel Youth & Family Services did not respond to requests for comment on the Oct. 14 report. On top of those attacks, the suit states, a staff member once restrained Hunter so violently that his head hit a concrete wall and reopened an existing cut, requiring stitches. Thank you for everything. Work/Life Balance. Sequel declined to make any of its leaders available for interviews. 'Treated like animals' Sequel Tuskegee is set back from the road on Highway 29, about 45 . MOUNT PLEASANT, Utah (AP) A company that runs treatment centers for troubled youth is closing a second Utah facility as officials investigate claims of sexual abuse, violence and several other . The firm went above and beyond. Lawsuit: Teen screamed 'I can't breathe' during restraint WEST . Sequel Youth and Family Services Lawsuit: Reports of Abuse, Independent Fundamental Baptist Resources, Disclaimer / Terms Of Service & Privacy Policy, 24/7 support with a caring legal staff dedicated to protecting your confidentiality, employees or "whistleblowers" of the facilities, Multiple children report being slammed to the ground and held facedown, One boy described his head being caught on a nail in the wall during a violent restraint, Reports of being called names, threatened, and comments such as "you gonna go to jail", Report of being in solitary confinement for 72 hours, with no access to a bathroom, Report of lack of access to medical treatment, dental treatment or eye care, Report of lack of access to clean drinking water, Lack of education, school work and career training, Filthy conditions and hazardous living conditions, Residents in inappropriate restraints without justification, and even the death of one resident at a Michigan facility. The lawsuit alleges staff sat on his chest as he screamed . A 16-year-old Michigan boy went into cardiac arrest and died after several staff members of the residential treatment facility he stayed at restrained him, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. 1. For children who qualify, Medicaid reimburses Sequel for medical and mental health treatment. Tommy James, an attorney representing the boy identified only as Hunter C., said his client lived at Sequel TSI of Courtland in 2018 and 2019, where . Nobody joins our industry, you know, unless they're actually here for the kids, she said. On January 26, 2022, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Tevin Pike against Sequel TSI of Alabama, Sequel TSI of Tuskegee, and Sequel Youth & Family Services LLC (Sequel), alleging that Pike was a former 15-year-old resident at an Alabama treatment facility for children run by Sequel TIS of Tuskegee, a residential psychiatric facility, for about two months in 2018, during which Pike was allegedly choked, beaten, punched, slapped and slammed to the ground by employees and other residents. Sequel Youth and Family Services is a private for-profit operator of behavioral healthcare facilities for children and youth in the United States. A nonprofit organization in Kansas will take over a Sequel treatment center there, according to Kansas City public radio station KCUR. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. When Johnson and her colleagues visited, the children recounted how staff encouraged them to kill themselves and made vulgar comments; one child said staff members make fun of my name, which upsets me because it is my dads name and he passed away.. Turn to us when you dont know where to turn. Jay Ripley speaks at the Merrick School of Business in Baltimore in 2015. When Tristan was 16, he tried to run away, and when he was caught, he said, Sequel employees put him in solitary confinement as a punishment. An SEC filing that year pegged Sequels value at an estimated $421 million. "Over the next two months, we will be working collaboratively with families, state agencies and case . Tommy James is an attorney representing a 16-year-old named Hunter who lived at a Sequel facility in Courtland for 10 months. 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