Tristan, now 18, was placed into foster care on his 12th birthday and bounced between group homes until 2018, when he landed at Tuskegee, an intensive psychiatric treatment facility. In the past three weeks, Sequel announced plans to shutter Clarinda Academy in Clarinda . May 28, 2021 Sequel Youth and Family Services and the Troubled Teen Industry (Residential Treatment Program/Facility Abuse and Neglect) October 30, 2020 Tommy James Law Files Civil Lawsuit in LeBrawn Rankin Tragedy. Youth Residential Treatment Facility Abuse Lawsuit. Its part of what we do, Jarrett Shoemaker, a Sequel marketing agent, wrote to a Washington state child welfare official in 2014. Captured on silent surveillance camera video, the death of Cornelius Fredrick Jr. was compared by some to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police that same year, and the public pressure on Sequel increased. He was physically restrained by workers putting their full body weight on his torso, leading to a cardiac arrest and his death two days later. I guess we just lifted each other up.. Our team is what has made TorHoerman Law a very special place since 2009. The Team Leader (Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic) CCBHC is a part of the managementSee this and similar jobs on LinkedIn. Sequel Youth & Family Services collected hundreds of millions in tax dollars to care for vulnerable children, despite abuse and negligence allegations. The attorneys at THL were extremely helpful with the legal aspects of setting up my small business. He and the other children at Sequel Tuskegee were treated like animals by staff. Both of his eyes are black; one is swollen shut. At Courtland, where conditions had nauseated Johnson, state agencies received dozens of incident reports from 2018 to this summer detailing troubling allegations, including that children there had sustained injuries, such as a broken toe, a fractured ankle and a concussion, because of restraints. Ratings by category. Begin Your Path To Healing & Justice. 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. No parent would ever want their child to spend even one hour in a Sequel facility.. Ripley started in the juvenile corrections business in the early 1990s, when he helped start Youth Services International with his boss and mentor James Hindman. The Training Manager is responsible for directing, planning and implementing the training program.Also, takes the lead with staff training and personnel development. Sequel Tuskegee is a mental health treatment facility in Macon County where boys ages 12 to 18 receive therapeutic intervention after being adjudicated by the court. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. We encourage the following groups of people to step forward in confidence: An NBC News investigation sorted through more than 10,000 pages and records from 14 states, and interviews with former Sequel residents and parents showing how Sequel became one of the largest behavioral health youth facilities in the United States. Tax dollars are being used ultimately to abuse and mistreat children who are in need of serious therapeutic services, and weve sent them to these services for that, said K. Ricky Watson Jr., head of the National Juvenile Justice Network, which has advocated against for-profit juvenile detention. That is our motto and that will always be our reality. January 24, 2020 How Our Alabama Law Firm Investigates Nursing Home Abuse. The company collected over $200 million in annual revenue at the time, he said, and turned about $30 million in profit, which he attributed to keeping staffing costs low. 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. If you or a loved one took Elmiron and subsequently suffered vision loss, blindness, or any other eye injury linked to the prescription drug. Our firm is about people. Both before and after Cornelius Fredricks death, Sequel closed a number of their operations for a variety of reasons, ranging from understaffing and financial troubles to abuse allegations and criminal charges. Sequel Confronts More Abuse Allegations amid Concerns about Its Finances. Responsibilities of Executive Director: Manages 5 - 10 subordinate supervisors who supervise a total of 50 - 55 employees. Inspectors said the facility didnt meet state standards related to programming, education, supervision, and mental health treatment. I was banging and kicking on the door, trying to get someones attention, he said. 2.9. Is responsible for the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of the facility. The Camp Lejeune Contaminated Water Lawsuit can apply to you, a family member, or a loved one who lived at Camp Lejeune (North Carolina) and suffered health effects from the decades of water contamination that occurred. The company is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama and owns a nationwide network of over 40 facilities in more than 15 states, including residential treatment centers, group homes, special schools, and community-based programs. We dont want anything like this to happen to any other kids. Sequel Youth and Family Services, a Huntsville, Ala.,-based for-profit company, will run the center effective April 1, said Amanda Fortuna, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Juvenile . A number of new lawsuits are currently being filed nationwide against both currently operational and closed Sequel facilities. Can I represent a loved one or family member in a Sequel abuse lawsuit? They may be trying to drum up business, but ultimately, Birmingham said, Sequel employees care about the children. Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals . Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Emotional & Psychological AbuseFebruary 22, 2022Personal Injury Sequel Youth and Family Services Abuse LawsuitSequel Youth and Family Services is the most notable operator of youth residential treatment facilities in the United States, and reportedly operates up to 80%. You may be eligible to file a Tylenol Autism ADHD Lawsuit / Acetaminophen Autism ADHD Claim if you or a loved one used Tylenol and/ or Acetaminophen during pregnancy, and your child was subsequently diagnosed with ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder. Laurie stayed at Owens Cross Roads twice before she reunited with her family. The young couple are expecting their first child and trying to build a new life for themselves on Alabamas Gulf Coast, working at Lauries familys carpet business. A wonderful and professional legal team. Laurie Broadrick, 19, arrived at Owens Cross Roads, a residential treatment facility for girls in northeast Alabama, in 2016. The first morning he woke up in the room, Tristan said, he waved his arms at the camera, pounded on the door and shouted for the staff to let him out to use the bathroom. There was a particular room, said Johnson, investigations supervisor for the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, a federally funded watchdog group that has the authority to monitor treatment facilities like Sequels and advocate for changes. Sequel Youth and Family Services, the company that runs Lakeside (and is also a named defendant in the lawsuit), operates at least 55 other facilities from Arizona to Maine. 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.. The company later said in an email that in cases where a child's safety is threatened, "we take all necessary actions from employee termination, to policy and process changes, to staff-wide retraining to ensure we live up to our high standards of care for the youth we serve.". 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. 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. Sequel settled a lawsuit from Fredrick's family in December. But despite those efforts, in 2020, a 16-year-old boy died after staff at Sequels Lakeside Academy in Kalamazoo, Michigan, held him on the floor for 12 minutes. Sequel Youth and Family Services is the most notable operator of youth residential treatment facilities in the United States, and reportedly operates up to 80% of these establishments. You may be entitled to financial compensation for your injuries and damages. Last year Sequel officials defended their treatment programs, stating through a crisis management firm that the company had increased staff training and oversight and was working on "phasing out the practice of physically restraining . Sequel treatment centers closed since 2017. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the timeframe of Altamonts recent investments in Sequel. Children at Sequels other facilities in Alabama Montgomery, Owens Cross Roads and Tuskegee also had stories to tell. An employee at a Sequel facility in Utah was arrested for sexual battery and showing pornography to minors. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Northern Illinois Academy (NIA), located in Aurora, Illinois, is an 87-bed facility that receives funding from the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), and the . OWENS CROSS ROADS, Ala. (WAFF) - The Sequel TSI facility in Owens Cross Roads will close on Saturday. Courtland was one of the last facilities Tristan Broadrick lived in before he aged out of the foster care system. They still struggle with anxieties, nightmares and the feeling that theyre behind their peers. Those included sexual abuse by staff, bullying by residents, inappropriate physical restraints and employees sleeping on the job, according to records. Posted at 1:38 PM, Jun 21, 2020 and last updated 2020 . We have been lucky to have Sequel programs available to serve our kids, Marshall wrote. Records show that about two weeks later, Department of Human Resources Commissioner Nancy Buckner forwarded two new contracts with Sequel to Alabama Gov. According to reporting, Alabama pays Sequel about $330 per day to house each child and has paid Sequel in excess of $30 million since 2018. And we either make drastic improvements at the facility, or we may choose not to operate that facility anymore.. After her mother received a terminal cancer diagnosis, she became depressed and defiant, and struggled with suicidal thoughts. However, advocacy groups say that Sequels track record should be a red flag to states that send Sequel their most troubled children along with millions in taxpayer dollars. You deserve to be heard and we believe you. My client lived in a house of horrors. Many of the children served by Sequel are victims with traumatic histories. Ohio recently announced it was forcing Sequel Pomegranate to relinquish its license to operate its residential treatment facility. 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. 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