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Salt Lake Tribune
Utah licensors rarely find problems when they inspect Utah troubled-teen programs. But New Beginnings Behavioral Health, pictured here in West Jordan on Friday, March 5, 2021, had significantly more noncompliance marks than the others. The 11-bed facility accounted for 14% of all noncompliant findings in a five-year period, averaging 15 deficiencies per checklist.
Critics question whether Utah’s oversight is sufficient to keep kids safe.
Changes are coming to the way Utah regulates “troubled-teen” treatment centers, spurred by scores of former residents who have shared stories of mistreatment that span decades.
Among the big shifts is moving from one inspection every year to four.
Utah inspectors find no problems in troubled-teen facilities 98% of the time msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
KUER
In October, Los Angeles artist Jennifer Korsen returned for the first time to the site of Island View, a residential treatment center she attended as a teenager.
In the first weeks of December, a short video just three minutes and 22 seconds started zipping around certain circles of the internet.
In it, Megan Stokes, the head of the “troubled teen” industry’s largest trade group, can be heard on a conference call advising members on how to spot warning signs that their programs might be the subject of a Disability Law Center investigation and cautioning them to tread lightly.
“Please find out if you have had an increase in records requests over the last two to three weeks,” Stokes said on the recording. “If you have, you can talk to me privately. You can talk to me publicly, however you want to do that. Call my cell, call the home office. Let’s not email.”