In recent years, calls to police from Elevations, a youth treatment facility, have been steadily increasing, with 56 calls in 2023 compared to 15 in 2019. Many of these calls involve mistreatment allegations by clients or incidents of children assaulting peers or staff members. State records show that from May 2023 to May 2024, Elevations reported numerous incidents of self-harm and physical restraints.
One former student, Miranda Goodwill, reported being violently restrained by a staffer in 2019, resulting in injuries. Despite the closure of a related program, Trails Carolina, advocacy groups are still calling for more regulatory scrutiny of Elevations. However, officials in Idaho, North Carolina, and Utah, where Family Help & Wellness programs are based, do not consider violations at affiliated facilities in other states when evaluating programs.
Industry experts and advocates are hoping for increased oversight of youth treatment centers through the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, a bipartisan bill that would establish a federal interagency work group to track incidents like restraints and self-harm. Currently, there is limited national data available on the frequency of such incidents. Katie England from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services stated that recent changes in Utah have increased state inspections of treatment centers and required more tracking of critical incidents.
Overall, there is a push for increased oversight and regulation of youth treatment centers to ensure the safety and well-being of the children in their care.
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