Former resident, advocates push for more oversight of Utah troubled teen industry

SYRACUSE – More than 100 youth residential treatment facilities operate in Utah, housing thousands of teens from all over our country every year. One is now connected to calls for more federal oversight.

Elevations RTC, a residential treatment center for teens in Syracuse, Utah, faces allegations of abuse, seclusion and neglect in a lawsuit filed by a former resident of the facility.

Elevations is part of Family Help & Wellness, a network headquartered in Oregon that operates multiple residential treatment facilities across the country, including six in Utah.

An NBC News investigation found state records indicating that several locations violated state regulations were cited for employees failing to notify their respective states of critical incidents, including injuries and alleged abuse.

‘I was trapped’

Finn Pool was placed at Elevations by his father in August 2021.

‘I mean, I was trapped,” he said. “I felt like I started to lose myself as a human being.”

Three months after his arrival, Pool said he found the courage to tell his therapist at Elevations that a family member had sexually abused him.

“He said that ‘I’m going to do my own investigation because quite honestly, I don’t believe you,’” Pool said.

Utah law requires therapists to report suspected abuse immediately.

In Pool’s case, the first report was filed with Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services 24 days later, according to police records.

Elevations did not return KSL Investigates’ calls or emails about the lawsuit. However, a statement posted on the facility’s website, dated January 16, states the “therapist briefly delayed reporting” and that no charges were filed against the accused family member. Pool’s therapist later pleaded guilty to failure to report child abuse, which is a misdemeanor.

In January, Pool filed a lawsuit against Elevations, claiming negligence, false imprisonment, and child abuse.

As part of Pool’s ongoing lawsuit, last month a Utah state licensing panel ruled Elevations appeared more interested in keeping Pool “in their facility for monetary reasons rather than his best interests as a minor.”

Utah’s law regarding residential facilities

During Pool’s 10-month stay, he says he lost a significant amount of weight and was placed in seclusion for nine days.

Utah law states that seclusion can only be used for the “immediate safety of the child or others.” Records from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services show Elevations was issued a written violation for improper use of seclusion just two months before Pool was brought to the facility.

Sen. Mike McKell, a Republican from Spanish Fork, authored SB127. The law regulates seclusion and restraint practices in Utah’s youth treatment facilities.

“This is an industry that grew up outside a regulatory framework,” he said.

The legislation, which went into effect on May 5, 2021, also requires the Utah Department of Health and Human Services to inspect each residential facility quarterly; bans the use of medication to restrain a child without prior state authorization; and mandates that facilities report any use of restraint, seclusion, or incidents involving injury within one business day.

According to DHHS documents obtained by NBC News, Elevations reported restraining children at least 130 times from May 2023 to May 2024.

NBC News Investigation: Former students report injuries and isolation at Utah facility for troubled teens

Although the law did not require any additional reports to be filed with police, the number of calls Elevations made to the Syracuse Police Department saw a dramatic rise.

From 2019 to 2021, there were around 11-15 calls a year. That jumped to 31 calls in 2022 and to 56 calls in 2023. Although the reason for the increase is not clear, the calls ranged from medical emergencies to reports of runaways and assaults.

Elevations did not return KSL’s requests for comment about the increase in 911 calls or their restraint & seclusion practices. Neither did Family Help & Wellness.

Death at an out-of-state facility

In addition to organization’s operations in Utah, Idaho and New Mexico, Family Help & Wellness had a wilderness camp in North Carolina that was shut down earlier this year following the death of a 12-year-old boy. An autopsy report concluded his death a homicide. The case is still under investigation. No charges have been filed and Trails Carolina denied any wrongdoing.

Child welfare experts and advocates say serious incidents at associated facilities show the need for closer scrutiny across state lines, a concern McKell has raised in the past.

“Look at facilities that have had violations in other states that may have ownership in the state of Utah. And just have an ability to monitor and track where kids are coming from,” he said.

But even if Utah knew about owners with issues in other states, DHHS spokesperson Katie England told KSL in a statement they “do not have the statutory authority to use facility violations or adverse incidents in other states when making Utah-specific decisions.”

However, “Each individual associated with a license is required to pass a background check” and “if an out-of-state incident resulted in a finding against an individual’s background who is associated with a licensee, DLBC could take action on an individual’s background check.”

Looking ahead

Congress is working to address the interstate issue with the “Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act,” which would provide federal oversight of youth residential programs and the first national database logging the use of restraint and seclusion.

But the Disability Law Center says Utah cannot wait for Congress.

“We’ve just seen these problems for a long time,” said Nate Crippes, the public affairs supervising attorney for the center.

The non-profit joined with the National Health Law Program in July to submit a federal complaint, claiming that DHHS has failed to provide adequate oversight of residential facilities, like teen treatment centers.

“They’re here now and they don’t seem to be going away,” said Crippes. “So, I think the question is, if they’re going to remain, what do we need to do to make sure that the kids there are safe?”

In response to the complaint, DHHS issued a statement on their website, stating that they are working to continuously improve the quality of their services, citing the recent merger of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health as a way to create more efficient systems.

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