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The process is typically initiated by parents at their wit’s ends over a child they perceive as troubled. For the kids, it’s the traumatic first leg of a journey to placements that can be hundreds of miles from home.
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Legislators passed a bill last year that brought the first regulatory reform to teen treatment programs in 15 years.
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Some 20,000 kids have been sent away to Utah teen treatment programs since 2015.
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Utah's Office of Licensing recently confirmed that it is planning to release violation and disciplinary information online, accessible through a search on its website.
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Vista is one of the more than 100 teen treatment programs in Utah, which cater to parents and out-of-state agencies who care for struggling teenagers.
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Opening a youth treatment center is relatively simple in Utah. But state regulators often can't — or won't — shut a place down after abuse is alleged.
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Inappropriate contact between children and staff members has happened with some frequency in Utah’s teen treatment programs. From November 2018 through July 2021 — state regulators have investigated at least 20 reports of staff pushing the boundaries with clients, sometimes amounting to sexual abuse.
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Since 2015, some 20,000 teens have been sent to treatment centers in Utah. That’s more than anywhere else in the country. Those kids are often brought here by a transport company.
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With a parent’s consent, two people are sent to surprise their child while they are asleep to forcefully take them to a wilderness program or residential treatment center.
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Kylar Frederick Williams, 23, was arrested Tuesday.
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One facility is being sued after a staffer broke a boy’s wrist, while another has been disciplined by the state for similar tactics.
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Federal regulations would impact the more than 100 teen treatment facilities in Utah, which plays an outsized role in the industry.