sequel youth services lawsuit

In response to questions about allegations of abuse and negligence at Sequel facilities, Altamont said in a statement: We conducted significant due diligence prior to our initial investment and are confident that Sequel Youth and Family Services is one of the best operators in the industry. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Investigation reveals appalling conditions at for-profit Alabama youth home, Michigan facility 'lost all control' of children before staff fatally restrained teen, police say, 'They told me it was going to be a good place': Allegations of abuse at home for at-risk kids, Loosening the grip of restraint: Investigating allegations of abuse at youth homes. A 16 year-old resident named Cornelius Fredricks was killed at a Kalamazoo, Michigan facility run by Sequel. 4. The lawsuit alleges staff sat on his chest as he screamed . Even if a facility is closed, victims can still take legal action against parties involved in the facilities. We have been lucky to have Sequel programs available to serve our kids, Marshall wrote. Fredericks went into cardiac arrest April 29. They did not return our calls . The company told investors it was well positioned to serve as industry consolidator, thanks in part to its clean regulatory and litigation history.. Legal action is being strategized by our attorneys for Horizon Therapeutics failure to properly warn patients of potential hearing loss side effects. Vivant hasnt bought all of Sequels remaining assets. How long do I have to file a Sequel abuse lawsuit? See Monitoring Report for Sequel Youth and Family Services of Courtland, Ala. Disabilities Advoc. 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. Contact TorHoerman Law for a free, legal consultation today. Most of the former Sequel treatment centers that remain open are now controlled by Vivant Behavioral Healthcare, which was founded in 2021 by Jay Ripley, one of three people who founded Sequel in 1999. After helping launch YSI, Ripley became the chief executive of Precision Tune Auto Care. Since 2016, the company has secured contracts worth more than $68 million from the states Department of Human Resources. After NBC News presented Sequel with a list of questions this month, Birmingham visited two of the companys Alabama facilities, and said she found that The kids were very happy. She said she encourages staff members to report any concerns about misconduct to a company hotline so Sequel can ensure no child is abused in its care. Sara E. Teller, Alabama father brings lawsuit against Sequel facility alleging staff abused his son, LegalReader.com, Jan. 1, 2021 (available at https: . If you or a loved one took Elmiron and subsequently suffered vision loss, blindness, or any other eye injury linked to the prescription drug. Falcon Ridge Academy had the highest rate of sex crimes reported in the state of Utah. You may be eligible to file a Tepezza Lawsuit if you or a loved one took Tepezza and subsequently suffered permanent hearing loss or tinnitus. The Alabama Department of Youth Services contracts with the facility as a private provider, placing boys there for a maximum stay of 120 days. Our community is ready to answer. He complained that Forest Ridge was admitting children they were not qualified to care for, were allowing children to prey on one another, and were failing to keep children safe by allowing them to leave the facility unsupervised., The report also includes an email Martens sent the state last April: It is time for a change of how business is conducted. According to Daniel Sparkman, spokesman for Alabamas Department of Human Resources, the agency made unannounced visits to Sequel facilities in the wake of the advocacy groups report, but by then, most, if not all deficiencies had been addressed. The agency continues to send children to Sequel facilities. In February 2019, Courtland employees called Patricia to tell her that Hunter had tried to hang himself, she said. Parents, guardians, and the state expect these children to have positive peer culture, get back on track with school, and have intensive therapy. 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. Without our team, we wouldnt be able to provide our clients with anything close to the level of service they receive when they work with us. The facilities at the heart of the issue are run by Sequel Youth and Family Services. The statute of limitations for each state determines the amount of time that a victim has to file an abuse lawsuit. An Altamont press release said Ripley would "remain involved with the business as chairman of the board through its next phases of growth." Video Shows Fatal Restraint of Cornelius Frederick, 16, in Michigan Foster Facility. But some facilities might have new life under a different name and one of the original founders. Since 2019, 10 Investigates has found at least a half dozen facilities operated by Sequel Youth Family Services that have either closed or faced other sanctions like having their admissions . Nineteen-year-old Tevin Pike filed a civil lawsuit against TSI Sequel of Tuskegee and several other entities Wednesday, alleging that he was abused and treated with negligent care during his . At Kingston Academy in Tennessee, state inspectors found mold infestations, overflowing toilets and children sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Nearly all of Sequels programs run on government funding: States pay Sequel $275 to more than $800 a day per child to provide residential and therapeutic services. Story continues. Glenda Marshall, a program coordinator for Oregons state child welfare agency, wrote in a 2016 email to Shoemaker that the state had been struggling to find placements for foster youth. Oregon state Senator Sara Gelser has spent years demanding accountability for Sequel, and she is continuing the crusade against Vivant. Red Rock Canyon School, another Sequel-ran facility, closed in 2019 after reports of abuse surfaced and a riot among residents ensued, resulting in area SWAT teams responding. 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. Sequel Youth & Family Services, once one of the nation's largest operators of treatment centers for children with behavioral problems, plans to close three more facilities, including its flagship academy, continuing the company's contraction in the past two years amid wide-spread reports of abuse.. That national corporation also owns Woodward Academy and Forest Ridge Youth Services in . 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. Sequel Youth and Family Services, which operates numerous youth treatment and residential facilities in several states. A concrete slab at Sequel's Courtland facility where thin mattresses are placed for children to sleep. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Lawrence County Circuit Court claims Sequel TSI of Alabama has a history of staff physically abusing children at its facilities, encouraging fights among children and . Last August, Sequels Pompano Youth Treatment Center failed a state inspection that found a range of deficiencies at the 24-bed Florida treatment center. Altamont invested nearly $40 million over the past three years, not the past two years. The attorneys at THL were extremely helpful with the legal aspects of setting up my small business. TorHoerman Law was responsible for handling a medical case for our family. We focused on public pay because we figured kids are always going to have issues and they're always going to get in trouble, and again, the government has to figure out a way to take care of them, Ripley explained, according to a video recording. One firm, Altamont Capital Partners, which has investments in health care companies, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and clothing brands like Billabong, purchased a majority stake in Sequel for an undisclosed amount in 2017. The most common issue reported at youth residential treatment facilities is physical abuse, either at the hands of employees or other residents. Multiple state departments have urged their respective states to cut ties with Sequel Youth and Family Services while some states have recently signed contracts, one in Alabama worth almost $13 million. Do I qualify for the Sequel abuse lawsuit? This rating has decreased by -5% over the last 12 months. Children also reported being slapped and choked by staff members. The teen's family suit against the school and the company that owns it, Sequel Youth Services, seeks $100 million, alleging negligence. Alabama cannot wait for the death of a child before severing ties with Sequel, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program told state agencies in its July report, which called on the state to end its contracts with Sequel and revoke the companys licenses. Sequel employees have also faced criminal charges for abuse. HUNTSVILLE, Ala., June 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequel Youth and Family Services today announced that Chris W. Roussos has been appointed the Company's Chief Executive . Hindman had founded the Jiffy Lube chain of auto service centers, and Ripley worked for him. It's like this many-headed Hydra. We were both in a really bad place, Laurie said. Kids that are already damaged, been through enough in their life, to go somewhere thats supposed to help them, help them become productive members of society, and go there and then it just destroys them.. SOURCE: The list of residential treatment facilities run by Sequel was assembled from public records and information from Sequel's websites. Instead, these children are suffering from abuse, and from the reports, Sequel isn't taking responsibility. HUNTSVILLE, Ala., June 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequel Youth and Family Services today announced that Chris W. Roussos has been appointed the Company's Chief Executive Officer. SHERIDAN Normative Services Academy, Inc. will close its doors March 22 "after an evaluation of viability of the Normative Services program," according to a press release sent Wednesday morning by NSI Executive Director Clayton Carr. An NBC News investigation sorted through tens of thousands of documents and found dozens of reports of sexual and physical abuse. Sequel settled a lawsuit from Fredrick's family in December. 3. Washington, California, Oregon and Minnesota stopped sending kids to the companys treatment centers. These residents were allowed to attack Tevin nightly. In a statement, Sparkman wrote that the agency investigates allegations and that subsequent investigation records are confidential based on Alabama law.. In 2020, Emmet County Sheriff Mike Martens contacted the state to complain about the burden Forest Ridge was placing on his department. . We took the feedback from the report, we identified areas for improvement, we worked with the state to come up with a manageable plan to make those areas of improvement, Birmingham said. Ask a question about working or interviewing at Sequel Youth and Family Services. At TorHoerman Law, we believe that if we continue to focus on the people that we represent, and continue to be true to the people that we are justice will always be served. Earlier that year, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare wrote a scathing report accusing the treatment center of significant failure in staff oversight and training resulting in over 100 incidents of aberrant sexual behavior by five children over at least three months, and possibly as far back as seven months.. January 24, 2020 How Our Alabama Law Firm Investigates Nursing Home Abuse. But some of Sequels operations are continuing under new ownership. 97. The records revealed reports of child abuse and injury reports had been made to state agencies in Alabama, yet the facilities would still pass inspections. The family of Cornelius Fredericks, a 16-year-old boy in foster care who died after being improperly restrained by youth facility staff, filed a lawsuit . Ripley started Sequel in 1999 with Adam Shapiro, a lawyer, initially just to run Clarinda Academy, a youth facility in Iowa where Shapiro had been executive director. 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