At its height, Sequel operated more than 30 facilities and housed kids from more than 40 states and territories. For 72 hours, staff members left him in a small room outfitted with a thin mattress and a camera on the ceiling, he said. The company kept growing by taking over other youth facilities and programs, fueled by investments from a handful of private equity firms. Join Traditions and start helping people achieve what they never dreamed possible. Sequel Youth and Family Services is a private for-profit operator of behavioral healthcare facilities for children and youth in the United States. The company has been under sustained pressure from disability rights groups and state lawmakers, and has received a flurry of national media attention, including an investigation by APM Reports, following the May 2020 death of 16-year-old Cornelius Fredrick, who lost consciousness after he was restrained by staff at a Sequel facility in Michigan. Grow your skills and advance your career with the guidance of mentors in an environment where collaboration and support come naturally. He watched through a window as children made their way to class. Join Auldern Academy and start helping young adults achieve what they never dreamed possible! Even states without a Sequel location, including California, Oregon and Washington, have done so. Sequel Youth & Family Services, once one of the nations largest operators of treatment centers for children with behavioral problems, plans to close three more facilities, including its flagship academy, continuing the companys contraction in the past two years amid wide-spread reports of abuse. Neighbors complained about a rash of runaways in 2019, and Sheridan County Sheriff Allen Thompson became exasperated with the growing number of assaults committed by residents. As a member of the behavioral health services division, SequelCare of Arizona provides high-quality psychiatric care to children, families, and adults across Arizona. The facility was founded in 1990, and its board of directors hired Sequel to take over operations in 2003. Please take a brief moment to complete the New Hire Survey and share your honest and confidential feedback. Michigans governor ordered state agencies in June to never do business with Sequel. Sequel staff members shared the companys side of the issue and discussed how to deal with concerns among state lawmakers. The leadership is the problem.. Grow your skills and advance your career in an environment where collaboration and support come naturally. Sequel charges government agencies $275 or more per day to care for a child, records show, and Wheaton said MDHHS covers 60 percent of that cost. Join Sequel Pomegrante Health Systems to start helping teens achieve what they never dreamed possible. As a member of the juvenile justice residential services division, Columbus Youth Academy provides comprehensive treatment in a non-secure setting to adolescent males up to 19 years old who have a documented need for sex offender treatment. The level of supervision varies and will be determi Do you thrive in a fast paced work environment with a wide variety of responsibilities? Therapist 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. Seq RBT CERTIFICATION PREFERRED Lakeside Academy of Kansas is a staff secure residential program located in Goddard, KS. View Sequel TSI of Owens Cross Roads Jobs. You think you're making progress, and then it just comes back stronger, Gelser said. The state did not end its relationship with Sequel. I guess we just lifted each other up.. As a member of the behavioral health services division, Sequel Pomegranate Health Systems provides comprehensive hospital and outpatient treatment to teens aged 12-17 with mental health and behavioral disorders. The seventeen (17) states with currently active Sequel facilities are: 1. Utilizing evidence-based treatment methodology, we provide clinical and therapeutic services, as well as the tools, motivations, life skills and education necessary for our residents to lead successful lives and reach their full potential. Marshall also traded messages with Sequels marketing staff monitoring Gelsers social media activity when the lawmaker toured Sequel facilities that year. About a month after Fredericks death, Whitmer, a Democrat, ordered MDHHS to take every step necessary to ensure Sequel Youth and Family Services no longer provides services for facilities licensed by the department.. We are seeking self-motivated, reliabl. Sequel declined to make Ripley available for an interview, and instead set up an interview with Birmingham, who handles compliance. Grow your skills and advance your career in an environment where collaboration and support come naturally. I just want people to be held accountable, Patricia said. Founded in 2001 as a member of the behavioral health services division, Traditions provides high-quality psychiatric care to children, families, and adults across Arizona. But like Sequel facilities closed across the country in recent weeks, Clarinda Academy was strained by declining enrollment. Vivant is using the change of ownership to fight litigation against the treatment centers formerly owned by Sequel. These companies are located in Albany NY, Baltimore MD, Bend OR, Des Moines IA, Huntsville AL, Littleton CO, Salem OR, Tumwater WA, and Wilmington DE. Please note that you are not required to input your name. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. Many of Sequels behavioral health treatment centers are sold or closed following abuse allegations. On multiple occasions later in 2019, when Oregon state Sen. Sara Gelser emailed state officials demanding information about oversight of Sequel programs, government agents promptly forwarded the messages to Sequel employees for help responding. Today the Sequel brand has been removed from almost all its former treatment centers web sites. Hunter is now receiving psychiatric treatment at a hospital, she said. As a result, NSI became increasingly dependent on residents from other states, especially Montana and California. In addition to Lakeside, Sequel ran a similar residential behavioral health program called Starr Commonwealth in Albion, Michigan. SequelCare of Florida is a community based services program located in Pinellas Park, FL. Twelve were closed in the past two years. I dont want any other kid to have to go through that, Tristan said. Sequel Alliance Family Services Nevada is a community based services program located in Reno, NV. Owens Cross Roads Sequel TSIs restructuring as Brighter Path is following a corporate-wide name change according to an affidavit. Sequel closed Red Rock Academy in Utah after an incident described as a riot occurred in 2019. 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. Welcome to Sequel! What we do is we strive every day to provide the best care we can for kids in these facilities, Birmingham said. We are passionate about what we do and delight in providing excellent programs that make permanent, positive changes in the lives of those we serve. Those contracts, which Ivey signed, allow Sequel to continue to run Courtland through September 2022. Sequel started with one operation in Clarinda, Iowa, in 1999 and has since expanded by acquiring other facilities and companies across the country. This position is in Pasco County. Early in 2020, the company announced a partnership with Pine Cone Therapies in Texas, and in June, it opened a facility in Arizona. Theyre playing games: dodge, delay and deny, said James. Join SequelCare of Maine and start helping people achieve what they never dreamed possible. Sequel is a frequent presence at conferences for probation officers, judges, social workers, school safety professionals, attorneys and others involved in court cases. Since the APM Reports story in October, California and Washington also severed ties with Sequel. Im just at the point now that our staff needs to focus on the residents of Sheridan County that need our services, and NSI as a for-profit entity can spend their money doing what they need to do to make their students and staff safe.. Minnesota, Oregon and Maryland cut ties with the company following Fredricks death. The company later said in an email that in cases where a child's safety is threatened, "we take all necessary actions from employee termination, to policy and process changes, to staff-wide retraining to ensure we live up to our high standards of care for the youth we serve.". Ripley started in the juvenile corrections business in the early 1990s, when he helped start Youth Services International with his boss and mentor James Hindman. Toys litter the floor at Sequel's Courtland facility. Published: May. supervision, competency reviews and training for all counselors and counselor He was forced to go to the bathroom on his own breakfast tray, he said. Improving the Lives of Youth. Woodward Community Based Services is located in Des Moines, IA and provides comprehensive in-home therapy and treatment services to multiple counties across the state. That decision likely accelerated the closures in Iowa and Wyoming. Hindman had founded the Jiffy Lube chain of auto service centers, and Ripley worked for him. Starting pay is $20/hrAre you a certified BHP and ready to take the next step in your career development? Palm Beach Youth Academy is a secure residential program located in West Palm Beach, FL. For more of NBC News' in-depth reporting, download the NBC News app. According to Hunters adoptive mother, Patricia, the facility was supposed to get Hunter back on track with school, provide intensive therapy and immerse him in a Positive Peer Culture that teaches residents to support one another. Tristan, now 18, was placed into foster care on his 12th birthday and bounced between group homes until 2018, when he landed at Tuskegee, an intensive psychiatric treatment facility. Oregon state Senator Sara Gelser has spent years demanding accountability for Sequel, and she is continuing the crusade against Vivant. They may be trying to drum up business, but ultimately, Birmingham said, Sequel employees care about the children. All three are closing due to decreasing enrollment, according to statements from the company and state regulators. As a member of the behavioral health services division at Sequel, Woodward Community Based Services provides impactful treatment to children and young adults across the state in the comfort of their own community. Sequel TSI of Montgomery is a secure residential program located in Montgomery, AL. processing and recording of the companys payrol Up to $2000 a year incentive pay available!We are currently looking for a highly motivated individual to fill our Lead Direct Support Professional position in our Westbrook home. She said she regularly witnessed staff members putting girls into violent restraints, to the point where they struggled to breathe, allegations also documented by the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program and in NBC News interviews with other former residents. But if local courts decide to place a child in an out-of-state facility which Michigan agencies have no licensing authority over they do not need the departments approval, even when it foots the bill. As a staff secure residential facility, Clarinda Academy provides residential academic and behavioral health treatment to help at-risk youth achieve what they never dreamed possible. It closed operations at 12 facilities in the past two years and no longer publicly lists its programs. The company collected over $200 million in annual revenue at the time, he said, and turned about $30 million in profit, which he attributed to keeping staffing costs low. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources. In recent years, NSI has been a source of controversy in Sheridan. The company dreamed of dominating America's $220 billion behavioral health care industry. Copyright 2022 WAFF. Yet, at these facilities, children have been sexually and physically assaulted by staff members. Unlike other Sequel facilities that accept kids from state and county governments, Auldern Academy is a private school, and it operated with little government oversight. As a member of the juvenile justice residential services division, Sequel of Owens Cross Roads provides comprehensive therapy services to adolescent females ages 12-18 who have had a series of placements in other facilities. Grow your skills and advance your career in an environment where collaboration and support come naturally. SequelCare of Arizona is a community based services program located in Prescott, AZ. Even with the recent closures, the company is still acquiring new programs. * Generous PTO and paid vacation It's a hard industry.. Since then, 17 of those centers have closed. Sequel did not respond to requests for comment. On top of those attacks, the suit states, a staff member once restrained Hunter so violently that his head hit a concrete wall and reopened an existing cut, requiring stitches. Those close relationships come in handy when the company faces scrutiny. Multiple states including California, Oregon and Washington said they stopped placing children in Sequel facilities since Fredericks death as additional allegations of abuse and neglect of children in the companys care came to light. The county says it removed kids from another Sequel facility, Iowa's Woodward Academy, at the same time it pulled them from Lakeside in May. [18], In July 2021, the state of California brought home all foster children it sent to out-of-state Sequel facilities. Founded in 1999, Sequel Youth and Family Services is a leading national behavioral health organization that develops and operates a broad continuum of treatment programs for children, adolescents . Jay Ripley speaks at the Merrick School of Business in Baltimore in 2015. 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. State law requires the department to reimburse local courts for services and does not give the department authority to deny such reimbursements, nor does it require the court to inform MDHHS where the child is placed, Wheaton said. Whether it was economic uncertainty, the Covid-19 pandemic, heightened scrutiny of the company, or a combination of factors, Auldern closed because too few students were attending the school. Sequel also runs private schools and speech therapy centers not mapped here. Tax dollars are being used ultimately to abuse and mistreat children who are in need of serious therapeutic services, and weve sent them to these services for that, said K. Ricky Watson Jr., head of the National Juvenile Justice Network, which has advocated against for-profit juvenile detention. The facility, which Sequel operated under a contract with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, shut down the following month. The first morning he woke up in the room, Tristan said, he waved his arms at the camera, pounded on the door and shouted for the staff to let him out to use the bathroom. 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, a company with locations in 20 states that turned a $25 million profit in 2016, markets itself as a national leader in providing specialized care for at-risk youth. Those included sexual abuse by staff, bullying by residents, inappropriate physical restraints and employees sleeping on the job, according to records. Join Starr Albion Prep to start helping at-risk young men achieve what they never dreamed possible. The sheriffs frustrations are similar to those expressed by local law enforcement about Sequel treatment centers in Ohio and Wyoming. Join Lakeside Academy of Kansas and help young men achieve what they never dreamed possible. Yet, at these facilities, children have been sexually and physically assaulted by staff members. Its part of what we do, Jarrett Shoemaker, a Sequel marketing agent, wrote to a Washington state child welfare official in 2014. 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