US Edition
AP Finds Adoptees Overrepresented in Troubled Teen Facilities
Experts say adoptees make up 25% to 40% of residential treatment residents, while facilities charge up to $20,000 a month.
- An Associated Press investigation reveals adoptees are vastly overrepresented in the "troubled teen industry," a sprawling network of for-profit residential treatment centers. Experts estimate adoptees, only 2% of American children, account for 25-40% of those in residential treatment.
- Charging as much as $20,000 monthly, facilities often promise to treat adopted children for reactive attachment disorder . The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders specifies the diagnosis is extremely rare and applies to children under 5.
- Police reports reveal children as young as 9 experience or witness violence, chaos, and self-harm inside these residential facilities. A congressional investigation titled "Warehouses of Neglect" found chronic understaffing led to improper restraints and rampant abuse.
- Family Help & Wellness faces multiple lawsuits alleging abuse, though the company defends its "behavioral accountability mechanisms" as essential to treatment. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services fined Discovery Ranch $10,300 following a child's death.
- Private equity firms increasingly acquire these centers, drawn by profit margins around 20%, allowing investors to operate risk-free in growing markets. Critics demand stricter regulation, citing the Private Equity Stakeholder Project's 2022 research on fast-profit business models endangering vulnerable children.
40 Articles
40 Articles
Anchorage Daily News
Washington TimesAdopted and locked away: Kids promised ‘forever homes’ instead confined in for-profit institutions
A sprawling network of loosely regulated, for-profit residential treatment centers and boarding schools advertises to adoptive parents, promising to help adoptees heal at high costs. Adoptees said they were in a system where children end up institutionalized in oppressive, sometimes abusive facilities.
Associated Press News
Takeaways from AP investigation: Adopted kids confined in for-profit institutions
Takeaways from an Associated Press investigation that finds a business known for tough-love boarding schools for rebellious, rich teenagers has set its sights on a different demographic: adopted kids.
Ottumwa Courier
Adopted and Locked Away: Kids promised 'forever homes' instead confined in for-profit institutions
An Associated Press investigation finds that a business known for tough-love boarding schools for rebellious, rich teenagers has set its sights on a different demographic: adopted kids. Experts say adoptees account for an estimated 25-40% of those in residential treatment.…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 60% of the sources lean Left
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