Clearview horizon mt11/21/2023 Its new law, which took effect in March 2021, marks the state’s first attempt in 15 years to bring more regulation to the industry. Utah is the troubled teen industry’s epicenter, offering a wide variety of these programs. But in many other states, there is little to no oversight. Among them is Montana, whose 2019 law led to the closure of several programs California, whose 2016 law required residential treatment programs to operate on a nonprofit basis to ensure that financial incentives do not affect the quality of care and Oregon, whose various laws have aimed to crack down on the so-called troubled teen industry, including a 2021 law that regulates “secure transport” companies hired to forcibly take kids to wilderness or residential programs. A handful of states besides Utah have passed laws to bolster protections for young people in these programs. That’s left regulation largely to the states, with mixed results. No federal laws govern these private, for-profit residential treatment programs, boot camps, and wilderness programs. Efforts to pass federal legislation that would regulate them failed every year for more than a decade, even after a 2007 Government Accountability Office report detailed allegations of abuse and neglect, along with deaths and deceptive marketing practices at programs across the country. Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing. Further, they say, oversight is often weak and enforcement of the new law has been lax. “If we’re still doing the same thing, there’s never going to be a change,” Leon said.įor groups pressing for more accountability for these programs, Leon’s story shows that the new law doesn’t go far enough. Leon said the dismissals show the state law isn’t enough to hold accountable an industry that makes billions of dollars treating kids with behavioral or substance use problems. Leon’s complaints about what happened to her nephew while he was at Provo Canyon School were dismissed as unsubstantiated or hit dead ends. Secluding a student from others is still allowed under the new rules, for example, but program operators must now report to regulators when they do so. Trish Leon, aunt of the 12-year-old, Logan, contacted various state agencies, the Utah governor’s office, elected officials and youth rights nonprofits - but soon discovered the law’s limits.
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