Without a single doubt, parents feel worried and puzzled about their teens and trust other people and organizations for help, so they usually get them into wilderness therapy programs, which is a big thing in the United States right now. But then you see something like Trails Carolina Lawsuit, and this case makes you rethink your decision as a parent, but why exactly? What really happened? If you don’t know the answers to those questions, just keep on reading, you’ll find that out soon. But briefly, you see, the Trails Carolina Lawsuit is a great example of how the great hope of many families turned into a great nightmare. Here we go.
The Tragic Event That Changed Everything
Just to let you know about what really went down, you see, in an unimaginable turn of events, back in 2023, a truly heartbreaking incident rocked Trails Carolina, a wilderness therapy program, but what really happened? Well, as per the details out there, on his very first night in the program, a 12-year-old boy tragically passed away. How was he found? The details are pretty gruesome actually, but still, as per the details, yes, he had been placed in something called a bivy sack, a plastic-wrapped sleeping bag-like contraption, but nobody checked on him to make sure he was breathing. What was really the result of all this? Sure enough, Trails Carolina was shut down, and all the kids in its care had to be moved elsewhere.
What Really Happened In This Case?
As anyone could have already imagined, yes, families have been expressing their dissatisfaction and distress due to the allegations coming out of Trails Carolina, and that’s pretty understandable too. Sure enough, they claimed the facility didn’t meet their expectations, you know? Like, they go on to say that the facility, rather than acting as a therapeutic environment that offers the children a safe place to heal, constituted a neglectful and even abusive environment for their children.
Just to give you perspective on how bad things went down in these camps, you see, there are reports of children being left to sleep in freezing temperatures without adequate clothing or shelter, being forced into unwaged work, and in the most distressing cases, being traumatized emotionally and otherwise, even sexually abused. Those are some really horrific things that as a parent one could imagine being done to their little one, and yes, nobody wants that.
What about therapy? As it turns out, they were getting one hour of therapy per week on average, and in some instances, this even involved untrained volunteers. It was all the fault of Trails Carolina because they advertised it like it was some dream come true thing for kids, and they didn’t actually tell the parents what they were about to do with their kids.
The Lawsuits and Their Claims
Sure enough, Trails Carolina and its parent company Family Help & Wellness are currently facing two active lawsuits against them, which is not a shocking thing at all, you know? Just so you know though, the companies are accused of being aware of the abuse and neglect going on under their supervision, yet they took no action, and that’s the shady part in this lawsuit other than the fact that kids were literally going through torture at the camps. Not just that though, the families are also claiming that they were misled by false advertising that promised the existence of a program that provided professional care. Keep in mind that the most upsetting thing is that parents spent thousands of dollars on this program, only to feel that their children were worse off than before they attended, that’s not something you as a parent would hope for in return, would you? So yes, this lawsuit is pretty valid.