Print Page - WOODSIDE TRAILS- Abusive Wilderness Program Reopens with a N

You may remember the discussion of Woodside Trails Wilderness. They were shut down and license revoked for multiple violations of licensing standards.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=5052&forum=9 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=5052&forum=9)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... rt=0#65310 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=6984&forum=9&start=0#65310)

It won?t surprise some of you that they have reopened with a new name and classification:
Eagle Pines Academy- Private Boarding School
Watch the news clip here:
http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/?videoId=139349,565 (http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/?videoId=139349,565)

The State official interviewed in the clip claims that it?s many of the same people. They are concerned and will not place kids there. But EPA is applying for ?Accreditation? with SACS and if they are approved they will be exempt from needing a license. Apparently assuming that SACS will be monitoring/regulating all aspects of the program.

This fraud is so common in the industry.
If you?re so inclined, join me in educating the State of Texas. They need to know that SACS is not going to monitor the ?therapeutic? aspect of the program. In effect they will be self-regulating. Children will not be safe. If you don?t know the arguing points, see my rant on how ?Accreditation? differs from ?Licensing? and why it is not sufficient for facilities warehousing kids 24/7/365 and subjecting them to questionable and potentially harmful BM techniques.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... rt=0#83063 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=8338&forum=9&start=0#83063)

Contact the Texas Dept of Family and Protective Services here:
http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/ ... efault.asp (http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/Search_Texas_Child_Care/Default.asp)

Direct your comments to:
Patrick Crimmins at TDFPS

SACS needs to hear from us as well. They need to know that a known abusive program that had it's license revoked is applying for accreditation through their organization to avoid monitoring by the St of Tx. Plead with them, to not participate in this fraud.

Also, that their requirements of 'Specialty Schools' are inadeqate:
http://www.sacscasi.org/region/standard ... nonpub.pdf (http://www.sacscasi.org/region/standards/special_purpose_stds_nonpub.pdf)

Headquarters Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Council on Accreditation and School Improvement
Commissions on Elementary, Middle, and Secondary Schools
1866 Southern Lane
Decatur, GA 30033
Phone: (404) 679-4500, (800) 248-7701
Fax: (404) 679-4541

Dr. Mark A. Elgart, Chief Executive Officer/ Executive Director
Phone: (404) 679-4500, x595
sbaker@sacscasi.org (http://mailto:sbaker@sacscasi.org)

::bump::

No fancy cart, just a bump

Media Release

Contact:

   Jackie D. Reynolds, Jr.
   Brownwood, Texas 76801
   Phone: 325-998-6116
   Web: http://www.whataboutthekids.info (http://www.whataboutthekids.info)
   Email: http://www.whataboutthekids.info (http://www.whataboutthekids.info).

###

August 29, 2005 ? United States Magistrate Judge Andrew W. Austin has granted a motion allowing a former Woodside Trails counselor to proceed with his Section 1983 lawsuit against state officials without paying court costs.

The same day he filed the lawsuit, Jackie DeWayne Reynolds, Jr. filed what is called an in forma pauperis plea requesting court costs be waived on the grounds that he is indigent.

?I?m delighted the court approved my plea,? said Mr. Reynolds. ?Being able to proceed in forma pauperis is a big relief. It was the first big hurdle I had to overcome.?

According to Mr. Reynolds, now that the expense of litigating a costly civil rights lawsuit is less of a concern, he can focus all of his attention on the flurry of dismissal motions likely to follow.

?I suspect they will try to assert various immunity defenses and I have to be ready with an answer. Civil rights litigation is complicated and this would obviously be much easier if I had an attorney.?

Mr. Reynolds confirms that he has spoken to several attorneys and is confident he has a legitimate case. This was confirmed in the Notice of Order or Judgment granting his in forma pauperis plea issued by the Court on August 23, 2005.

?After reviewing Plaintiff?s Complaint,? the notice reads, ?the Court has determined that this case should not be dismissed as frivolous . . .?

Despite the confirmation and previous assurances that his case is valid, the attorneys he spoke with were unwilling to represent him at this time.

?I don?t know why, quite frankly,? says Mr. Reynolds. ?I?ve been told that I should be scared of the state. They convicted me of child molestation in the court of public opinion. My reputation is utterly destroyed. I really have nothing to lose and I have a legitimate case.?

Jackie DeWayne Reynolds, Jr. was one of two Woodside Trails counselors arrested and indicted last summer on child sexual assault charges stemming from his work at the therapeutic camp in Bastrop County. The indictments led to the revocation of the facility?s license by the Department of Family and Protective Services.

Less than six months after the criminal charges were dismissed, Mr. Reynolds filed a 109-page, 18-count lawsuit on his own behalf alleging that, among other things, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and republican gubernatorial candidate, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, deprived him of his civil rights under the color of state law.

According to the Section 1983 lawsuit, the charges against Mr. Reynolds were "motivated by ill-will toward Woodside Trails and its former or current employees and was undertaken on behalf of and as a direct result and consequence of the reckless and wanton abuse of power and authority by Defendant Strayhorn."

Section 1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code makes every "person who, under color of [law]. . . subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States . . . to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution" liable to the party whose constitutional rights were deprived.

Other defendants in the lawsuit include officials of the Department of Family & Protective Services, Bastrop County District Attorney Brian Goertz, Assistant District Attorney Kathy Holton, Sheriff Richard Hernandez and Detective Steve Suriano.

In addition to the deprivation of civil rights charge, other counts include conspiracy, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process and defamation of character.

The Section 1983 lawsuit was received by the United States District Court, Western District of Texas, Austin Division on August 12, 2005, at 2:34 pm. It was assigned case number A-05-CA-638 LY.

A copy of the lawsuit can be viewed at http://www.whataboutthekids.info (http://www.whataboutthekids.info).

###

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Do believe we have eyes and can see the depolorable conditions those kids were living in out in those wood my man JACK! Give it a rest! And you are not a LICENSED therapist, and should not be acting like one with those kids---so give it a rest!

Quote

"Is the press always right?

The answer to every single one of those questions is yes."

I'm just saying...

delete

Well, Jack: it seems you place no value on your family, your fiance, and putting your own life back in some kind of order---and you would rather just continue defending the UN-DEFENDABLE.
Have it your way.
ME: I'd be trying to figure out SOME WAY to be around MY fiance' and her kids....put this deal behind me, and leave BEBE to fight her own little battles. If you clear yourself "legally," then good for you--but you stepped way over the line "playing counselor." That is just how THE SYSTEM as you call it works! That is why these people have degrees-- whether YOU respect that OR NOT!

http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... um=9#65310 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=6984&forum=9#65310)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=10#66546 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=7068&forum=9&start=10#66546)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=20#66644 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=7068&forum=9&start=20#66644)

Quote

On 2005-08-31 10:34:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Well, Jack: it seems you place no value on your family, your fiance, and putting your own life back in some kind of order---and you would rather just continue defending the UN-DEFENDABLE.

Don't dare presume what I value and what I don't. I could be closed-minded like you and refused to accept THE TRUTH, but I choose to defend people who aren't here to defend themselves.

Quote

Have it your way.

ME: I'd be trying to figure out SOME WAY to be around MY fiance' and her kids....put this deal behind me, and leave BEBE to fight her own little battles. If you clear yourself "legally," then good for you--but you stepped way over the line "playing counselor."

I didn't play counselor. You people are so desperate to find fault you misconstrue everything and continue to harp on it no matter how many times I tell you you are wrong. There was no line, I didn't stetp over it, and I wasn't "playing" counselor. Whether you like it or not, whether you think it was appropriate or not, I WAS a counselor. I did good work and I have nothing to be ashamed of.

Quote

That is just how THE SYSTEM as you call it works! That is why these people have degrees-- whether YOU respect that OR NOT!"

Nothing I have ever said, implied, or wrote ever suggested I did not respect "these people" who "have degrees." This is another example of how desperate you are to find something bad to say about me.

You want me to stop defending Bebe and Woodside Trails? Then stop talking trash about something you obviously know nothing about and aren't even remotely interested in learning about.

Jack

Quote

On 2005-08-31 08:31:00, jdr7181 wrote:

The presumption that only a person with eight years of college and advanced training in psychology, child and adolescent development, and sociology can help a child in distress is exactly what is wrong with the system.

Jack

Ok, I would agree that that's one of the problems with the system. That and the presumption that said degrees alone are proof enough of competence and good intentions.

So maybe you can explain something to me. If I forced my kids to live for extended periods under the conditions we know of at Woodside Trails, I would surely become a "person of interest" to local CPS people; even here in SW Pa. If it's not professional status, then what is the difference between my doing these things to my kid myself and your doing it for me for pay?

The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie-deliberate, contrived, and dishonest-but the myth-persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
--John F. Kennedy, U.S. President

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Political vendetta alleged in foster care crackdown
Strayhorn sued by former wilderness camp director.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The director of a now-shuttered wilderness camp for troubled youth has filed a lawsuit against state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, accusing her of pressuring regulators to shut down the facility with unproven and false allegations of abuse to boost her political ambitions.

As I recall, the state did their own investigation and found numerous violations.

Nine other state officials are named as defendants with Strayhorn in the suit, filed Thursday in federal court in Austin.

Betty Lou Gaines, the former director of Woodside Trails Therapeutic Camp in Bastrop County, seeks unspecified damages for what she says was an administrative chain of political manipulation that began more than two years ago, when Strayhorn released "Forgotten Children," a report that was highly critical of how the Department of Family and Protective Services protects foster children.

Betty Lou, aka Bebe.

The camp near Smithville cared for more than 500 abused and troubled adolescent boys in more than 20 years of operation and "enjoyed a favorable success rate" before it closed in August 2004, according to the lawsuit.

Favorable? Not 98%?

"Had a proper investigation been conducted, free from politics and bureaucracy, the allegation of sexual abuse and the allegations of neglect against (Gaines) would have been ruled out by a preponderance of the evidence," the suit states.

Will Holford, a spokesman for Strayhorn, said Monday that neither she nor the agency would comment on pending litigation. Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said his agency has not seen the lawsuit and had no comment.

In the suit, filed by Austin attorney Susan Henricks, Gaines alleges that the investigation of Woodside Trails by Strayhorn was politically motivated from the start.

Last month, two state administrative law judges "unanimously found that DFPS had no evidence of sexual abuse" of a resident by a camp counselor. That was an allegation in Strayhorn's investigation, although the boy who had made the charges recanted them before Strayhorn's report was made public, according to the suit.

As a result, the suit argues, state officials had no reason to revoke Woodside Trails' state license in August 2004, an action that led to its shutdown.

"The closing of Woodside Trails was the culmination of the extensive and relentless political pressure exerted against the agency and the facility by Defendant Strayhorn," according to the suit.

It alleges that she had no legal authority to investigate the camp and that the report was misleading and inaccurate.

"The depth, intensity and extent" of Strayhorn's campaign against Woodside Trails "went far beyond the normal agenda of a powerful, ambitious and unscrupulous politician seeking higher office," the suit alleges.

After her report was released, Strayhorn was so upset by a favorable media story about the camp that she took two other TV journalists to the camp, said they were part of her inspection team and used hidden cameras to film boys at the camp, the suit says.

Links to those videos, of the squalid conditions the kids were living in, are posted on Fornits.

Strayhorn is currently challenging Gov. Rick Perry as an independent candidate for governor, after initially running as a Republican.

Gaines could not be reached for comment Monday.

Also named as defendants are Family and Protective Services employees Darla Jean Shaw, an investigator; Sherry Loyd, a supervisor; Jan Martin, at the time the Houston regional director of residential child care licensing; Charlene Bateman, director of child care licensing; Assistant Commissioners Diana Spiser and Karen Eells; and Thomas Chapmond, commissioner at the time; and comptroller's office employees Vicki Anderson and Ruthie Ford.

THE STORY SO FAR
Strayhorn and Woodside Trails

April 2004: Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn issues a report blasting the foster care system, particularly therapeutic camps. Although not by name, Woodside Trails is among several camps cited for poor living conditions.

August 2004: The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services revokes the camp's license several weeks after an employee and a former employee are arrested on charges of sexual assault of a child.

July 2006: Two state judges find that the state had no evidence of sexual abuse.
~~

So... why no mention of "Eagle Pines Academy", which they opened immediately upon Woodside Trails Wilderness being shut down by the state?
Have they closed their doors? Website's still up.
No longer listed at NATSAP though. Were they booted or have they ceased operating?
[/i]

State agency said to have mishandled probe of foster camp

12/01/2006

By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON / Associated Press

A state agency ignored evidence and the opinions of its own staff before closing a camp for troubled boys in 2004 and accusing its director and two employees of neglect or sexual abuse, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Managers and staff at the Department of Family and Protective Services made a series of questionable decisions in handling allegations involving Woodside Trails Therapeutic Camp, two administrative law judges said in July rulings that cleared the camp's employees of all wrongdoing.

The AP first requested the documents in August under the Texas Public Information Act, but the State Office of Administrative Hearings refused, citing confidentiality laws. The state attorney general's office rejected that argument and ordered the rulings be made public this week.

The state's investigation into the Bastrop County camp is also the subject of two lawsuits. Betty Lou "Bebe" Gaines, the camp's former director, and one of the counselors sued comptroller and recent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn claiming she targeted the facility for political gain.

Between October 2003 and August 2004, one counselor was accused of failing to supervise a boy who overdosed on ibuprofen, another counselor was accused of molesting a child and Gaines was accused of neglect for, among other things, taking some campers to an American Indian religious ceremony. The camp was cited for 32 violations of state standards.

Among the administrative law judges' findings:

_ The agency's director of residential child care licensing overrode investigators' findings and determined there was reason to believe neglect had occurred even though she didn't speak to any witnesses or the accused employees and didn't obtain any other information. In counselor Paul Lowery's case, if the director had asked a few basic questions she would have realized the teen's explanation of how he got the pills could not have been true.

_ An investigator concluded counselor Jackie Reynolds had molested a former camper even though the boy had recanted his accusation, had a lengthy history of lying and had threatened to falsely accuse Reynolds of abusing him. "There is simply no evidence showing that sexual abuse occurred," the judges said.

_ Woodside Trails merited just 11 of the 32 standards violations state inspectors found between October 2003 and August 2004, and it immediately corrected four of them, so the department should not have revoked its license.

The department has asked a state district court to overturn the judges' findings in its case against Woodside Trails, spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. It is not appealing the findings in the cases against the counselors and the director.

Asked to comment on the judges' findings, Crimmins would only say "the judge apparently didn't disagree with the fact that it was a problem facility but took issue with our regulatory remedy for that." He said there will be no internal inquiry into the shortcomings the judges described concerning the state investigation.

Gaines' and Reynolds' lawsuits claim Strayhorn forced the department to find or fabricate problems at the camp to bolster her campaign to clean up the state's foster care system.

Strayhorn spokesman Will Holford declined to comment on the rulings. When Gaines filed her lawsuit in August, he said the comptroller has been and will continue to be "the voice for our forgotten children in the state's foster care system."

Reynolds said the rulings were a step in the right direction but didn't do much to repair his shattered life. He was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and even though those charges were dropped in 2005 he was rejected from public housing because the allegations remain on his record. He now makes $6 an hour at a cardboard box factory.

"It doesn't have to be true to completely and utterly destroy the credibility of the person being accused," he said. "It destroyed Woodside Trails. It destroyed me. It destroyed Bebe Gaines. Just the suggestion this has happened utterly annihilates people's lives."

Lowery also has had a hard time finding work, especially in the child care field.

"When you're dealing with kids, the state's always going to believe the kids before they believe the adults and I can understand that," he said. "But once there's evidence proving I wasn't negligent why wasn't action taken in order to reverse the verdict?"

Gaines declined to comment because of her lawsuit, other than to say she was glad the rulings were no longer secret.

Weaver Gaines, the camp's former chief operating officer, said his sister has a gift for helping troubled boys but likely will never be able to do that work again. Over more than two decades, the camp helped more than 500 abused and troubled boys rebuild their lives, he said.

"It was really important to her that the 23 years of what they did for those children not end with an undisputed allegation that they didn't take care of the kids," he said. "She would really, really like it if somebody would pay attention to the way that the department is run and take some steps to see that things like this don't happen in the future."

Fornits

Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Deborah on August 03, 2005, 01:20:00 PM