Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry

tampa bay academy

<< < (10/20) > >>

Ursus:
Okay, here's another one:

After a long period of silence, reporter Adam Emerson updates us on Tampa Bay Academy...


(This article doesn't have any comments posted yet. Judging by the link format, I'm guessing this would be the "companion piece," which never got as many comments anyway. I was not able to find any other version of this article, however.)

-------------- • -------------- • -------------- • --------------

Troubled academy aims to expand
By ADAM EMERSON aemerson@tampatrib.com
Published: June 21, 2009

TAMPA - The executive director of the Tampa Bay Academy says he plans to ask the state this week to lift its moratorium on admissions, saying he has turned around the troubled mental health center and is prepared to bring it back to capacity.

Six months ago, Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration was preparing to pull the academy's license after finding "substandard" conditions and "gross mismanagement."

The academy was given another chance, however, and its top administrator says he feels "very positive about the changes" he has made.

An anonymous tip late last year unearthed evidence that residents in the treatment program preyed on workers and on each other - all made easier by the failures of a poorly trained and inadequate staff.

The state removed 54 children from the academy's treatment center but later agreed to settle. As long as the for-profit academy met every standard set by regulators, it could keep its license and enroll up to 20 children.

Now its director says he will ask to enroll more.

"We've done a lot of intensive training with our staff," said director Rich Warden, who took over the job one month before regulators threatened to suspend the academy's license. "And we've been more conservative with the type of kids we're taking, making sure we can provide quality and good care."

There are 18 children enrolled in the residential treatment center. The academy took care not to take in residents with a history of criminal behavior, Warden said.

Warden also brought back and retrained just 20 percent of the 140 workers he laid off in December. Some of the others let go contributed to the problems that regulators found, he has said.

If the state lifts the moratorium on admissions, Warden said he will plan to enroll up to 80 children.

Before that can happen, though, regulators will have to visit the academy to make sure everything is all right.

Inspectors visited earlier this month to check out a complaint, but they found no deficiencies, said Shelisha Durden, a spokeswoman for the Health Care Administration.

In its settlement agreement, the Health Care Administration noted the academy had taken some measures to improve the quality of its care before it was sanctioned.

But it's not the first time a state agency gave the academy another chance.

In 2005, the Department of Children & Families stopped Tampa Bay Academy from admitting new patients for three months after finding many of the same problems the Health Care Administration later found.

Satisfied with the results of subsequent inspections, DCF later allowed the academy to resume admissions.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.


©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC.

Oscar:
We have compiled our findings so far in a datasheet on the wiki.

Ursus:
Here's an older piece from a different newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, back when these charges first hit. There is some more detail here, and additional information. Apparently there have been several lawsuits against this place in the past regarding abusive conditions; two of them were still pending as of last December:


* 2005 - a 13-year-old girl became pregnant during an 11-month stay at the facility; she had come seeking psychiatric help after being sexually abused.
* 2006 - the adoptive mother of a deaf teenager filed suit saying her son had been sexually and physically abused by other residents.
-------------- • -------------- • -------------- • --------------

Tampa Bay Academy denies claims of abuse
Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer
In Print: Friday, December 19, 2008


The Tampa Bay Academy is under investigation because of claims of abuse, including sexual, of and by patients.

TAMPA — Attorneys for a mental health treatment center deny state findings that the residential program for troubled kids is teeming with problems that include unreported sexual assaults by minors.

Tampa Bay Academy officials have asked the 2nd District Court of Appeal to intervene, claiming the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration acted unfairly and on the basis of poor information when it ordered the facility's license be suspended.

But court records indicate this is not the first time the 20-year-old Riverview center has been the focus of complaints that unsafe conditions and inadequate supervision left children vulnerable to abuse.

In 2006, the adoptive mother of a deaf teenager filed suit saying her son had been sexually and physically abused by other residents.

A year earlier, a 13-year-old girl became pregnant during an 11-month stay at the facility, a lawsuit states. She had come seeking psychiatric help after being sexually abused.

Both suits are pending.

"It's a horrific place," said Brian Cabrey, attorney for the deaf teenager and vice president of Florida's Children First. "This stuff has been going on for years."

In the 1990s, several lawsuits alleged child-on-child abuse at the center, including one that described a 5-year-old victim.

But the Health Care Administration — which has ordered Tampa Bay Academy to relocate all of its 54 clients to other facilities by Jan. 9 — knew nothing of the earlier lawsuits, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Despite regular reviews of the center, the agency only learned about the allegations of sex abuse from a recent anonymous tip, said Shalisha Durden, a Health Care Administration spokeswoman.

"Now that we know about them, we are looking into them," she said of the lawsuits.

Tampa Bay Academy, located on a 24-acre property at 12012 Boyette Road, provides psychiatric treatment of children ages 4 to 17 for eating disorders, chronic anxiety, drug abuse and sexual abuse, among other things, according to its Web site.

Though privately owned by Youth and Family Centered Services in Austin, Texas, the center receives funding from Medicaid and the Florida Department of Children and Families, and insurance and private pay from Florida families as well as out-of-state clients, Durden said.

The Health Care Administration ordered a moratorium last week on admissions at the center following a Dec. 8 on-site investigation that it said showed evidence of sexual assault by clients both against other clients and against staff members.

The report portrays a facility where the staff is intimidated by the youthful clients, where unruly children hold the power — so much so that in one reported instance a staff member secluded himself or herself within an office for safety.

In a point-by-point rebuttal filed in court Wednesday, attorneys for the academy wrote the allegations are exaggerated accounts of more innocuous truths.

For example:

• The Health Care Administration cited a Nov. 25 incident in which a client sexually assaulted a staff member, but the academy failed to report it to law enforcement. Tampa Bay Academy said that the incident involved a 10-year-old boy who poked at the woman's breasts and hit her in the buttocks. The staff member chose not to press charges, attorneys wrote.

• A staff member was assaulted by two children on Nov. 28, according to both reports, and again, authorities weren't notified.

Tampa Bay Academy attorneys wrote that the assault amounted to a 10-minute incident during which the same 10-year-old attempted to touch the breasts, crotch and buttocks of a staff member and then encouraged a "mildly retarded 13-year-old boy" to participate.

Again, attorneys wrote, the staff member did not want to press charges and therefore did not contact authorities.

• And finally, the Health Care Administration found that a client told Tampa Bay Academy that she had gonorrhea and HIV. Yet, she engaged in sexual activity with other clients while at the facility.

Tampa Bay Academy retorted that not only were staff members unable to substantiate claims that the girl had sex while at the center, but also that her test results for the STDs were negative.

"Clearly, children and adolescents residing in a health care facility and requiring mental health assessment and treatment services will act out," attorneys for Tampa Bay Academy wrote again and again, "but it is unreasonable to conclude that 'immediate' and 'serious' danger would be threatened to the public health, safety or welfare."

A judge has ordered the Health Care Administration to respond to Tampa Bay Academy by 2 p.m. Monday, according to a court docket.

Tallahassee attorney Karen Gievers has represented several foster children over the years who were placed in Tampa Bay Academy.

Gievers said the charges coming out of the Health Care Administration were no surprise. Child-on-child sex abuse, she said, "is the dirty secret of the foster care system," and the problem is exacerbated because programs like these are often poorly staffed by people unqualified to treat the patients.

Indeed, the Health Care Administration reported that of 36 staff members working one of the academy's seven units during one week, 21 had been there less than three months.

"There's a real question," Gievers said, "as to whether these facilities benefit children."

Times researcher John Martin and staff writers Chandra Broadwater and Letitia Stein contributed to this report. Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at rcatalanello@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3383.


[Last modified: Dec 22, 2008 12:31 PM]


© 2009 · All Rights Reserved · St. Petersburg Times

Ursus:
Comments for the above article, "Tampa Bay Academy denies claims of abuse" (by Rebecca Catalanello; St. Petersburg Times; Dec. 19, 2008):


Former Staff wrote: Dec 19th, 2008 12:11 am
TBA's Staff have been poorly trained and basically set up to work with mental children without adequate staff or proper treatment plans.Former Employee wrote: Dec 19th, 2008 12:11 am
I have witnessed several assaults on staff from the clients in witch case the administration was against calling the proper authorities to report the incidents. Good staff have been replaced by new staff repeatedly because of tardies and call outs.Patrick wrote: Dec 19th, 2008 12:11 am
I used to work at this place. It is as horrible as described. And the State did a terrible job in its reviews - most often manipulated by the people running then place into overlooking deficiencies.Lynn wrote: Dec 19th, 2008 12:11 am
Good job articulating the allegations and retorts! I'd like to know more about all the funding that Floridians are providing for this privately owned "business."Jane wrote: Dec 19th, 2008 12:11 am
I worked there for over a year. I was injured by a patient. They told me I must not have understood my TCI training. I was also told that I wasn't allow to report assualts to the police - that injuries were part of working mental health.Kacie former reasidnet wrote: Dec 22nd, 2008 9:30 am
i AM A FORMER RESiDENT THERE AND i WOULD HAVE TO SAY iM NOT SURPRiED THiS HAPPENED. EVEN THOUGH THE PROGRAM REALLY HELP ME. i WiSH ALL THE EMPLOYEES THAT WERE THERE FOR ME THE BEST OF LUCK!Rose wrote: Dec 22nd, 2008 9:30 am
We visited the center for our daughter, and it was obvious that this was not a good place. Court ordered children that are violent and have committed crimes were mixed in with those that needed psychiatric help for eating disorders and depressionErikson hall worker wrote: Dec 22nd, 2008 9:31 am
I worked there for 3 years. I was assaulted and was told I was not allowed to report it to authorites. A 5 yr old patient also just on the roof of my car denting it and the admin. never told me till I did some investigating myself. Blame the admin!former resident wrote: Dec 22nd, 2008 9:31 am
I'm sorry but I was a resident there in '95, and although there were "relationships" between "clients" the staff was very well trained to seperate the "couples" and I never heard of a sexual encounter while I was there. This place saved my life.Former Staff wrote: Dec 22nd, 2008 9:31 am
I have witness Staff hitting/instigating children. Most were automatic placed in "holds" instead of finding more appropriate solution for each individaul child. I made several reports to "higher ups" within TBA about staff to no avail.

© 2009 · All Rights Reserved · St. Petersburg Times ·

Anonymous:
It seems I was wrong about visitations. My friends daughter had a visit with her grandparents, and all seems to be as good as can be expected. I brought copies of those tribune articles you posted to her father. He said he wanted to wait to find out how she was doing, before he brought them for "Granny and Peepaw" to see. Hopefully she will be out in the minimum.
I hope with all that went on there last year, that they are on the DCF radar and under the microscope.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page