Utah: Center for “problematic youth” sued for alleged sexual assault

The parents claim that Havenwood Academy did not report the incident to licensors until a month later, even though the California couple “requested” it from the program.

Two parents have filed a lawsuit against a Utah treatment center for “troubled teens,” alleging that their daughter was sexually abused by other girls at the facility because staff did not conduct regular bed checks.

The California couple further alleges in the lawsuit that Havenwood Academy “failed to report” the alleged assault to the proper authorities – and only reported the incident to state licensing authorities after the parents “requested” it. According to the lawsuit filed in March in 5th District Court, the parents are seeking at least $300,000 in damages.

State regulations require programs to report such critical incidents within one business day. Although licensors noted that Havenwood Academy did not report the alleged assault until a month later, public records indicate the state took no action against the program.

Documents provided to the Salt Lake Tribune do not indicate what efforts the Office of Licensing made to investigate the alleged assault, and the office declined to comment on the matter.

The parents sent their daughter to Havenwood Academy in June 2021. The lawsuit alleges that despite the parents’ promise that they would ensure their daughter’s “safety and supervision,” Havenwood Academy staff failed to conduct regular bed checks. They claim their daughter was sexually abused by other students in September, an abuse “that lasted approximately one hour.”

According to the lawsuit, the girl immediately reported the incident to Havenwood Academy. However, Utah Department of Health records show that Havenwood Academy did not notify state licensors of the incident until a month later. Those records show that licensors described the incident as a “sexual act (that) occurred between two clients, to which neither could consent due to their age.”

Mark Carlson, the parents’ attorney, declined to comment for this article. The Tribune generally does not name alleged victims of sexual assault personally and does not name the girl’s parents to protect their privacy.

Ken Huey is CEO of the Hope Group, which operates Havenwood Academy. In an email, he said his company had not yet been served with the complaint and that he first saw it when a Tribune reporter sent it to him this week.

He called the lawsuit “incredibly sloppy” and said it was filed by a lawyer “who is considered in our field to be someone who sues just on the off chance.” Carlson declined to address that claim.

Huey did not comment on the allegations in the lawsuit, but noted that “plaintiffs left their daughter at Havenwood for a significant period of time following the incident alleged in their lawsuit – which appears to contradict their allegations.”

“Havenwood’s mission is to provide world-class trauma care to children who would otherwise not receive treatment,” he wrote. “We work with underserved populations funded by public programs such as Medicaid. To fulfill this mission, Havenwood invests heavily in every young person it serves, without exception.”

Public records show that licensors found that Havenwood Academy did not disclose the September 2021 incident to a parent until six days after it occurred and did not report it to licensors, as required, until a month later. They also found that the youths “appeared not to have been checked for an hour while they were in their room.”

It does not appear that the licensors took any action against Havenwood Academy following the discovery of these findings; the only “solution” mentioned in the public records obtained by The Tribune was for Havenwood Academy’s administration to issue written warnings to “responsible personnel.”

Miranda Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said the licensing office generally interviews everyone involved in an alleged incident, including “the clients, any witnesses, facility staff or the clients’ parents” to determine whether state regulations were violated.

“We want to ensure that any possible non-compliance with the rules is properly justified,” she said.

She added that, depending on the circumstances, other investigative agencies may also be notified to conduct their own investigations. She said DHHS could not confirm whether the Child Protective Services Division conducted its own investigation.

Havenwood Academy was the subject of “Sent Away,” an award-winning podcast from The Tribune, KUER and APM Reports. The podcast examined how Utah authorities failed to ensure the safety of children in youth residential schools and how licensors routinely gave chance after chance to a Utah program called Integrity House — which later became Havenwood Academy — despite allegations of abuse and misconduct.

In June 2018, police were called to Havenwood Academy after an alleged assault – and found a resident sitting in a horse trough in dirty water, her hands bound behind her back with zip ties. The discovery led to an investigation by police, child welfare officials and the Utah Department of Licensing. They found that the facility had been using the horse trough as a form of “therapeutic discipline,” state records show.

At the end of these investigations, there were no penalties for Havenwood Academy.