Teen sues Utah treatment center, calls for federal reforms

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — When he was 15, Finn Pool says he was kidnapped in the middle of the night from his Washington, D.C., home and taken across the country to an adolescent treatment center in North Carolina. Utah.

The moment he entered RTC Elevationslocated in Davis County, the teenager was stripped naked and forced to swim, Pool detailed in an article published Monday in NewsweekThis experience left him feeling broken and betrayed by his father.

“I don't think I've ever cried so much in my life,” he told ABC4.com.

Pool spent about 10 months at Elevations, only getting out through the intervention of his mother and a lawyer. In January, the now 18-year-old continued the treatment centeralleging negligence and abuse. He claims that Elevations was more concerned about the paychecks coming from his father than his own well-being.

Since leaving the treatment center, Pool has become an advocate for other survivors of the so-called “troubled teen industry.” For-profit treatment facilities operate across the country, but Utah has historically been known as the epicenter of this industry, with more teenagers sent to treatment centers here than in any other state. The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

“I'm filing this complaint not only for myself, but for anyone who can't speak about their experience…or who is currently confined in one of these places,” Pool said.

Pushing for federal reform

This week, the teen appeared before lawmakers in Washington alongside other survivors, including Paris Hilton. Since 2020, the reality TV star and businesswoman has spoken publicly about the childhood abuse she says she suffered at various treatment centers, including one in Utah.

“These programs promised healing, growth and support, but instead they didn’t allow me to speak, move freely or even look out the window for two years,” Hilton testified in court Wednesday. House Ways and Means Committee.

She added: “I was force-fed drugs and sexually abused…. My parents were completely lied to, deceived and manipulated by this for-profit industry about the inhumane treatment I endured.

Hilton and Pool call on Congress to pass the “An Act to End Institutional Child Abuse.” »

If passed, the bill would develop best practices for the industry and require agencies to make recommendations on oversight at the state and federal levels. One key aspect of the legislation, Pool said, is that it would not allow treatment facilities to “treat children like cash cows.”

Introduced last year by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the bill has bipartisan support. Among his co-authors is Representative John Curtis (R-Utah).

“I should never have participated in a program”

Another Utah supporter of the bill is state Sen. Michael McKell (R-Spanish Fork). He met with Pool earlier this year and described him as a teenager who “should never have been in a program in the first place.”

In 2021, McKell was instrumental in passing state legislation to develop a regulatory framework for residential treatment centers, which had previously operated in Utah with little oversight. He believes more can be done to hold bad actors accountable.

“We've lost a number of children since this law was passed,” he said. “A lot of children have been hurt like Finn.”

As his complaint states, Pool claims his father sent him to Elevations because he was gay, not for mental health or substance abuse issues. He also accused his father of sexually assaulting him.

While at Elevations, Pool told his therapist at the center about the parental abuse, the lawsuit says. But instead of immediately reporting the abuse to authorities, the therapist told Pool's father.

Last year, the therapist pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse. The therapist, Ryan Faust, still works at Elevations, according to his website.

Elevations responds

Jennifer Wilde, an Elevations executive, previously told ABC4 that Faust, the therapist, did report the sexual abuse allegation to authorities but delayed “revisiting the matter” given the social dynamics between the parents. She noted that Pool’s father was investigated but never charged.

Following a request for comment on Pool's allegations, Elevations provided a statement to ABC4.com saying it has a team of caring professionals who have provided mental health treatment to more than 700 young people since 2014.

“The safety and well-being of our students is and always has been our priority,” the statement said. “We support the advancement of legislation that promotes the widespread safety of youth who require higher levels of care.”

Pool's attorney, Alan Mortensen, said the lawsuit against Elevations is currently waiting to move forward in the medical malpractice review process.

“We plan to complete this process and begin discovery in the fall,” he said in a statement. “This is obviously a very important question for Finn as he continues to move forward despite the horrific events he endured at Elevations RTC.”

Pool plans to attend the University of California, Berkeley in the fall.