Utah center for 'troubled teens' sued for alleged sexual assault

The parents say Havenwood Academy didn't report the incident to licensees until a month later, after the California couple “demanded” that the program do so.

A Utah treatment center for “troubled teens” has been sued by two parents who say their daughter was sexually assaulted by other girls at the facility after staff failed to perform regular bed checks.

The California couple further claims in the court filing that Havenwood Academy “did not bother” to report the alleged assault to the proper authorities — and only ended up disclosing the incident to state licensees only after the parents “demanded” that they do so. The parents are seeking at least $300,000 in damages, according to the lawsuit filed in March in 5th District Court.

State rules say programs are supposed to report these types of critical incidents within one business day. Although licensees found 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 efforts by the Licensing Bureau to investigate the alleged assault, and the bureau declined to comment on the matter.

The parents sent their daughter to Havenwood Academy in June 2021. The lawsuit alleges that despite Havenwood Academy's promise to parents that staff would provide “safety and supervision” of their daughter, workers failed to check in regularly the beds. They allege that their daughter was sexually assaulted by other students in September, an assault “that lasted approximately an hour.”

The girl immediately reported what happened to Havenwood Academy, according to the lawsuit. But Utah Department of Health and Human Services records show Havenwood Academy didn't notify state licensees about the incident until a month later. Those records show the licensees described the incident as a “sex 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 story. The Tribune generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault or name the girl's parents in an effort to protect her privacy.

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

He called the lawsuit “incredibly botched” and said it was filed by an attorney “who is considered an ambulance chaser in our field.” Carlson declined to respond to this claim.

Huey did not comment on the lawsuit's allegations, but noted that “plaintiffs left their daughter at Havenwood for a significant period of time after the event alleged in their complaint – which appears inconsistent with their claims.”

“Havenwood’s mission is to provide world-class trauma treatment to children who would otherwise not receive care,” he wrote. “We work with public remuneration [children whose care is covered by public programs such as Medicaid], underserved populations. In pursuing this mission, Havenwood invests deeply in every young person it serves, without exception.

Public records show that the licensors discovered 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 the licensors as required only a month later. They also found that the young people “do not appear to have been monitored for an hour while they were in their room.”

It does not appear that the licensors took any action against Havenwood Academy after reaching these conclusions; the only “resolution” mentioned in public records published in The Tribune was that Havenwood Academy administrators gave written warnings to “responsible personnel.”

Miranda Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that in general, the Licensing Bureau interviews anyone involved in an alleged incident, including “customers, witnesses, restaurant staff facility or parents of clients” to see if any state rules have been violated.

“This is done to ensure that any potential non-compliance with the rules is properly justified,” she said.

She added that depending on the circumstances, other investigative agencies may be informed so that they can conduct their own investigation. She said DHHS could not confirm whether the child welfare division conducted its own investigation.

Havenwood Academy has been the subject of “Sent Away,” an award-winning podcast from The Tribune, KUER and APM Reports. The podcast investigated how Utah government officials failed to keep children safe in residential youth programs and how licensees routinely failed to provide program Utah called Integrity House — which later became Havenwood Academy — chance after chance, despite allegations of abuse and misconduct.

At Havenwood Academy, police were called in June 2018 after an alleged assault – and found a resident sitting in a horse trough in dirty water with her hands tied behind her back. The discovery led to investigations by law enforcement, child welfare workers and the Utah Bureau of Licensing. They discovered the facility had used the horse water trough as a form of “therapeutic discipline,” according to state records.

Following these investigations, no sanctions were imposed against Havenwood Academy.