Trails Carolina is a wilderness therapy program which helps, teens, adolescents ages 10-17 who struggle with mental health and challenges. The mission of this therapy program is to give child the confidence, copy mechanism and communication skills. This also helps the children to become the best version of themselves.
Last month a boy died in wilderness program for troubled adolescents spent his first and only night there on the floor of a bunk house. The boy was only 12 years old. His sleeping bag was found inside a small tent with alarm pinned to the zipper. It was rigged to go off if he tried to get out. One of the staff members gave this information to authorities.
The 12 years old boy had been loud and irate when he reached earlier that day and he also refused to eat dinner. Counselor gave this information to detective. They also told that the boy had a panic attack just after midnight. The Counselor gave the information that staff checked on him twice before discovering him unresponsive at 7:45 a.m. his pants and underwear lying next to his shoulder.
There is not much information about the boy but it is known about the boy’s brief time actress Carolina in Lake Toxaway, the case is under investigation and the cause of his death is unrevealed yet. 14 people who attended Trails Carolina between 2013 and 2020, they were asked some questions and also three formers staff members with a review of state inspection reports and court filings revealed that there have long been concerns about how children were treated at the camp at Trails Carolina.
According to the former participants who also spoke to media, the problems began in their first day with protocols that left them confused and scared. They gave the information of strip searches, bathroom restrictions and having to read upsetting letters from their parents loudly.
Rebecca Burney who is a 21 years old girl. Her parents send her to Trails Carolina the next day of her 14th birthday. She said, ” I know if I had died on my first night, I would have died believing that I was unloved and unwanted”.
also read : – Nano Machine: A famous Korean web Novel
She added,” A 12 years old boy does not deserve any of that.”
Caroline Svarre was 14 years old that time when her parents paid to have her transported by two strangers in the middle of the night of trace Carolina. According to her she was in shock on her very first day there.
According to Caroline Svarre she had never cried so hard as she cried there. Svarre attended the program in 2013. She said,” I tried because I felt betrayed.”
it was identified by the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office that the boy died only by his initials, CJH. They also added that the boy’s death was being investigated as possible manslaughter. Office also gave the statement,” appeared to not be natural but the manner and cause of death is still pending.” the family of the dead boy declined all the requests for an interview through a representative.
The department of Health and Human Services of the State has since suspended admissions to the program until April, letter to camps executive director Feb 16 and also ordered to remove all the present children from the camp. That time 18 children were present in the camp but all the 18 children world removed same day as the conditions at Trails Carolina were detrimental to the health or safety of the children in the care of the camp.
The department of the camp has declined to comment on the conditions at the camp, citing an ongoing investigation.
Prince Carolina is a for profit program. According to the trains Carolina camp the preliminary information indicates the boy’s Death was accidental. Prince Carolina spokesperson Wendy D’Alessandro an email statement to a news channel that week and he gave no information about the circumstances, other than to say staff members of a compassion and patients to children when they arrive. The trains Carolina camp declined to comment on specific children’s experiences.
The formal participants of trains Carolina spoke to the news channel ranged in age from 12 to 16 when they attended the program. They added that the news of a child who had died so early in his stay brought back memories of their own first days at Trails Carolina, which the remembered as full of fear and humiliation.
Each participant said that their time at the wilderness camp began with a strip search, in some cases with no underwear, by a staff member. A formal staff member who worked at the camp from 2020 to 2022 and he also requested do not revealed his name because he said that he feared retaliation. He said searches were conducted if this task thought a child might have drugs or other Contraband. Most children arrived there with just the clothing they were wearing. But some said that they also brought personal items just like books and stuffed animals in the camp which work promptly confiscated.
D’Alessandro, who did not comment on the searches or confiscation, he said,” the camp follows state regulations to ensure a safe and dignified intake process for the new students.”
the former participants said that after they were searched the staff gave sets of hiking clothes and took them to cabins or camp sites to meet the other children.
An 18 years old girl Lily, who was also sent to the Trails Carolina in 2018 because her middle school kicked her out. She also requested to only be identified by her first name only as she wants to avoid damaging her college prospects. According to her,” the first thing I noticed was this smell– just putrid mix of urine and B.O.” according to her it was the worst smell she has ever smelled in her life. He was only 13 years old that time and very soon she learnt that because staff Limited the number of bathroom breaks on hikes this is the reason that many children would wet themselves. The children of the camp were only allowed to shower once in a week. According to her the children on hike were sometimes ask to wait to take bathroom breaks and said,” everyone welcome shower and fresh clothes” after a hike.
Lily also said,” I just remember thinking, where the hell am I? What on Earth is this?”
When Burney reached at Trails Carolina in 2016, she had no contact with her family for around 3 days. Finally, after 3 days a staff member gave her letter which her parents sent to her. There were details of the reasons why they had sent her to camp in the letter of her parents. She said that she read it out loud to her new bunkmates. She said,” it is basically a letter telling you everything you have done wrong and putting all the blame on you, it is the first time you are reading it and the staff will tell you have to read it word for word and aloud.”
formal participants said on the first night in the camp, the staff of the camp made children sleep in what the camp called a ‘burrito’. it is a tarp over there sleeping bag and tucked in and also that restricted their ability to move. According to the former participants and two former employees of the camp, one staff member slept beside the children on the tarp so they would wake up if a child tries to get out.
A 23 years old girl named Alex Rudder, she went to Trails Carolina in 2017, she said,” I wasn’t a burrito not only for the first night but also at other time when she disobeyed or complained. You could not sleep. And have panic attacks All Night.’
four parents who send their children to Trails Carolina were interviewed by media, they defended program and said they hoped it would be allowed to reopen soon. On the other hand, Trails Carolina last year issued a press release, they confessed that the industry has had a history of abuse but urged that its program is different. According to them they use evidence-based practices and also, they have a commitment to the mental health of struggling adolescents which are completely opposite of the harmful, unregulated programs of the past.
After the death of 12 years old boy, unknown profit organization named the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation facilities which certifies programs that meet certain standards, has suspended Trails Carolina’s accreditation. The association for experimental education which is also an accreditation group said it is collecting information to determine if it should take further action regarding Trails Carolina’s accreditation.
A mother who sent her daughter to the Trails Carolina at the time of the boy’s death. She said,” I know it is hard for the people to understand this. We have already been worried about our children taking their own life or doing something that causes them to lose their life. We are in a very different place then you know the average parent.”
Trails Carolina also said that they allow zoom and Face time calls which was based on the children’s mental health and well-being. In response to questions about screening letters, the spokesperson of Trails Carolina said,” asking students to reconsider or think about a statement they wrote teaches them to pause, process their emotions and reflect on their actions. The case of the death of the 12 years old boy in the Trails Carolina is still under investigation the truth is yet to revealed.
