LAKE OZARK, Mo. (AP) — An Associated Press investigation finds that private, for-profit residential treatment centers that care for adopted kids at exceptionally high rates are often funded by taxpayer dollars, but are subject to little oversight and few consequences after allegations of abuse and neglect.The investigation looks deeply at a facility in rural Missouri called Calo Programs, or Change Academy at Lake of the Ozarks, which costs as much as $20,000 a month and attracts families from all over the country, who send their children across state lines to the facility.Calo promises relief for desperate parents whose adopted kids are struggling — a lakeside, summer camp-like academy where kids can heal by bonding with golden retrievers, where caring employees “create joy.”But the AP report paints a more complicated and less idyllic picture.
Law enforcement is often called to Calo to investigate assaults or track down runaways. State agencies that pay to send kids there have questioned its operations, training and transparency. Parents and former employees say there is minimal treatment and barely any schooling, with only young, poorly trained staff to supervise the kids. Two mothers described it as something out of “Lord of the Flies.”
