How Could You? Hall of Shame-Glade Run Lutheran Services UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From  Zelienople, Pennsylvania, Glade Run Lutheran Services “must close in 30 days — its license revoked by the state Department of Human Services as a result of an investigation into the sex abuse allegations.”

“While staff members of a residential treatment facility watched television and slept through their overnight shifts, eight children ranging in age from 8 to 13 performed sex acts on one another, some by force, according to a state report.”

“Glade Run has 30 days to appeal the decision. Officials there did not return a request for comment.

In a letter Glade Run sent to families of children in the residential program and posted on its website, Glade Run president Charles Lockwood said Glade Run will fight the revocation.

“We fully intend to fight this decision, knowing first-hand of the thousands of successes Glade Run’s RTF program has to its credit and of the extreme need in our communities for this level of treatment,” he wrote.

Lockwood called the allegations “difficult.”

The DHS report, detailing myriad violations, cited gross incompetence in its decision to shut the facility, saying the lax standards and failure to adhere to procedures and protocols led to the violations.

A call to state child abuse reporting hotline ChildLine alleged a group of children were engaging in sexual contact among themselves, some consensual and some not, according to department spokeswoman Kait Gillis.

The investigation found that inadequate supervision and staff sleeping or watching television during the overnight shifts in one of the facility’s housing cottages “resulted in the children’s development of a sexual misconduct system that included forcible rape,” according to the department’s report. The actions took place between March and July.

“Our No. 1 priority must always be the health and safety of the children that we serve,” said DHS Secretary Ted Dallas. “We will never hesitate to act when child safety is at risk and today’s actions are a reminder that we must always remain vigilant.”

Gillis said no criminal charges have been filed.

According to a letter to Lockwood detailing the license revocation, DHS Director Matthew J. Jones wrote that the investigation determined Glade Run “failed to provide supervision to children receiving services … resulting in elopement, self-harm, and numerous instances of sexual abuse and mistreatment.”

The DHS report detailed a trip to Sandcastle Water Park in Homestead in late July during which a 12-year-old resident and 15-year-old resident left the park. They were reported missing to police that day, but the facility did not report the incident to DHS for four days.

The running away resulted in “multiple sexual assaults to the children by multiple persons” during the days they were missing, according to the report.

The 12-year-old “was shot multiple times with a BB gun for refusal to engage in unwanted sexual activity with multiple persons in an abandoned house in Penn Hills.”

The report indicated two staff members, in the deep end of the wave pool, were too far away from the children at Sandcastle, which allowed them to escape.

Other violations included insufficient bed checks, inconsistent medication logs, improper fire drill procedures and incomplete health assessments.

At the time of the investigation, the facility housed 52 children between the ages of 6 and 17.

Glade Run began as an orphanage in 1854 and has locations in Beaver Falls, Butler, Cranberry, Pittsburgh and Zelienople, according to its website. The nonprofit provides autism, mental health, cultural and educational programs to children through both residential and community-based programs.”

State closing Zelienople treatment facility after allegations of child sexual abusek [Trib Live 10/8/15 by Megan Guza]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “The Butler County District Attorney’s Office will not file criminal charges against a group home where authorities say children with mental health disorders engaged in sex acts while staff members slept or watched TV, according to WPXI-TV.

The state Department of Human Services in October ordered Glade Run Lutheran Services in Zelienople to close, but the group home is appealing the state order.

“We do not believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any of the employees of Glade Run knew this was occurring or that they neglected their duty of care. Furthermore, we have little to no evidence that any of the alleged sex acts were anything but consensual,” Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger told WPXI, the Trib’s news partner.”

Butler DA won’t file charges against group home, report says

[Trib Live 11/19/15]