Officials have ordered that all children be removed from a North Carolina wilderness camp for troubled youths following the death of a 12-year-old in the camp’s care earlier this month.
The boy was found dead at Trails Carolina in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, on the morning of Feb. 3, less than 24 hours after he arrived, according to authorities. The Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the boy’s death as a manslaughter case and has said that according to a forensic pathologist, the death “appeared to not be natural but the manner and cause of death is still pending.”
On Friday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which licenses Trails Carolina, said that the children at the camp were being moved elsewhere. The department also suspended new admissions to the camp.
“While the investigation is ongoing and we cannot comment on specific details, it was determined that action needed to be taken to ensure the health and safety of the children,” the state Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Friday, adding that parents have been notified and that the children will be temporarily cared for by the Transylvania County Department of Social Services.
The statement called the boy’s death “tragic and concerning.”
In a page-long response to the children’s removal from the camp, Trails Carolina slammed the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for taking students with complex mental health diagnoses from its care with such short notice for parents. It said the state forced “18 vulnerable children” to leave “a safe healing space against their parents’ wishes.”
“Parents believe the program is safe and do not want their children’s treatment disrupted by the State, which has continued to make reckless decisions based on false and misleading information from the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office,” the statement, issued through a public relations firm, said.
The…
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