Inside a taxpayer-funded treatment center for adoptees, tales of abuse, neglect and little oversight

https://apnews.com/article/adopted-children-boarding-schools-treatment-investigation-calo-a53046f4b65cf710c8f1191119b5805c

Inside a taxpayer-funded treatment center for adoptees, tales of abuse, neglect and little oversight
By SALLY HO and CLAIRE GALOFARO
Updated 6:03 AM CDT, May 29, 2026

LAKE OZARK, Mo. (AP) — A facility deep in rural Missouri 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, and where caring employees “create joy.”

The company that operates the place known as Calo Programs says it exists “to serve the hardest-to-treat cases — the students and families the broader system has given up on.”

But an Associated Press investigation 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.”

The price is steep and taxpayers often pick up the tab. Also known as Change Academy at Lake of the Ozarks, Calo has charged up to $20,000 a month to treat adopted children. Some stay for years.

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https://apnews.com/article/special-education-adopted-children-residential-treatment-calo-9f83abb62e04d3f7649502a1bae26aeb

Despite scrutiny, special education money flows to for-profit residential treatment centers
By SALLY HO
Updated 8:18 AM CDT, May 29, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Across the country, many for-profit residential facilities in the so-called troubled teen industry that claim to treat severe mental and behavioral health issues in children and teens are deftly tapping into taxpayer money meant for students with disabilities.

Even in the face of increasing scrutiny over the safety of such private institutions, this money continues to flow given the fractured bureaucracy of the special education system, an Associated Press investigation finds.

The playbook to profits includes operating on stand-alone contracts with individual school districts and drawing out-of-state kids — both of which effectively dilute any regulatory oversight. Residential centers are also capitalizing on a catch-all disability category, experts said, and relying on a shadow network of educational consultants who help get them business.

Meg Appelgate, CEO of Unsilenced, a nonprofit that supports former residential attendees, said the problem is that there are so few standard rules attached, from how centers get approved to provide special education services, to the lack of transparency when a student from any one district alleges abuse.

“It’s a huge issue,” Appelgate said. “It’s simply got too many holes in it and we have to shut it down.”

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