CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Trails Carolina, a wilderness therapy program known for its rigorous nature therapy for youth, has been shut down following the tragic suffocation death of a 12-year-old boy on his first night at the camp. The boy’s death led to the revocation of the camp’s license and triggered a series of legal actions against the parent company, Family Help & Wellness, which operates about 15 similar programs across the United States.
Recent lawsuits allege that Trails Carolina not only misled parents about the program’s conditions and efficacy but also charged them substantial fees for services that were not provided as promised. According to plaintiffs, the program’s inadequate delivery ranged from insufficient medical care to poor nutritional and living conditions, contrasting starkly with its advertised offers.
The investigation into the incident revealed several violations of care standards, prompting state authorities to remove all children from the facility. A disturbing element of the case was the disclosure that the deceased child from New York had been zipped inside a plastic-wrapped sleeping bivy as part of an initiation protocol, with staff failing to ensure he was breathing throughout the night.
Parents in the lawsuit expressed anger and despair over the ordeal their children endured, alleging severe neglect and abuse. They claimed that the program staff, largely unqualified and minimally trained, were left to manage complex “individualized” treatment plans that were supposed to be administered by licensed therapists. Instead, often, the children received roughly an hour of professional therapy per week.
One particular parent shared a harrowing experience of their son, identified as “John” for privacy, whose treatment for depression involved forced labor, exposure to inhumane conditions, and both emotional and sexual abuse instead of the professional care promised in the program’s promotional materials. The lawsuits emphasize that the deceptive practices extended to the recruitment process, where sales personnel posed as healthcare professionals to secure enrollments.
Furthermore, parents argue that the mistreatment was systematically obscured by the company to maintain enrollment numbers. Reports of abuse and neglect were not only routinely ignored but also hidden from both parents and authorities, according to the legal filings.
Adding to the distressing accounts was a testimony from a parent who discovered that staff misrepresented their credentials. Initially believing they were discussing their child’s future care with a qualified expert, they later found out the individual was in fact a marketing representative—a revelation that underscored the alleged systematic deceit at the heart of Trails Carolina’s operations.
These lawsuits illuminate a disturbing pattern where the prioritization of profit over genuine therapeutic care left young individuals in perilous situations, exacerbating their vulnerabilities instead of healing them. Family Help & Wellness has yet to respond publicly to these allegations, and the legal outcomes of these lawsuits will likely shape future operations and regulations of similar therapeutic programs nationwide. As the community and affected families seek justice, the case stands as a critical examination of the accountability and ethical obligations of youth therapeutic programs.