Trails Carolina appeals after license revoked over camper’s death, calls NCDHHS decision ‘detrimental’ to children’s health

TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A camp for troubled teens is filing an appeal contesting their forced closure after the death of a camper.

On July 8, representation for Trails Carolina filed paperwork requesting a “contested case hearing” within Transylvania County courts.

In the appeal, Trails Carolina’s representatives wrote:

On or about May 17, 2024, the Respondent agency [Department of Health and Human Services] issued a Notice of Revocation of License, addressed to Petitioner [Trails Carolina LLC] and effective sixty days from the date of the Notice.

Petitioner contends that the Respondent’s actions are without a reasonable or sufficient basis and are detrimental to the health or safety of the children who would otherwise be in Petitioner’s care. Further, Petitioner contends that Respondent’s actions and decision making did not appropriately consider the degree of sanctions necessary to assure compliance with § 122C- 23, and other rules adopted to implement the subsection. Respondent exceeded its authority, acted erroneously, failed to use proper procedure, and acted arbitrarily and capriciously in its investigation and suspension of admissions.

It also indicated on the paperwork the belief that NCDHHS “acted erroneously,” “exceeded its authority of jurisdiction” and “acted arbitrarily.”

NCDHHS pulled Trails Carolina’s license after the death of a 12-year-old camper in early February. He died the same night he arrived after being “gooned” away from his New York home. The Officer of the Medical Examiner ruled the death of homicide , with autopsy reports stating that the boy suffocated in the single-person tent he was forced to sleep in upon arrival at the camp.

The boy was the second camper to die at Trails Carolina in the past decade. Another camper, Alec Lansing, died after leaving the hiking trail in 2014.

Trails Carolina worked with children ages 10 to 17. It described itself on its website, which is no longer accessible except through a web archive, as being “dedicated to helping teens work through behavioral or emotional difficulties, build trusting relationships with their family and peers and achieve academic success.” The camp charged up to $715 a day in tuition and a $4,900 fee for children to enroll.

In a sexual abuse lawsuit filed this year, the plaintiff describes Trails Carolina as “a for-profit program ran by [Wilderness Training & Consulting, LLC], which is part of an organization of for-profit affiliated businesses that does business as Family Help & Wellness .”

Former campers have alleged that they were underfed, denied proper medical care, verbally and emotionally abused and mistreated during their time at the camp.

Trails Carolina, WTC and Family Help & Wellness largely conform to the template of the “troubled teen” industry, which often involves teens being taken, in many cases by force, to a camp to address behavioral problems ranging from relatively minor issues, such as truancy, to more severe issues, such as sexually disordered behavior.

Wilderness Training & Consulting, LLC, doing business as Family Help & Wellness, runs multiple camps similar to Trails Carolina across the country.

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