Children Endure Abuse at Ohio Treatment Center Amid Nationwide Scandal
A video interview reveals severe mistreatment of youths at Fox Run residential facility in Ohio, part of a broader pattern uncovered by a Senate probe.
Inside Story’s latest segment features Lawrence Bartley interviewing a reporter at one outlet and ex-resident Isabella Ramirez to expose life inside Fox Run, a residential treatment center in St. Clairsville, Ohio, run by Fortune-500 firm Universal Health Services. The center admits children as young as five, often arriving via foster care placements, court mandates or parents seeking help. Local police documents detail frequent escape attempts, including runs into frozen fields and across highways.
Former employees say ongoing trauma and neglect push youths to the brink, and when behavior escalates they are frequently transferred to juvenile detention rather than receiving care. A 2024 Senate Finance Committee probe into UHS and three rivals highlighted widespread abuse across the industry. Fox Run issued a statement rejecting the claims. The series aims to shed light on failures within the criminal-justice-linked treatment system.
Why it matters
It exposes systemic abuse of vulnerable children in a nationwide network of treatment facilities.
In this story
