A residential treatment center in the Ozarks that receives taxpayer money to care for adopted teenagers with severe emotional needs is the subject of a new Associated Press investigation that found repeated reports of runaways, bullying, and physical violence, along with what former employees and parents describe as bare‑minimum treatment and schooling.
The facility, known as Calo Programs, sits on a lakeside property in Lake Ozark, Missouri, and advertises a therapeutic summer‑camp environment with golden retrievers and staff who “create joy.” But the AP’s reporting, based on interviews with parents, former employees, and law enforcement records, reveals a different picture. Local police are regularly dispatched to the campus — to break up fights between teens, investigate allegations of assault, and search for children who have run away. State agencies in multiple jurisdictions that fund placements at Calo have raised alarms about the quality of care, the training of its staff, and the facility’s willingness to share information about incidents.
Parents who entrusted their adopted children to the program told the AP that their kids received little meaningful therapy and almost no education, instead spending their days supervised by workers with minimal qualifications. Two mothers separately described the atmosphere as reminiscent of William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies.”
The company behind Calo, which also operates other youth treatment programs, did not immediately respond to the AP’s detailed findings, but its promotional materials cast the facility as a last resort for “the hardest‑to‑treat cases — the students and families the broader system has given up on.”
The investigation comes amid growing scrutiny of the billion‑dollar residential treatment industry for troubled teens, a sector that has faced allegations of abuse, neglect, and lax oversight for decades. Many of the children placed in such facilities are adoptees who experienced early trauma and whose families, often with limited options, turn to private programs that promise intensive help, sometimes with public funds.