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

Dawn breaks on the Calo Programs Residential Treatment Center in this aerial photo, Feb. 25, 2026, in Lake Ozark, Mo. (AP Photo/Austin Johnson)2026-05-29T10:29:13Z 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. It is part of the so-called troubled teen industry, a sprawling network of loosely regulated, for-profit residential centers, boarding schools and wilderness programs that have been quietly institutionalizing adopted children at extraordinarily high rates — adoptees are as much as 10 times more likely to be sent away than the general population. Read More A deep dive into Calo’s practices — how it makes money, and what happens to kids under its watch — offers a window into a larger phenomenon: Some youth treatment centers, backed by private equity companies, share a business model that depends on government funding, despite limited oversight and few consequences for negligence. Dawn breaks on the Calo Programs Residential Treatment Center in this aerial photo, Feb. 25, 2026, in Lake Ozark, Mo. (AP Photo/Austin Johnson) Dawn breaks on the Calo Programs Residential Treatment Center in this aerial photo, Feb. 25, 2026, in Lake Ozark, Mo. (AP Photo/Austin Johnson) –> Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. –> Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Read More The AP obtained troves of state data and documents through public records requests and interviewed young adults who recently attended, parents who sent their children there, former employees and lawyers who are engaged in more than a dozen lawsuits against the company. In emailed statements, Calo denied allegations of wrongdoing and said student outcomes prove the strength of their approach and innovative treatment.“Over and over again, parents across the country have come to us in their moment of need, and we are proud of the track record we’ve established helping treat their children and return them to their families with the skills and tools they need to get ahead.”Hundreds of pages of Camden County Sheriff’s Office reports documenting calls to the facility from 2020 to the fall of 2025 show that children in Calo’s care have been alleged victims, witnesses and perpetrators.There was the free-for-all last summer when escaping girls ran toward the woods and jumped into the lake to swim away, employees chasing them and returning them, only to see them escape again. (Calo said none of them were injured.)Just before that, sheriff’s deputies wrote that two kids had reportedly gotten high on methamphetamine that a Calo employee brought in her purse. (Calo said the employee was fired and the substance was never confirmed to be meth.) Not long before that, deputies called to Calo were told staffers were outnumbered as teens “stormed” a room to attack another student. One boy climbed onto the roof, jumped, landed on rocks below and had to be airlifted to the hospital. (Calo said altercations happen among troubled kids, staff followed protocol in calling for help, and the boy who jumped sustained a sprained ankle.) Have a news tip?Contact AP’s global investigative team at [email protected]. For secure and confidential communications, use the free Signal app +1 (202) 281-8604. Stacy Roberts, who runs the local juvenile detention center, said his agency is frustrated by Calo and processes as many as a dozen cases each year involving Calo kids who live out of state.Many families have decried the conditions at Calo as jail-like. Roberts rejects that comparison — because traditional juvenile detention centers like his are held to a higher standard, he said. Unlike Calo, Roberts answers to the public, a judge and the juvenile justice system, which monitors children’s stays within his facility. “It’s a business,” Roberts said. “They’re not doing this because they

Dawn breaks on the Calo Programs Residential Treatment Center in this aerial photo, Feb. 25, 2026, in Lake Ozark, Mo. (AP Photo/Austin Johnson)2026-05-29T10:29:13Z 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…

Dawn breaks on the Calo Programs Residential Treatment Center in this aerial photo, Feb. 25, 2026, in Lake Ozark, Mo. (AP Photo/Austin Johnson)2026-05-29T10:29:13Z 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…