A Utah judge has allowed an embattled Utah teen treatment center to remain open as it appeals the state’s decision to shut it down.
Last week, a judge signed a temporary restraining order which will allow Maple Lake Academy’s girls program to keep its doors open as the program challenges the state licensing department’s assertion that it has continued to have problems keeping clients safe in the nearly three years since a girl died there.
That decision is documented in a conditional license extension issued by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. The specifics of what Maple Lake Academy is appealing to 4th District Court Judge Sean Petersen is not publicly known. The program successfully requested that the court case be made private, and DHHS denied a Salt Lake Tribune reporter’s records request for the appeal — saying releasing the documents would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
The state’s decision to shut down Maple Lake Academy’s girls program comes after a client at the Utah County teen treatment center suffered “significant injury” in her recent attempt to end her life, licensers said.
DHHS recently denied Maple Lake Academy’s renewal application, and the program was supposed to discharge its clients by Sept. 13. But Petersen signed the injunction three days before that, which allowed the program to stay open.
Licensers began keeping a close eye on Maple Lake Academy after a 14-year-old girl named Sofia Soto died there in January 2022. They said staff there did not give Soto proper medical care despite worsening symptoms and her mother’s requests that she be taken to a doctor.
Since Soto’s death, licensers have documented other instances in which girls were seriously hurt or did not receive medical care. In April 2022, the facility was cited after staff did not immediately seek medical help after a girl fell and hit her head, lost consciousness and vomited multiple times. Last August, the program was cited after staff refused to provide medications to a client. And in July, licensers found Maple Lake Academy had failed to protect the client who attempted to end her life.
In an August statement to The Tribune, academy management indicated that it would challenge the state’s decision.
“We were disappointed that the State would act suddenly and harshly in the absence of a full investigation and hearing,” the statement from Maple Lake Academy management reads. “We believe regulators have taken action based upon incomplete information and that a full investigation will show that our staff acted appropriately in a difficult situation. That said, we have faith in our system of due process and will continue to work with state regulators to resolve their concerns.”
Katie England, a spokesperson for DHHS, said licensers did a full investigation, and considered the facility’s 36-month history before making the decision to deny the license application.
Maple Lake Academy continues to hold a license for its boys program. England said the boys program, which is licensed separately, “does not have the same history of rule noncompliance” and this decision does not affect it.
The program’s website says it caters to teenagers who have autism, anxiety, depression and certain learning disabilities. Licensing records indicate that its girls program was relatively small, able to serve 15 clients at a time.
This is the second time Maple Lake Academy has challenged the state over an effort to shut the program down. In May 2022, the Office of Licensing announced Maple Lake Academy would lose its license after Soto’s death and the accident where the girl hit her head on the pavement. But regulators backed down three months later, reaching a deal with the program that would keep it open.
Soto’s parents are suing Maple Lake Academy, alleging that their daughter had been left to suffer alone, dying in a hallway, while a staff member who was supposed to check on the residents had fallen asleep in another room. That lawsuit is still pending.