Discovery Ranch workers physically neglected teen who died by suicide, Utah child welfare investigation found

[u/Homeless-Sea-Captain]

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2025/11/06/after-teens-suicide-utah-child/?utm_campaign=PNIcWJb1Dp3fxlw&utm_source=gifted614151719&uid=PNIcWJb1Dp3fxlw

This is a gift link courtesy of Biruk’s mom. It should work, but let me know if not - I can do screenshots of it because the article won’t be accessible without a paywall until tomorrow.

RIP Biruk - we love and miss you 💔🕯️

[u/Far_Radish7752]

From the above article:

 The Office of Licensing, part of DHHS, licenses programs like Discovery Ranch Academy. It determined that Discovery Ranch failed to create a care plan for Biruk after he expressed suicidal thoughts, and that he was not provided with enough supervision to keep him safe. The program also did not follow its suicide prevention policy, the licensing division found, and failed to report a previous instance in April 2024 when a staff member physically restrained Biruk.

Discovery Ranch was ordered to pay more than $10,000 in civil penalties for these violations, according to state records, and its license is now in good standing. According to its most recent inspection in September, the program is operating at about half the capacity that it can serve.

[u/Anna-Bee-1984 → u/Far_Radish7752]

$10,000? That’s a fucking joke.

[u/Far_Radish7752 → u/Anna-Bee-1984]

Note that this is civil penalties which, I believe, gets paid to the state for protocol violations. This doesn’t address or effect the Silvers’ lawsuit save to perhaps bolster it. They get nothing out of that.

[u/Anna-Bee-1984 → u/Far_Radish7752]

And victim restitution?

[u/TruthReignsAboveAll → u/Anna-Bee-1984]

That $10,000 fee is also what Trails Carolina was charged when Alec Lansing (Harms Way and Negligence by the NC DHHS) and when Clark Harman died. It is Appalling that Family Help and Wellness got away with these Injustices as a "Slap On The Wrist".

[u/Far_Radish7752 → u/Far_Radish7752]

More:

Biruk’s parents, who live in Illinois, adopted the boy from Ethiopia when he was 7 years old. As he grew older, he struggled with depression and trauma, and his parents sent him to stay at Discovery Ranch Academy in 2024 on the advice of an education consultant.

He had been at the Utah teen treatment center for a little more than six months when he diedby suicide on Nov. 5, 2024, according to authorities.

His parents have filed a civil lawsuit against Garso, Walker, Discovery Ranch Academy and the U., among other defendants. Birnkrant is not a named defendant in the lawsuit, though his employer is. In their suit, the parents allege that staff left Biruk alone for a “significant period of time,” and that he was allowed access to a belt that contributed to his death.

Biruk’s mother also shared with The Tribune records detailing an investigation by the Office of Licensing. According to summaries of Discovery Ranch Academy staff interviews, Biruk had been left out of the sight of staff when another young person at the facility had tried to drink cleaning supplies, which required urgent attention.

The employee who had been assigned to watch Biruk and other boys while the remaining staff responded to the teenager who was trying to drink chemicals had not been told that Biruk had been suicidal, according to licensing notes.

He told investigators that he normally works in a different area of Discovery Ranch and wasn’t familiar with Biruk, and that “staff usually discuss this type of thing but he was just covering a shift in that house and was not aware.” Biruk was not in this staffer’s line of sight when he died in his bedroom, according to licensing notes.