Our founding partner, Alan Mortensen spoke with KSL about the ongoing issues at Provo Canyon School and the troubled teen industry more broadly, the conversation reflected something we see every day: families are being promised care, safety, and healing—but the reality inside many of these facilities tells a different story. We are encouraged to see meaningful steps being taken in the right direction, but progress only matters if it protects children, increases transparency, and holds institutions accountable when they fail.
For too long, this industry has operated behind closed doors. Parents enroll their children because they’re told these programs will help stabilize crisis, provide structure, and support long‑term growth. Instead, many families discover—often too late—that understaffing, inadequate training, and a culture of silence put their children at risk. When a system that claims to heal ends up harming, it becomes our job to expose what went wrong and demand change.
Families deserve to understand what happened, what their options are, and how the law can help them hold powerful corporations accountable.
Hearing Provo Canyon School and similar facilities discussed openly in Utah media is an important shift. Awareness leads to accountability, and accountability leads to safer environments for the children who need help the most. But media attention is not the finish line. It’s the beginning. Litigation, reform, and relentless scrutiny are what move an industry away from harm and toward meaningful, child‑centered care.
We will continue to speak out, investigate, and litigate until these facilities operate with the transparency and responsibility Utah families deserve. Progress is happening—but the work is far from done. And at Mortensen & Milne, we intend to keep pushing until the system finally prioritizes children over convenience, safety over secrecy, and care over corporate comfort.
