Troubled kids, troubled system

A hard-hitting investigation into residential schools for at-risk children across the state of Montana. Judges commended the “depth of reporting” and “incredible commitment on the part of a small newsroom to revisit a persistent problem concerning the on-going, unrelenting abuse of children despite claims that it had been addressed years earlier." Originally published by the Missoulian between January and November 2019.

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The Missoulian's reporting is based on interviews with past and present program students, administrators and workers; state licensing records; law enforcement reports; court records; legislative testimony, and interviews with experts in the field. Some students and family members requested anonymity; because of the sensitive nature of the information, those requests were granted.

Because two of Montana's 16 state-licensed programs — Selkirk Outdoor Leadership and Education, based in Idaho, and Sparrows Nest of Northwest Montana in Kalispell, a program for homeless children — differ significantly from the rest, the Missoulian did not include them in its examination.