This is a  staff list for KidsPeace in Schnecksville, PA

(we are working to acquire the complete records for ALL years)

 

We advise current and/or former staff to report any abuses you may have witnessed while working at the KidsPeace.  For information on your rights and how to take action, visit www.heal-online.org/blowthewhistle.htm.  If you were fired or forced to resign because you opposed any illegal and/or unethical practices at KidsPeace, you have the right to take action. 

 

If you were harmed (family or survivor) by KidsPeace, please contact [email protected] if you remember the long-term employees and from which years.  This will help!   Also, if you recognize any of these staff as having worked at another program, please send in any information about their past or present employment at other facilities and/or cults.

 

HEAL recommends against placing any child at KidsPeace.

 

Name	Unit/Position	Additional Information
David Small	Chairman	Board of Directors
Mary Jane Willis	First Vice Chair
Dr. Larry Bell	Second Vice Chair
Dr. Ira Blake	Board Member
J. Jackson Eaton	Board Member
Joe H. Folger	Board Member
Dwayne Leslie	Board Member
John W. Marsland	Board Member
Joel H. Newman	Board Member
Richard H. Oeler	Board Member
Dr. Constance Porter	Board Member
L. Richard Plunkett	Board Member
Dr. Scott Reines	Board Member
Dr. Joann Spencer	Board Member
Richard Tisinger, Sr.	Board Member
William Isemann	President, CEO
James Horan	CFO
Michael Slack	VP of Business Dev.
Susan Mullen	VP for Programs
Ann F. Ardoline	Honorary Director
Mrs. Inez Donley	Honorary Director
Frances Hesselbein	Honorary Director
Mr. Douglas Patt	Honorary Director
*(KidsPeace, like many other programs in this industry, keeps a "tight lid" on any specific information regarding their staff, qualifications, and practices.  Please contact us with the names of any staff of which you have firsthand knowledge or experience.  Thank you for your help.)
According to KidsPeace's website, KidsPeace is a member of the AACRC.
External Link: Kidspeace Employee Charged With Having Sex With Teen Client North Whitehall Twp.  (Article: http://articles.mcall.com/1997-02-20/news/3132121_1_social-worker-sexual-kidspeace)
External Link: Boys at KidsPeace report rape  (Article: http://blog.pennlive.com/lvbreakingnews/2007/06/boys_at_kidspeace_report_rape.html)
External Link: Child abuse reporting hotline employee investigated for allegedly laughing off Easton Hospital rape report  (Article: http://blog.pennlive.com/lehighvalley/2008/06/childline_investigated_for_lau.html)
External Link: State public welfare department restores KidsPeace licenses  (Article: http://blog.pennlive.com/lvbreakingnews/2007/12/state_public_welfare_departmen.html)
External Link: 50-foot flames rip through building at KidsPeace campus in North Whitehall  (Article:http://articles.mcall.com/2009-07-24/news/4411837_1_fire-departments-attic-fire-kidspeace)
External Link: Improper Restraint (Article: http://articles.mcall.com/1998-12-15/news/3221207_1_coroner-injuries-death)
External Link: Overdose on Methadone (Article: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1359578/kidspeace_teens_overdose_on_methadone/index.html)
External Link: Broken Bones While Being Restrained (Article: http://www.techzone360.com/news/2007/12/16/3166272.htm)
Department Of Public Welfare 4 critical errors identified in KidsPeace death Investigation: Girls stole methadone from worker, report says. June 26, 2008|By Matt Assad Of The Morning Call A state Department of Public Welfare investigation has revealed that two girls were on their way to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting April 16 when they swallowed 28 methadone pills they stole from their KidsPeace counselor the previous day. Sixteen-year-old Katherine Rice died two weeks later of a methadone overdose, and the other girl spent two days in a coma and faces what a relative says will be a "lifetime of care." A summary report obtained Wednesday by The Morning Call states KidsPeace has been cited for making four critical mistakes that helped lead to the death, including not properly supervising the girls and allowing narcotics to be in their reach. Meanwhile, KidsPeace last week closed the Saylorsburg youth center where the girls overdosed, in hopes of reopening the program in September at its main campus in North Whitehall Township, said KidsPeace spokesman Mark Stubis. State officials say KidsPeace has corrected the problems and is again free to accept youths into its program for troubled youths with substance abuse problems, once it's reopened. "They chose to move [the dual diagnosis program] to the main campus and we agreed," said Department of Public Welfare spokeswoman Anne Bale. "Obviously, there were problems surrounding this incident, but we've accepted their plan to correct them." Each year, KidsPeace serves 10,000 youths with behavioral problems in hundreds of foster homes and 65 centers in 10 states, including -- until now -- its Saylorsburg center for youths with a history of substance abuse. According to the state's report, a counselor on April 15 used her own car to take four girls to their dental appointments. On the way, two of the girls stole pills from an unspecified place in the car. A day later, the report says, the two girls took 28 methadone pills while being driven in a KidsPeace van to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting with several other girls. That night, at least one of the girls made a phone call and told a relative she had ingested some of the stolen pills. On the morning of April 17, counselors couldn't wake the girls, and both were rushed by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. Rice never woke from her coma. The other 16-year-old woke in two days but spent nearly a month in LVH before being moved to a rehabilitation center in Pittsburgh, said her uncle Don Ramirez of Martinsburg, W.Va. Severe nerve damage has left the girl unable to walk and with only partial use of her right arm. Ramirez said doctors have told him she might never regain full use of her legs. "She's looking at a lifetime of care for this," Ramirez said Wednesday. "She's suffered irreversible damage." The counselor, who was prescribed methadone for chronic back pain, was initially placed on paid leave but has since chosen not to return to work, Bale said. According to the state report, KidsPeace was cited for allowing a counselor to transport the girls in her personal car and for keeping the methadone where they could easily get it. KidsPeace has rewritten its policies, dictating youths will be transported only in facility vehicles and that any counselor taking a prescription drug must keep it secured in a place where youths have no access to it. In addition, KidsPeace was cited for not providing adequate supervision. There should have been a second counselor to help supervise the girls during the trips to the dentist and Narcotics Anonymous meeting. In each case, the only counselor was the driver, state officials said. And finally, the call by the girl the night she took the drugs should have been supervised, according to the report. KidsPeace agreed to provide a second counselor for all transports of youth and will reiterate its policy that all phone calls made by youths in the program be supervised. Stubis said KidsPeace had been considering moving the dual diagnosis center from Saylorsburg before the overdoses. At the Orchard Hill campus in North Whitehall, it will be closer to doctors and other treatment staff, he said. The last youth was discharged from the Saylorsburg center last Thursday. KidsPeace will begin accepting youths into the program when the new center opens in the fall, Stubis said. "This should not have happened, but we are going to work hard to strengthen our policies to ensure the safety of all of the youths we serve," Stubis said. "This was a tragedy for all of us. The pain will linger for a long, long time." [email protected] 610-861-3617 THE FINDINGS A state investigation into the death of a KidsPeace resident found four critical mistakes were made that led to the death of one girl and the hospitalization of another: Not properly supervising the two girls. Allowing narcotics to be within reach of the two girls. Allowing a counselor to transport the girls in her car. Not supervising the phone call made by one of the girls. Source: Department of Public Welfare  Related Articles Aunt: Girls took pills through night May 5, 2008 Girl who OD'd at KidsPeace dies May 3, 2008 KidsPeace teens overdose on methadone April 26, 2008 KidsPeace methadone scandal is not isolated August 15, 2008 KidsPeace promotes new leader September 24, 2008 Find More Stories About Department Of Public Welfare Methadone Index by Keyword | Index by Date | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service Please note the green-lined linked article text has been applied commercially without any involvement from our newsroom editors, reporters or any other editorial staff.  Source: http://articles.mcall.com/2008-06-26/news/4123407_1_kidspeace-methadone-girls
Police called out five times in five days to KidsPeace for groups of runaway juveniles, straining law enforcement resources By Kayla Dwyer The Morning Call | Nov 20, 2019 | 4:28 PM KidsPeace Orchard Hill campus KidsPeace Orchard Hill campus in North Whitehall Township on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) 1 / 20 When a child runs away from KidsPeace in North Whitehall Township, it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation for state police at the Bethlehem barracks. Sometimes they ask for help from neighboring barracks, too. In the last five days, police have responded to the nonprofit treatment facility for children with behavioral and mental health needs five separate times, for groups of runaways numbering from two to eight. In total, they’ve rounded up and returned 18 children to KidsPeace facilities over that period, three of them twice. Advertisement Advertisement And Trooper Nathan Branosky said, “It’s not an unusual number.” Each time a runaway call comes in, the call gets bumped to the top of the priority list and every officer gets involved, Branosky said. The heightened response happens even if the search spans multiple shifts ― like it did in an incident last month — or multiple days, like when an autistic teen was missing for a weekend in September. It’s a tax on police resources, and there is no choice but to respond this way, he said. [More News] Woman sought in alleged Northampton County bank fraud, police say » “Their well-being is at stake at this point,” he said. “Their safety is at stake.” The most recent runaways occurred Wednesday morning. In a news release, police said they responded to the Orchard Hills campus just after midnight for an initial report of 13 runaways, which they determined was actually eight. The children fled through an open field but were quickly detained and sent back to their rooms. Two hours later, three of those eight ran away again, police said. Police found them on the roof of the Pioneer House, a residential treatment center in a remote area of campus, trying to wake female residents, police said. This comes after three calls for runaways over the weekend. [More News] Bethlehem teen admits serving as setup man in South Side gang killing » Late Sunday night, just before midnight, police were called to KidsPeace for four boys who ran away from the Marconi House. One of them, staff told police, assaulted a staff member and then walked away. Police also found those four on the roof of the Pioneer House, and filed an assault charge against one of them. Saturday morning, four girls ran away from the Paul Revere House around 3:30 a.m. This time, police say they were unable to find them, citing the late report, which came to them around 5 a.m. The girls returned to the facility on their own about an hour later. And Friday morning, state police responded around 9:30 a.m. for two missing girls who left the facility without permission. Police found them after a brief search and they returned safely. Police said that in these and other cases, staff members let juveniles walk out of the facility without stopping them. Police also said staff told them they had called for additional resources but were denied the help by their supervisors. [More News] Calls for unity after Phillipsburg High School vandalized before Thanksgiving Day game with rival Easton » In a statement, KidsPeace Communications Director Robert Martin said state regulations do not allow staff to physically stop the children unless "they are in imminent danger or pose an imminent danger to others, or if they have a specific safety plan in place that indicates they are in danger of hurting themselves or others if in the community — and in those cases physical restraint can be used only as a measure of last resort.” He said direct care staff are trained in methods of handling such situations, many of which arise from a youth experiencing a crisis. In those cases, he said, staff use de-escalation strategies to "guide [the children] away from the decision to attempt to leave without permission.” He said KidsPeace is not aware of any instance when a supervisor advised staff not to request additional help within KidsPeace or from authorities. He added the nonprofit works with state licensing authorities and continuously reviews its protocols and procedures to make sure it is responding to incidents appropriately. Advertisement The Orchard Hills campus includes 12 residential treatment centers with the capacity for about 300 children, as well as a psychiatric hospital that can serve 120, according to the state Department of Human Services. [More News] Ex-Parkland student found guilty of four killings in Florida, faces death penalty » A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services did not immediately provide a comment. Police also warn travelers in North Whitehall to be aware of potential missing juveniles crossing roads, who can be combative and are known to climb rooftops. Morning Call reporter Kayla Dwyer can be reached at 610-820-6554 or at [email protected].  Source: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-kidspeace-runaways-state-police-20191120-25ljguywzfayvmlp2z3f4exmoe-story.html

 

 Last Updated: November 27th, 2019   

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