#AdvocacyMatters: Filling in the Gaps

August 21, 2026 / #AdvocacyMatters

Young people who have spent time in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities (Youth RTFs) often leave with unanswered questions about their experiences and treatment. Trauma, re-traumatization, abuse, and rights violations by trusted adults who are supposed to help them heal and grow can leave gaps in preparedness as these youth attempt to work towards recovery and transition into adulthood.

Last week we shared with you new reporting from The Marshall Project detailing troubling happenings inside of Fox Run - one of Ohio's largest youth residential treatment facilities. These issues mirror what our investigation and monitoring team has heard from youth about their experiences in several of Ohio's Youth RTFs.

"I have nightmares. I just feel like I'm not healing," Jaycee Seele told The Marshall Project of her time in a Youth RTF in Mansfield. "Talking about it and getting awareness so it doesn't happen to other kids is healing. I never got that. That's why I'm trying to do all this."

Recently, The Marshall Project launched a virtual toolkit to help people access their records from Youth RTFs. With facilities often changing names, changing ownership, or closing altogether, tracking down documents can be difficult. The new toolkit aims to help people better understand the records that they are entitled to and the best ways to get ahold of them.

"Obtaining your records from a youth RTF can be an important part of understanding and validating what happened to you," Addison Torrence shared. "For me, getting my records helped fill in gaps in my memory and gave me documentation of what happened during my time at Sequel Pomegranate. I was later able to provide those records to a journalist investigating the facility." Addison is an advocate who also serves as the Vice Chair of DRO's PAIMI Advisory Council.

"My experience obtaining those records also helped lead me into advocacy," Addison continued. "During the lengthy process of trying to get my records, I noticed that Pomegranate was attempting to rebrand itself under a new name. I remember thinking that changing the name didn't change what had happened there or prevent the same harm from happening to other young people. I reluctantly began speaking publicly about my experience, which connected me with Disability Rights Ohio and other advocates who were already working to hold Pomegranate accountable."

Gaining clarity and understanding of the treatment one received inside these facilities can help to fill in memory gaps, heal from trauma, and empower new advocacy.

"I never really expected to become an advocate," Addison concluded. "Getting my own records was one of the things that pushed me to speak up about serious and systemic safety concerns in youth RTFs."

#AdvocacyMatters