The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has sent a letter to Trails Carolina director, Jeremy Whitworth, informing the organization that their license has been revoked. This is incredible news and hopefully means Trails will not be able to hurt anymore children. Trails has been told that they have 60 days to file an appeal, which they have indicated they will go forward with. 

This news, while incredibly validating, does not mean this battle is over. Family Help and Wellness, the parent company of Trails, has a long history of resurrecting and rebranding their shuttered programs. We must ensure that doesn't happen in this case. Too many lives ride on it.

Also, what happened here was a crime against children and humanity. We must push for criminal charges against the leadership of Trails, specifically against Whitworth and the program founder Graham Shannonhouse. Their policies directly led to Clark's death, and they also have a long history of covering up sexual assaults that occurred at their program ( Which are mandatory to report in NC).

I am not ready to declare victory here with this petition. I still believe there is a lot of work to be done. This will remain up until Graham Shannonhouse is barred from ever operating another program. I still suggest people to share, comment, and sign so we can continue to put pressure on the decision makers in this case.

I'm going to leave an article written by Tyler Kingkade and Elizabeth Chuck detailing the NC D.H.H.S. decision. I'm also going to leave a link to the letter that was sent to Mr. Whitworth informing him of the license revocation.

Thank you to everybody who has signed and commented on this petition! Your voices made a difference and will continue to make a difference. Together we can put an end to institutional child abuse!