Editor’s note: This commentary is by Kim Dougherty, an attorney who represents survivors of sexual abuse (survivorsupport@andruswagstaff.com). She is the managing partner of the Boston office of Andrus Wagstaff P.C., a boutique law firm that specializes in civil rights and mass torts.
As the Vermont State Board of Education (the Board) gets ready to vote on whether to review of Kurn Hattin Homes for Children’s (Kurn Hattin) status as an approved independent school, survivors raise concerns, set the record straight and expose a systemic history of abuse.
Having heard the heartbreaking stories of dozens of former Kurn Hattin student survivors of assault and molestation, we have urged the Board to take this decision seriously and vote to conduct a thorough, unbiased investigation into the sexual and physical abuse claims. The abuse can no longer be ignored.
Survivors of childhood abuse can no longer be blamed by the current administration. The truth must be exposed and corrective action taken. Children’s lives are at stake.
On behalf of the survivors, we must address Kurn Hattin’s response to the reports of abuse, statements of the Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) Commissioner and Secretary French’s recommendation to review the licensing of the school. The school’s response has been nothing short of appalling. Kurn Hattin has failed to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the school’s actions and inactions over the past 80 years, serving to only re-traumatize the survivors. Instead, Kurn Hattin has chosen to attempt to re-write history in an effort to protect its own image and seek pity from its alumni and the community at large. And now it seeks to influence the Board’s vote, claiming its authority is limited in scope and time. The only explanation for this approach is to hide the truth.
When the allegations of historic abuse were finally covered in the news, Executive Director, Steve Harrison, misinformed the public, claiming that he was “not aware of these additional, new allegations,” despite multiple DCF documents and communications with alumni establishing otherwise. Kurn Hattin continued to mislead the community regarding the surrender of its residential treatment license, stating that “on its own initiative, [it] elected to close its RTP license,” and claiming the “closure of the license is entirely unrelated to any issues of alleged abuse.”
DCF Commissioner Brown has unequivocally stated: “We found them to be in violation and also failing to provide adequate supervision to youth in the residential treatment program…Had they not chosen to voluntarily relinquish their residential treatment license, we would have taken it away,” noting the results of the Investigations are “shocking.” “We are in the child protection business and to think about kids being harmed there in these ways is incredibly challenging to think about. We were hoping that, as an established member of the community, they would take action to stop these behaviors.”
In other attempts to avoid responsibility, Kurn Hattin arrogantly tells the Board that DCF is “wrong” and that the schools inaction as it relates to background checks of its employees was acceptable because it was “not required,” or “not clear,” or that the “process is cumbersome and time consuming.” Such inaction is inexcusable when it relates to the safety of children, it had an obligation to act in their best interest regardless of the burden or whether or not it was required. Furthermore, despite what it tells the Board, Kurn Hattin is responsible to report any suspicion of child abuse within 24 hours, and the DCF documents establish that it failed to do so repeatedly.
Kurn Hattin continues its efforts to hide the truth, selectively summarizing only a few DCF records, ignoring the most damning of the documents:
- In 2017, the teenage son of Stephen Harrison and cafeteria worker, asked 12 and 13-year-old girld for sexually explicit photos, and was found to have engaged in inappropriate contact under Harrison’s supervision.
- Numerous reports over several years indicate Kurn Hattin employees were verbally abusive and regularly pushed, grabbed, shoved students and denied them meals.
- In 2018, it was reported that one male student forced a second male to kiss him, allow penal touching, and performance of oral sex on him, while threatening him.
- In 2019, Kurn Hattin staff knew about “touching club,” failed to stop at least 9 male students ages 7-11 who engaged in hand and oral genital contact, and also failed to report the sexual abuse, which was noted to exist since at least 2016.
- The lack of supervision at the Kurn Hattin enabled a student to pressure and threaten other students into performing sexual acts, penetration and oral sex from ages 6-12 years.
- In April 2019, a female student reported that male student had forced her to have sex in the gymnasium stairwell on several occasions.
- Dean of Students Meeting notes: disclosed at least two incidents that occurred without incident reports, noting Nancy Richardson knew of/was informed of student incidents but did not respond appropriately, if at all and that “Steve Harrison and Sue Kessler know of these incidents/concerns.”
- Of the 17 child abuse and regulatory investigations from 2019-2020, at least three were not reported within the required timeframe and intentionally withheld from licensing.
- There are multiple incidents of sexual touching reviewed within 10 student files on SWIS that should have been reported but were not, including incidents of sexual touching.
It is clear from DCF documents that sexual abuse and assault were rampant at Kurn Hattin, and it was in violation of multiple regulations for lack of supervision, allowing abuse to go unreported and unaddressed, and failing to assess and meet the treatment needs of students in their care, needlessly placing them in harms way.
The abuse was not only documented by DCF, the VTDigger chronicled 80 years of horrific abuse, finding:
Eerily similar patterns of sexual, physical and psychological abuse were covered up for decades, child survivors say. Documents, social media posts and interviews with victims describe how more than 60 children who were sent to Kurn Hattin to escape troubled homes were allegedly assaulted from the 1940s through 2019.
Rather than take responsibility, Kurn Hattin chose to publish a statement that the school is “deeply moved and humbled by the overwhelming number of messages of support and encouragement” citing testimonials that “are heartwarming to read.” Such a statement is a slap in the face of the survivors, particularly where the response came on the heels of the brave survivors sharing their horrific experiences with the public.
Linda Johnson of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, published a statement today answering the age-old question of why children do not report assault and abuse right away, but equally important, she notes:
[C]hild abuse can be prevented from occurring in the first place and interrupted even when it has begun. As adults, we can acquire the knowledge and the tools* to help children grow up without being tortured, terrified, and or used… they most importantly need informed adults to watch over them…This is how we will put an end to child abuse. This is our responsibility.
Now ask yourself, has Kurn Hattin’s response to the abuse and assault demonstrated that it is able to take responsibility and the steps necessary to prevent abuse moving forward? The answer is no, and as a result, the review of Kurn Hattin’s license must proceed to put an end to child abuse in its homes and expose its systemic history of child abuse.
