Unique's Story

Unique was nine-years old when we filed the case, and she had already been in the foster care system for two and a half years. She’s cycled through multiple foster homes and spent months at a residential facility, Jasper Mountain, longer than she needed to because DHS could not find a therapeutic foster home for her. While in care, her health worsened. A therapeutic foster home said it could no longer care for her. At one point, Unique tried to walk into traffic multiple times, yelling she did not want to live. Within a time span of a little more than two months, she was placed in a hospital emergency department twice. 

Unique was eventually diagnosed with PTSD and combined type ADHD. She was sent to a Montana institution, where she has been placed in 4-person and 2-person holds. Staff there have placed in her isolation and medicate her daily with anti-psychotic and anti-epileptic medications, despite the fact that she doesn’t experience seizures. The facility appears to use little to no therapeutic interventions are being used to promote self-regulation.