"Ariel" Assaulted and Abandoned Fundraiser

My name is Matthew Cates, retired Air Force guy (Knowledge Ops Manager and Postal), former Oregon State Unversity employee, and a very distraught father.

This campaign is related to raising legal fees to sue Oregon's Trillium Family Services for incidents related to my daughter (she's a minor so I'm not listing her name here, but will call her "Ariel" for this post).

My LinkedIn profile, to verify my AF Veteran status.

I'm truly hesitant to do this GoFundMe, but I don't know what else to do. I need to take Trillium Family Services, Oregon's largest healthcare provider, to court for a tort claim and medical malpractice related to one of my kids.

So far, the case isn't "juicy enough" for a firm to take it on contingency, apparently (in other words, they won't do it for a percentage of the settlement).

But there IS a case! It just means for now I have to pay the legal fees...and right now I don't have the money upfront.

I don't have the money because I was just utterly wiped out during a ~$40,000 divorce, where I lost the house, retirement savings, and a large chunk of my Air Force retirement pension (added to which, I'm on the hook to pay spouse and child support, which I do on time each month).

We're living in Oregon (worst state for retired veterans in terms of jobs, by the way) because my ex wants to live here. So I'm working freelance to keep up with bills, support, taxes, etc. But there's nothing left in the cookie jar.

Long story short, I'm too broke to get an attorney to represent my daughter's case properly. And I feel it's a doozy.

Assault and Battery at Trillium Family Services, Oregon

The divorce was tough on the kids. Moving to Oregon was tough. Ariel started experiencing OCD, having trouble in school, doing things they weren't supposed to. It got worse and worse. Finally, the school had Ariel start meeting a Trillium Family Services counselor.

Eventually, that led to them suggesting she try "day treatment," a more immersive treatment experience where classes are done at their facility instead of school. Then COVID-19 hit and we shifted to online for a bit, but Trillium wanted her in their full residential program.

We were pretty hesitant, but in the end, we agreed to try it for a few weeks. Our child was almost immediately threatened with getting beaten up by other kids. I reported that to Trillium Family Services staff and they said they were aware and keeping an eye on things, keeping them apart. That call was recorded.

I called the house manager and told them I wasn't happy the staff was aware of a threat but didn't tell me. I had to find out from my kid. The house manager looked into it and said staff hadn't heard a threat. But I have the call recorded with staff admitting they did hear it.

Anyways, a couple days later Ariel said she thought everyone hated her. I reported that too, and was again reassured. The next day, I got the call. Our girl had been viciously attacked by a patient at Trillium Family Services.

While drawing on a ball court with chalk.

Ariel was punched and kicked in the head while being screamed at ("I HATE you!!) as she was on the ground.

The lone Trillium staff member couldn't stop it, and had to call for help.

Why were these kids together in the first place??

As my daughter said, there's a sort of gang mentality in that place. I truly regret trusting them with her.

But it gets worse. I called police (since they apparently hadn't, even though they're mandatory reporters). We took our girl out for safety. We asked the house manager to go back to online treatment. We got an email with the discharge papers, which recommended in small letters that I didn't notice at the time that we use another service provider.

Keep in mind, they were the ones who suggested Ariel try their program.

Anyways, I didn't notice and thought we were waiting for an appointment, so I emailed to complain. I also complained about negligence on the part of the staff. One of Trillium's VPs called me and said she'd look into it, and she'd help me make an appointment.

Instead, after the assault, Trillium Family Services abandoned our child by denying access to any level of care.

Ariel had been a patient at various levels of care for over a year, but as a victim of an assault, she was abandoned with no clinical rationale given. Trillium stonewalled our attempts to learn the reason.

Their CEO Kim Scott emailed me to confirm this denial of service, saying he thought another organization would be better suited. How? They're the largest provider. We were just asking to go back to online counseling.

Trillium Family Service's Board Chair Mike Larson specifically told us he doesn't know why the service was denied, yet still we aren't told. Their receptionist even admitted to me on a recorded call that she was directed to route my calls to that same VP, who ignores them. That delayed our accessing the medical records.

I feel the attack could have been prevented.

I feel it was negligence on Trillium's part, and unethical, actionable abandonment for denying further care.

Now Ariel is a double victim.

I reported this to the Joint Commission and DHS, but Trillium’s behavior has been disturbing, defensive, and bordering on hostile.

I've been 100% transparent with them regarding the action. They don't care; they just stonewall us, because with over $42 million a year coming in they think they can get away with it.

So I'm trying to raise money to sue them, and to file by September 15th, if we can (I need an attorney to help me figure out the deadlines to file).

Who knows how many voiceless parents are out there struggling after their issues are swept under the rug?

Glassdoor.com lists an ex-employee RN's review listing very similar concerns we’re expressing.

How many children have been hurt in those facilities, while donors continue to pour money into it? I have no idea but I know they were busted before for falsified reporting.

Trillium Family Services, based in Portland, Oregon, is operating like a monopoly, with counselors in our Oregon schools, serving as a pipeline to other services, which they “upsell” during the course of treatment. Ariel was spit out after being assaulted and we had to pull her for safety reasons, but we requested a return to lower-level services which were denied. Their incident report contains discrepancies which I had to go to the Board Chair to get at least one fixed, after their CEO Kim Scott told me there’d be no further correspondence with us.

If you are willing to hear more, we’d be happy to share information. The evidence of our claims is all there.

In the meantime, I hate to do it, but I'm asking for small donations.

With attornies costing from $250 an hour and up, I believe $20,000 in legal fees may be conservative, but I've been asking for estimates from firms. In the meantime, I wanted to get the ball rolling on this campaign to sue Trillium Family Services and get justice for Ariel!

Thanks again for reading!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/retired-vet039s-daughter-assaulted-need-legal-help