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Cunning Kurn Hattin Children

The Fool is on the Hill

Kurn Hattin Homes for Children Executive Director Stephen Harrison, and the President of the Kurn Hattin Board, Mark Bodin, President of Walpole Savings Bank would have you believe that abuse at Kurn Hattin is 'Historical.' A responsible, aware human being might conclude otherwise. Harrison writes in a letter to the Vermont DCF Residential Special Licensing Investigator, Lauren Higbee of “Cunning Children” who, according to director Harrison are “cunning and able” enough to elude even Kurn Hattin’s exceptional vigilance.

Dear Ms. Lauren Higbee, I am in receipt of your letter to Kurn Hattin Homes for Children dated February 2, 2018. Kurn Hattin Homes does not contest the sexual abuse by a student here at the time, [REDACTED] perpetrated upon another student. We are deeply troubled by this incident and are constantly vigilant to prevent any behavior of this or similar types to occur here. The fact that this occurred in a cottage supervised by two of our most experienced and able house parents attests to the difficulty of dealing with very cunning and able children in a residential setting, but even so, it is a very rare occurrence here because of our vigilance.

DCF Investigator Lauren Higbee responds to Mr. Harrison. Higbee is the current Deputy Advocate for the Vermont Office of the Child, Youth, and Family Advocate, who is responding for the Residential Licensing and Special Investigations Unit at the Department for Children and Families Family Services Division. Her team licensed Residential Treatment Programs such as that of Kurn Hattin Homes for Children:

This not just an issue of cunning and able children, but a supervision issue. The abuse occurred for over a year in that same cottage with the most experienced house parents and cameras.

The following is evidence and testimony provided to the 2021 Vermont Senate hearings, into the States response into so-called allegations of decades of systemic abuse and negligence at Kurn Hattin Homes. The hearings were initiated, as stated by then senate president Becca Balint, by Kurn Hattin survivor John Doe who filed a complaint against the residential school in 2021: John Doe v. New England Kurn Hattin Homes for Children in Windham County Superior Court. The bulk of this documented evidence drawn primarily from Vermont Department for Children and Families reports cites abuse and negligence perpetrated during the current Kurn Hattin administration with Stephen Harrison as Executive Director.

DCF learned that Executive Director Harrison’s 15-year-old son solicited nude photos from a 13-year-old and a 12-year-old KH female resident and was allowed to continue to work in KH’s cafeteria with ongoing access and contact to one of the female students, which she stated was upsetting to her.

The Department for Children and Families responds to Director Harrison:

It became clear that [REDACTED] did engage in some level of inappropriate on-line contact with at least two female students of Kurn Hattin while under your care. The situation was complicated by the fact that you were a foster parent for the child as well as the Executive Director of Kurn Hattin Homes. The [REDACTED] highlighted the conflict of interest that these dual roles can create. This sometimes, problematic dynamic was especially noted in your questioning of [REDACTED] regarding her allegations in a manner that blurred the boundaries between your role as foster parent and Executive Director.

Vermont State Police received notice from DCF that a KHH student was forced to perform oral sex and engage in anal sex by a peer.

Police Report Incident occurred inside Juvenile [REDACTED] bedroom at Kurn Hattin School, Westminster, Vermont. Modus Operandi: Accused had oral and anal sexual intercourse with victim.

DCF Report - Type of Abuse: Physical abuse by staff; sexual abuse perpetrated by peers. Examples:

Houseparent would grab, shake, and scare child often.

Student was routinely raped, molested, and forced to perform oral sex and swallow a peer’s ejaculate.

Female peer assaulted child by routinely vaginally penetrated another with a toothbrush and threatened to kill her with a knife in her sleep if she ever told. 9-year-old student was assaulted for the next 2 years by a peer, including being penetrated with a toothbrush. KH aware. 13-year-old student was molested by 15-year-old peer for months. KH aware peer “gamed” the discipline system to gain access to peer.

2021 Vermont Senate hearing into State response to Kurn Hattin abuse: Brian Campion asked director Stephen Harrison, how many credible reports were there at KHH on average per year. Harrison’s testimony response - 9 or 10 per year.

2019 Residential Treatment Program Report details female student who between the ages of 6-12 was coerced to provide oral sex by male peers.

House parent told student that her parents didn’t want her anymore and gave the child 6 pills that caused her to pass out.

Students forcibly molested. KHH staff were aware and referred to the group of perpetrator students as the “Touching Club”.

2020 DCF rescinds KH’s license

2020 Vermont State Board of Education directs Vermont Agency of Education to perform its own investigation into Kurn Hattin Homes for Children

2019 DCF begins scrutinizing abuse. Releases lengthy RTP report detailing dozens on instances of sex abuse and neglect.

2015: Forced older peer on younger peer oral and anal penetration; not fully compliant with a DCF regulations regarding the seclusion of children, including providing constant, uninterrupted supervision by qualified staff, employed by the program and familiar to the child/youth.

2017: allegations of physical abuse at KH, including grabbing/pushing/shoving students, withholding a student's breakfast for being late, and also being verbally abusive; a 9 year old female disclosed she was being continuously vaginally penetrated with a toothbrush by another girl. She stated she feared to disclose sooner as the girl threatened, she would “kill her with a knife”. Director of Residential Services was aware and failed to mandatory report as required by State and Federal law because she thought that was “what children do." Failure to timely report an allegation that one student, on different occasions, offered to pay money to see two other residents' private parts.

 2017-2019: at least four VSP reports of peer on peer sexual assault, on multiple occasions, involving multiple individuals, including the “touching club.”

2019: “large number of KH residents engaging in sexualized contact with each other. At least nine separate youth from two different cottages…age range of youth involved was between 7-11 years ... Mrs. Richardson stated that the sexual activity has been described by the boys as showing each other their genitals, some boys stated that they engaged in hand to genital contact, and one of the older boys (10) disclosed oral-genital contact with another of the older boys (11) ...Mr. Plante added that the youth reported that 'The Club' has been going on for at least a full year, perhaps longer... Ms. [REDACTED] said that a youth said the club 'has been going on since 2016.'"

2019: report found: 3 of 17 child abuse and neglect investigations, were not reported in a timely manner. They also found that there were a large number of children who were engaging in sexual activity and KH did not intervene or report as required by law and licensing regulations.

Jenny Coleman, Executive Director of Stop It Now! advises:

The culture of intense silence at Kurn Hattin likely further damaged the children psychologically, she said, because they grew up “without anyone believing them.” The children were already vulnerable and had special needs. The layer upon layer of trauma in this situation is “really profound,” she said

2010 thru 2020 - The most recent decade has seen extreme and persistent cases of peer-on-peer abuse, along with an utter lack of supervision and action by Kurn Hattin staff. Yet after KHH staff became aware of many instances of abuse, the school consistently failed to take any corrective action, or corrective steps to prevent repeat and future instances. At the beginning of the decade, in 2010, DCF noted that the level of supervision in the cottages would be a continuing conversation with KH and be subject closer scrutiny during the next RTP Licensing site visit in 2011.

The known lack of supervision in KH cottages proved to be a serious issue that was at the root of the most egregious instances of peer-on-peer abuse at the school. For example: In 2011, a male client, who was 9 years old at the time, was placed in Morrison Cottage with male peers. He was the youngest member of the cottage while his peers were all 13-year-olds. In the few months the client attended KH, his older roommate began sexually assaulting him at night, including forcibly anally raping the client and forcing him to perform oral sex. The roommate had “special privileges” at the cottage and was subject to lax supervision. The roommate took advantage of this and locked the bedroom door at night to attack the client. The client reported the abuse to the Vermont State Police in 2017.

On March 10, 2015, after receiving an email from the DCF, Vermont State Police investigated the sexual assault of a KHH student who was forced to perform oral sex and engage in anal sex by a peer at the school. Despite these incidences known to both DCF and VSP, DCF renewed Kurn Hattin’s Residential Treatment Program license in 2013 and 2015.

Kurn Hattin Homes Executive Director, Stephen Harrison, took over KHH in 2015. When DCF renewed the school’s RTP license in 2015 it noted that Kurn Hattin was not fully compliant with a DCF regulations regarding the seclusion of children, including RTPLR 660, which states: Children/youth in seclusion will be provided constant, uninterrupted supervision by qualified staff, employed by the program and familiar to the child/youth.” The DCF comment highlights continuing issues with discipline and more importantly, inadequate supervision at the school.

Despite this, the following instances were reported after the 2015 renewal:

In September 2016, DCF were notified that the Stephen Harrison’s 15-year-old son had solicited nude photos from a 13-year-old and a 12-year-old KH female resident. Despite the solicitation, the 15-year-old continued to work in KH’s cafeteria and had ongoing access and contact to one of the female students. DCF found that Kurn Hattin’s response was “appropriate”, and no violations were given. Beginning in 2017, a 9-year-old female client was sexually abused by another resident at Woodhull Cottage. The abuse continued for 2 years as the perpetrator resident regularly assaulted the client and other cottage residents in the bathroom of the cottage. At one point the perpetrator penetrated the client’s vagina with a toothbrush and encouraged other residents to do the same. The client was initially fearful to report the abuse because the perpetrator threatened to “kill her with a knife” if she did, and the Woodhull Cottage House Parent, “Mrs. Cook”, was physically abusive, grabbing and shaking the client if the client frustrated her. The client’s mother found out and reported the abuse to DCF and the VSP in 2019. During the DCF investigation, it was revealed KH Residential Director Nancy Richardson was aware of the toothbrush incident but didn’t report it because she thought that was “what children do.”

On February 10, 2017, DCF sent a letter to KH about a teacher using inappropriate physical intervention with 11-year-old when she "yanked right arm to remove hand from his ear." DCF correspondence with KHH Director of Residential Services regarding allegations of physical abuse at KH, including grabbing/pushing/shoving students, withholding a student's breakfast for being late, and also being verbally abusive, resulting in an action plan.

DCF Residential Special Licensing Investigation Letter to Stephen Harrison, KH Executive Director stating: "It is important to note, that upon receipt of the incident reports from KHH, the allegations of solicitation occurred on October 20, 2017 and it took a considerable amount of time to report the incident to the licensing authority." The letter identifies several possible regulatory violations, including RTPLR 118 - a RTP shall report any suspected or alleged incident of child abuse or neglect within 24 hours to DCF; RTPLR 119 - RTP will supervise and separate the individual(s) and the victim(s) whose behavior caused the report; and RTPLR 601 – RTP shall provide adequate supervision appropriate to the treatment and developmental needs of children/youth.

Still, the Agency of Education renewed the school’s status as an “Approved Independent School” on May 25, 2017 and DCF renewed the school’s RTP License on September 25, 2017. Over the succeeding two years, more and more abuse came to light after DCF finally began to scrutinize the abuse at KH and KH’s response after decades of reports at the school, likely in response to notice of potential civil suits. In late 2019, after two site visits, DCF wrote a lengthy RTP Licensing Report detailing the school’s numerous transgressions. Overall, the report found:

Of the 17 child abuse and regulatory investigations during this licensing period, at least three were not reported within the required time frame. For example, three incidents occurring in February 2019 and were not reported to licensing or Centralized Intake and Emergency Services (CIES) until April 2019. Staff interviews illuminated an instance in October 2019 where information was intentionally withheld from licensing regarding the division of Parent Cottage students into other cottages due to the inadequate staffing coverage. Multiple staff interviews have alleged that significant incidents within residential programming and timing had not been documented.

At least two separate scenarios were noted. School-wide Information System (SWIS) began to hold all the Kurn Hattin School’s incident reports as of 2015. There are multiple incidents reviewed within 10 student files on SWIS that should have been reported to RLSI but were not. These include incidents of sexual touching between students and other incidents that directly impact the health and safety of the students … Kurn Hattin’s New England Association of School and Colleges self-study surveying resulted in the findings, “…that 21 percent of the students strongly disagreed that they felt safe at Kurn Hattin.” Staff members were candid to explain that children say they don’t feel safe when they are escalated, or they do not feel safe based on the actions of their peers. The totality of the student interviews, staff interviews, review of internal policies and self-study survey results all contribute to the noncompliance rating for RTP Regulation 201. These issues within Kurn Hattin and the findings that 21 percent of students strongly disagree that they feel safe at the program inhibits the students from being “served under humane conditions with respect for their dignity and privacy.”

In 2019, DCF found out a large number of children were openly known to be engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct and KH staff did not intervene or report it to DCF: “... a large number of KH residents engaging in sexualized contact with each other. At least nine separate youth from two different cottages, Morrison and Parent, were involved. The age range of youth involved was between 7-11 years old... Mrs. Richardson stated that the sexual activity has been described by the boys as showing each other their genitals, some boys stated that they engaged in hand to genital contact, and one of the older boys (10) disclosed oral-genital contact with another of the older boys (11) ...Mr. Plante added that the youth report that 'the club' has been going on for at least a full year, perhaps longer... Ms. [REDACTED] said that a youth said the club 'has been going on since 2016.'" Staff at the school knew of “the club” and attempted to report their concerns to KH Administrators.

According to Meeting Notes from KH Staff disclosed by DCF in 2019: “Ms. Newton "shared the concern that events that were once 'isolated are becoming systemic,' which she attributed to the lack of follow through and bad judgment calls of administration, but mostly named Nancy Richardson, Director of Residential, Carol Bazin and Clint La Plante are Assistant Residential Directors. She was adamant that Steve Harrison and Sue Kessler know of these incidents/concerns." Ms. Newton tracks behaviors trends in the school through their data system. She explained that the behavior during residential hours is triple the behavior/incidents during school hours. She believes this difference is even more since the behavior matrix and documentation is not being followed or completed by residential staff...”.

March 21, 2019 DCF received notice of another severe and prolonged instance of abuse: "The reporting source said [REDACTED] reported that she performed sexual acts (orally and insertion with fingers) on peers, [REDACTED] shared that she felt pressured and threatened to perform these acts and described that there was no supervision at KH. [REDACTED] described that this occurred from the ages of 6-12 years old, through her entire time at KH and began as 'hazing.' Additionally, on 4/25/2019, there was another allegation of possible sexual abuse by another KH resident. [REDACTED] disclosed that [REDACTED] had forced her to have sex with him and this occurred behind the stairwell in the auditorium. [REDACTED] said that she felt uncomfortable and unsafe some of the times they would have sex because [REDACTED] said he wouldn't be her boyfriend anymore if she didn't do it."

Despite its findings and increasing media coverage of the abuse, DCF did not rescind Kurn Hattin’s RTP license in 2019 when it issued its report. In fact, in a response to Kurn Hattin accusing DCF of pressuring the school to relinquish its RTP license, DCF stated:

Contrary to assertions in the media, there was never any pressure for Kurn Hattin Homes to relinquish the license. In fact, in the same June 25, 2020 letter, DCF offered to assist Kurn Hattin in meeting regulatory requirements to remain licensed as an RTP if it so desired. Kurn Hattin declined the offer.

Although DCF took no action immediately following the report, KHH issued multiple public statements and sent several letters to DCF rebutting many of the agency’s findings and describing the report as “at best, an inaccurate and inadequate depiction of the Homes as we currently operate.” After another three months of back-and-forth letters and public statements between DCF and KHH, the school finally relinquished its RTP license to DCF on September 10, 2020. Rather than acknowledge its failures and 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 from staff, agents or people who were fortunate enough to not have been abused while in the school’s care that “are heartwarming to read.”

During this time, the Vermont State Board of Education (“SBE”) and AOE did not take any action. Instead, the SBE waited until after KHH formally relinquished its RTP license, and only after a detailed letter was provided to the SBE by an attorney summarizing the extensive issues at KHH that were well-documented by DCF, on October 21, 2020 did the SBE finally direct the AOE to investigate the abuse allegations and make a recommendation as to whether KH’s approved status should be revoked.

As a result, the investigation was stalled by several months and the AOE’s investigation is ongoing, leaving approximately 50 children still in potential danger at KHH. In the meantime, the SBE has been in the process of drafting changes to regulations governing independent schools, some of which have the potential to substantially affect KH and other schools in similar situations.

Even now, KH continues to impede investigators and obfuscate the full nature of what it knew about sexual abuse throughout the decades. For example, former Kurn Hattin house parent, Mark Davis was arrested for child pornography charges in New Hampshire. Lieutenant Todd Faulkner of Cheshire County, New Hampshire Sheriff's Office is attempting to identify child victims in photos from Davis’ personal computer. KH refused to let Lt. Faulkner access its yearbook collection to help identify potential victims Davis may have taken photos of while he was a house parent in the 1980s and 1990s. Instead, Lt. Faulkner had to obtain a court order for KH to produce the yearbooks, and even then, the school’s production was limited. Lt. Faulkner stated that Kurn Hattin was “Not Helpful” in the Sheriff’s Office investigation over Davis and the images found in his possession that were alleged to be manufactured during the 1980’s at Kurn Hattin Homes for Children in Westminster Vermont. ... Kurn Hattin Director Harasses Alumni Survivor Protected by Vermont State Law