Increasingly, Children Are Running Away From Whispering Hills – And Maybe With Good Reason

Sheriff’s Office responded to Whispering Hills at least 86 times since 2015 over allegations of neglectful supervision, attempted suicide, child abuse and sexual abuse, along with all the runaways

There have been at least 43 incidents since 2015 involving runaways or missing juveniles from Whispering Hills Achievement Center near Flatonia. And they’re occurring with increasing frequency – there were six runaway attempts over a two-week span earlier this year.

Those numbers come from incident reports completed by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office. The Record obtained the reports last month through an open records request.

Whispering Hills, a privately- owned facility, contracts with the State of Texas to house children in the foster care system with developmental and behavioral disorders. Under the facility’s current contracts, which expire this year, the State pays Whispering Hills more than $5 million over 5½ years to house troubled youth.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Service (DFPS) regulates and inspects residential treatment centers like Whispering Hills. DFPS publishes a “Compliance History” for each facility under its authority. According to the compliance history for Whispering Hills, DFPS identified 20 “deficiencies” at the facility over the past five years.

During that time Whispering Hills also self-reported 16 incidents. The compliance history listed details for only two of those incidents. One involved a staff member who allegedly threatened a child with corporal punishment in January of this year. The other involved a suicide attempt in 2019 by a child in Whispering Hills.

According to the incident reports obtained from the Sheriff’s Office, there have been at least 28 runaway attempts in the past five years, which indicates that Whispering Hills does not report these to DFPS.

Mark Wilson, a spokesperson for DFPS, said that he could not comment on specific cases due to confidentiality laws.

“In general, if a youth in our care goes missing, whether that be from a residential foster home or a larger facility, we work closely with law enforcement to find them,” Wilson said. “We also have Special Investigators who reach out to family and friends of the youth to gather information and try to determine if the youth is safe. Typically, we see about 3 to 4 percent of youth in legal conservatorship reported missing at some point in the year, and 85% of them are recovered within the same year.”

Whispering Hills is permitted to house 20 youth between the ages of 5 and 17. The six runaway attempts earlier this year involved groups of kids numbering between one and four. The County Attorney’s office redacted personal information about the juveniles in the reports, so we have no way of knowing whether the same kids tried running away multiple times.

However, the six attempts involved at least four individuals. That amounts to a minimum of 20 percent of the youth in Whispering Hills’ care – a much greater number than the 3 to 4 percent that Wilson said go missing across the state in a year.

Investigator Marc Bennett of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for investigating many of the calls at Whispering Hills. Bennett told the Record that he is very worried about a runaway getting struck by a vehicle on FM 609.

The incident reports from the Sheriff’s Office included much more than just runaways. The Sheriff’s Office responded to Whispering Hills at least 86 times since 2015 over allegations of neglectful supervision, attempted suicide, child abuse and even sexual abuse in some cases, along with all of the runaways.

Here are a few of the most startling calls: • On July 18, 2016, the Sheriff’s Office received a referral from Child Protective Services (CPS), alleging neglectful supervision. A 13-year-old girl and a 15-yearold- boy were allegedly engaging in sexual acts when outside and not supervised by staff. The report said both children were mentally handicapped.

• On September 19, 2017, the Sheriff’s Office received a CPS referral stating that an eight-year-old, who now lives in Bacliff, made an outcry alleging sexual abuse at Whispering Hills.

• On July 30, 2018, the Sheriff’s Office received a CPS referral concerning an 11-year-old boy who had been recently transferred from Whispering Hills to another facility in Central Texas. Upon admission at the new facility, the staff there found bruising on the child’s legs and body. The report said the child is not able to verbalize, functions on a two-year-old level and has autism. “Whispering Hills reports he was restrained,” the report said. “He picks at his wounds but appears to be healing.”

• On May 2, 2020, the Sheriff’s Office received a call about a woman who took her eight-year-old son to the hospital. The son lived at Whispering Hills. The report said the youth has autism but he could talk and answer questions. The report said the mother took the son to the hospital after Whispering Hills called and said he was found in a closet with another eight-year-old boy. The boy said he was sexually penetrated three times. When Whispering Hills contacted the mother, she immediately picked up her son. The report said the hospital needed a case number before they could send him to a pediatric facility to perform a rape test.

The Record attempted to reach Whispering Hills Administrator Darryl Ashford to ask him about the ongoing problems at his facility. He has not responded.