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KINGSTREE, S.C. (WCSC) — A Williamsburg County behavioral treatment facility that serves children in foster care and those with special needs faces dozens of complaints alleging sexual assault, physical abuse and neglect.

Broadstep Behavioral Health in Kingstree, a 40-bed psychiatric residential treatment facility, has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and complaints filed with South Carolina’s Department of Public Health.

The facility treats individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health conditions. The location predominantly houses children who are placed inside from agencies like the Department of Social Services or parents who simply decide their children need more resources.

In 2020, Deeva Williams sent her son, Justin Williams, to Broadstep Kingstree upon a recommendation from their Department of Disabilities and Special Needs case worker.

“As a parent, you don’t know everything that your child is dealing with and enduring back there. They go through that door in the back and you have no idea,” Deeva Williams said.

Justin Williams, who was only 13-years-old the first time he entered the facility, has autism and suffers from serious depression, often having suicidal thoughts.

“I was more than just depressed, I couldn’t be alone at all because it was like every day it was a crisis,” he said.

“He already had so much going on emotionally before he got to Broadstep and that’s why he was there. So then to go and encounter this…,” Deeva Williams said.

Once behind the facility’s doors, Justin Williams said his depression and suicidal thoughts were not only ignored but encouraged.

“When I talk about things that were bothering me and that were done to me, it’s never handled, it’s never addressed,” he said. “The only excuse they would give you is, ‘Oh, I’m an adult, I can say what I want.’ They felt like they were judge, jury and executioner and they beat on anyone who they felt disrespected them.”

One of Justin’s friends in Broadstep was physically and emotionally assaulted during his time at the facility, which left him to endure humiliation anxiety, pain and suffering, according to a lawsuit.

The teenager took his own life inside the facility on Jan. 25, 2024.

Court documents state Broadstep did not properly file an investigative report following the death, which violated a state regulation.

“I was extremely angry. After that, yeah, I cried a lot,” Justin Williams said. “It shouldn’t take somebody having to die before people realize the effect that they have on other people.”

And unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Department of Public Health provided the number of complaints against Broadstep Kingstree from 2023 until this year.

Dozens of complaints detail Broadstep employees hitting, sitting and stepping on children, allowing children to fight against each other, children isolated because of understaffing, improper medical care, bed bugs, residents escaping, emotional abuse and sexual assault.

“Why is it that more vulnerable children can go to a daycare, go to somewhere where they’re supposed to be taken care of, and get this type of treatment?” Deeva Williams said. “You are having to try and deal with this and put the pieces back together. We were already out of our depth.”

One SCDPH complaint claims a patient was physically assaulted by a staff member and placed in restraints. It goes on to claim a staff member slammed another patient into a wall.

Another complaint claims staff poured bleach into a Welch’s grape juice bottle and threw it into the trash before a resident took the bottle out of the trash bin and drank it. Documents allege the kid was left dry heaving and vomiting.

An additional complaint states a resident was found with shoe prints on their body. It claims a staff member said they accidentally stepped on the individual’s face.

“These facilities are shrouded in confidentiality and kind of secrecy protections under the law,” Attorney Heather Hite said.

Broadstep Kingstree is not the company’s only location with reported abuse and neglect.

At one time, the company had additional locations in Georgetown, Pickens and Simpsonville but after coverage from Live 5 News and . Since the coverage, the and locations closed down, which leaves only Simpsonville and Williamsburg remaining.

Broadstep also has a location open in Summerville that has faced lawsuits in recent years, but SCDPH said the facility is technically a group home, not a behavioral treatment facility, which means the state agency does not oversee the facility.

Hite has represented multiple clients against Broadstep, including a then 13-year-old special needs child who was in the foster system when her case worker first placed her into Broadstep’s care.

“These children haven’t done anything wrong to deserve the way that they’ve been treated,” Hite said.

Inside Broadsteps Summerville location for about six months, court documents state the young girl experienced employees refusing to give residents water and blankets when they were cold and she even saw other children being restrained and strip-searched.

The 13-year-old was then moved to Broadsteps Kingstree location, which the lawsuit claims “was even worse than the first one.”

The girl said she was sexually assaulted by a maintenance man who went inside her room.

“She was further abused and neglected. It made her needs — they were already bad — go from bad to worse,” Hite said.

Documents state the young girl was moved again by her DSS case worker to another Broadstep facility in Simpsonville where she would self harm and staff would say, “Why would you do this to yourself? This is stupid.”

“We have named DSS as a defendant because we want to hold the state agency accountable that is responsible for placing children in these facilities like my client,” Hite said. “Someone needs to be looking into what kind of training these employees are getting.”

How is a facility like Broadstep still operating when it has a history of death, abuse and neglect?

After each complaint is filed, SCDPH is required to inspect a facility, which is noted in documents they provided.

When Broadstep would fail inspections, the facility would provide a corrective action plan and claim improvements and changes were made.

Yet, SCDPH allowed Broadstep to still operate as similar complaints and violations still continued.

“I think the people who run these companies, run these facilities, they should be held responsible because you’re dealing with these precious packages,” Deeva Williams said.

SCDPH declined a reqest for an interview to answer the many questions this story raised. The department released a lengthy statement:

The South Carolina Department of Public Health is responsible for licensing and regulating various health care facilities and providers including residential treatment facilities for children and adolescents. Excalibur Youth Services, LLC d/b/a Excalibur Youth Services Kingstree is a licensed RTF (Lic. No. RTF-0035) located at 1370 Williamsburg County Hwy. N, Kingstree, SC 29556 and owned by Broadstep Behavioral Health. DPH inspects and investigates RTFs to determine compliance with applicable statutes and . Further, DPH has authority to deny, suspend, or revoke licenses or assess a monetary penalty, or both, against a person or facility for, among other things, violating applicable statutes or regulations.

In arriving at a decision to take enforcement, DPH considers the specific conditions and their impact on the health, safety, or well-being of the residents, efforts by the facility to correct cited violations, and the facility’s history of compliance.

Since June 2024, DPH has conducted one routine inspection, two food and sanitation inspections, and five complaint investigations of Excalibur Youth Services Kingstree, which resulted in a total of eight cited violations of Regulation 60-103. DPH has not executed any enforcement orders against Excalibur Youth Services Kingstree.

DSS and DDSN did not respond to requests for comment.

Broadstep’s corporate offices did not respond to three different requests for comment.

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