Investigation
Kurn Hattin Investigation
Child abuse requires silence to continue ...and so child abuse will continue in Vermont.
American defense lawyer, 'Attorney for the Damned' Clarence Darrow stated on his 79th birthday, 'Law is Horrible - There is no such thing as justice - in or out of court.'
Darrow considered the conditions the marginalize and vulnerable faced in society inhuman and unjust.
"As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever."
He took unpopular cases — to give voice to “the weak, the suffering, and the poor” by defending their First Amendment rights to free speech, to a free press, and to petition for a redress of grievances: The Foundation of Free Society. Darrow considered the First Amendment to be the written guarantee that the government could place “no fetters on thought and actions and dreams and ideals of men, even the most despised of them.”
In the United States of America, our perceived version of so-called justice takes the form of legal claims and financial reparations. The market size, measured by revenue, of the Personal Injury Lawyers & Attorneys industry was $57.3 billion in 2024. Academic investigations are a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. Child sexual abuse academic investigation serve only to benefit the academic institutions themselves at the expense of the childhood survivors of abuse. In many instances they are never made public. As has reflected the school’s pattern of behavior since the allegations of abuse became public knowledge, Kurn Hattin initially refused to allow the investigation to be made public.
As a direct result of first Kurn Hattin survivor to come forward publicly and his insistence for full and public disclosure, and the adoption of the Ropes & Gray protocol to ensure transparency, Kurn Hattin acquiesced to the demand of making the completed report public. Academic investigations, on average, take approximately 10 months to complete. The Ropes & Gray report regarding USA Gymnastics / Larry Nassar, and 550 survivors of sexual abuse, took 10 months to complete. Unlike the Kurn Hattin investigation - ALL - of the USAG athletes refused as a unified group to participate in the investigation so as not to lend credibility to the inherently illegitimate, conflicted, and biased processes that are academic investigations.
Without exception, all personal injury attorneys contacted throughout the United States regarding the Kurn Hattin matter advised against participating in the Kurn Hattin investigation regarding alleged childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Furthermore, participation in the investigation has intentionally been limited solely to those Kurn Hattin survivors represented by experienced, highly compensated personal injury trial attorneys. All other survivors and potential witnesses have been intentionally excluded. Some survivors and witnesses have been summarily refused participation and the opportunity to contribute corroborating testimony after reaching out to Kurn Hattin directly, Kurn Hattin's defense attorney, and the investigating law firm in an attempt to seek participation in the investigation that purports to seek the truth.
The truth? For whom? Kurn Hattin declares:
“… we were devastated and horrified by the revelations … of alumni … who came forward with stories of alleged abuse.” “… we must make this situation as “right” as we can for all of our children, past and present. It is crucial that we acknowledge the pain and suffering of these alumni and help them feel the love and acceptance that the vast majority of our children feel.” "We hold ourselves accountable to the families and communities we serve by providing the highest degree of service and performance." "Kurn Hattin teaches children to make appropriate choices and take responsibility for the consequences of their actions."
So where is the love and the acknowledgment of the survivors' pain and suffering so virtuously proffered by Kurn Hattin? Perhaps in the midst of their own revelations of devastation and horror the residential school may want to consider practicing that which it claims to teach children and 'take responsibility for the consequences of their own actions.'
In glaring contrast to the open transparency of the Ropes & Gray investigation as it progressed, there has been no public disclosure by Kurn Hattin, seeking from witnesses and survivors the so-called “truth” that the institution claims to seek regarding the decades of allegations going back to the 1940’s up until as recently as 2019 as outlined in the recent Vermont Department for Children and Families special investigation. Kurn Hattin also intentionally never disclosed, and willfully elected to keep secret, the Burlington Vermont law firm that the school retained to conduct the investigation. It has also never been disclosed that one of the investigating law firm partners, attorney John Leddy, is the uncle of Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan.
The Ropes & Gray investigators released a 233-page report that detailed the findings of their investigation into Larry Nassar’s abuse of hundreds of elite and Olympic gymnasts and other children since the early 1990s. The report, which was made public in its entirety, was the culmination of a 10-month investigation that included over 100 interviews -- many of them with current and former USA Gymnastics and US Olympic Committee employees—and review of over 1.3 million documents, including reports, files, emails, notes and text messages. In contrast, the Kurn Hattin investigation, employing a Burlington law firm dedicated to the task, took over two years to be completed. During that time period, one of the survivors died waiting for Vermont's brand of retorative justice and Kurn Hattin's claim to "learn the truth".
As part of the Vermont Senate hearings into the State's lack of responsible action over decades of abuse at Kurn Hattin that was initiated by Kurn Hattin survivor - John Doe A, Kimberly Anne Dougherty, Esq., attorney to approximately 48 Kurn Hattin survivors of the approximately 60 survivors who secured legal representation, made the following statement in testimony before the Vermont Legislature on October 1, 2021:
"... ultimately we will have this investigation finalized and that the report will be made public. That's by agreement [with Kurn Hattin] and that the findings and recommendations hopefully will effectuate some additional change that needs to happen at Kurn Hattin Homes and set a good precedent for other schools that are both educational and residential homes." Kim Dougherty - Justice Law Collaborative
The so-called 'independent' investigation retained and paid for by Kurn Homes for Children, has to date, never been publicly released. It is alleged that attorney Dougherty herself, after viewing the report, labeled the investigation ... a Whitewash!
Vermonter, and Windham County advocate, activist and survivor client of Attorney Dougherty of JLC in the Brattleboro Union High School abuse case, Sherri Keefe made the following comments on social media following Kurn Hattin and the Justice Law Collaborative refusal to publicly release the Kurn Hattin Investigation:
Why won't Kurn Hattin release the investigation report? True healing for Kurn Hattin survivors and the community cannot happen unless there is complete transparency. The assertion that Kurn Hattin had done greater good than greater harm minimized the impact of the abuse on the generations of students who suffered harm under their care. I was disgusted by this!
Despite Keefe's demand for truth and transparency, her comments were quickly deleted. Why Sherri? Did your attorney, Kim Dougherty, advise you to delete fundamental truth and verifiable fact? The BUHS child abuse investigation has also never been released despite the original public declaration that the process would be transparent. Former Windham Southeast School District board Chair, David Schoales, states he was “surprised” by the board’s decision to “keep the sexual abuse investigation private,” calling it “the worst possible outcome.”
This was always going to be a hard decision for the school, but the board wholeheartedly endorsed a commitment to an independent investigation and releasing the findings. The stated intention of the school board from the beginning was to be transparent. The child psychologist/consultant we hired had experience in abuse investigations, and he was clear that the best legal strategy for the school would be transparency. The best thing we could do was to uncover the scope of the problem and publicly share any information that could be verified. Up until the time I retired from the board, that was the plan.
Here are some additional personal accounts of the services allegedly provided by Justice Law Collaborative:
Katharine Cuyle - I did not experience trauma-informored legal services. Through my two cases I was told I was in control. I truth they created a legal strategy to benefit only my abusers. Their goal was to ignore damage caused to me throughout the case, threatening that my desire to go to court would harm me, then forwarded threats from my abusers to me during the cases. Although there was a settlement the lawyers' interest in my case changed and quickly evaporated when they learned there were no insurance policies they could level settlements against. Their approach furthered my trauma and they continually dismissed the role of my parents and family in sex trafficking me as a child. It is so devastating to experience their trauma informed approach. When they decide how things will go for you it will not be based on your needs or desire for truth. They told me I could write a book detailing my abuse. My abusers are free and my story is hidden, for this Justice Law Collaborative (JLC) deserves all of the credit.
Tara Squitiro - Justice Law Collaborative says they provide trauma-informed law services, but instead they prey on groups of traumatized people through reparations programs designed to lure these people in to make themselves fast cash on quick settlements.
Regular-Knee3057, June 2024 - Justice Law Collaborative 100% do not recommend. I have years of emails with a random lawyer after I was told Kim Dougherty was representing me. Performance was unprofessional at best. NOT trauma informed. The defendant was allowed to threaten me. I was given choices of how to proceed like trial and to file the paperwork after the defendant defaulted. Each time they spent more time telling me my choice was wrong and I needed to change it. Now I have two settlements, JLC sold my silence for a quick buck. Hey they reduce their legal fee for subpar service though. ...they will care nothing about you as a person. Get a good lawyer if you've been trafficked, like Attorney Erik Bauer.
Vermont DCF Commissioner, Sean Brown has unequivocally stated in the context of the Department for Children & Families Residential Licensing Special Investigation into years of documented child abuse at Kurn Hattin Homes for Children under the Vermont Approved Independent School's current administration overseen by Executive Director, Stephen Harrison and Board President, Mark Bodin, President of Walpole Savings Bank:
We found Kurn Hattin to be in violation and also failing to provide adequate supervision to youth in the residential treatment program. Had they not chosen to voluntarily relinquish their residential treatment program license, we would have taken it away. The results of the Investigations are shocking. We are in the child protection business and to think about kids being harmed there in these ways is incredibly challenging to think about. We were hoping that, as an established member of the community, Kurn Hattin would take action to stop these behaviors.
Attorney Kimberly Anne Dougherty, Esq., (KAD) testified to the Vermont Senate that the Investigation Report would be made public by agreement with Kurn Hattin. So, why then has the Kurn Hattin initiated and financed "Independent Investigation" "to learn the truth" into decades of child abuse perpetrated at Kurn Hattin Homes for Children never been publicly released? In stark contrast to the continued secrecy surrounding the Kurn Hattin Report, Kimberly Anne has also publicly stated:
Now ask yourself, has Kurn Hattin’s response to the abuse and assault demonstrated that it is able to take responsibility and the steps necessary to prevent abuse moving forward? The answer is no, and as a result, the review of Kurn Hattin’s license must proceed to put an end to child abuse in its homes and expose its systemic history of child abuse.
Some believe that Kurn Hattin Homes may have purchased that which they appear to desire most in this tragedy - SILENCE - through a multi-million dollar, financial reparations settlement with approximately 55 victims of the residential school's documented and acknowledged abuse of vulnerable children in its alleged care. Is this financial arrangement why the Investigation Report was never made public despite statements to the Vermont Legislature to the contrary?
The following link is to the testimony of Massachusetts Attorney, Kim Dougherty at the Vermont Senate Hearings into decades of abuse at Kurn Hattin Homes and the State's role and alleged complicity. In her testimony, she reveals over sixty years of documented horrific abuse perpetrated at Kurn Hattin on dozens of marginalized, controlled, isolated children, recorded decade by decade and year upon year in specific detail beginning in the 1950's including up until as recently as 2019, as revealed by the Vermont DCF, the Vermont State Police and the trauma publicly disclosed by the Kurn Hattin Survivors themselves and their attorneys.
This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want. ~ Hannah Arendt
There appears to be a disturbing trend with so-called "Independent Investigations" to "learn the truth" in Windham County Vermont -- at least those among whose plaintiffs are represented by the Justice Law Collaborative in Easton Massachusetts and JLC Attorney Kim Dougherty, Esq.
Revealing Testimonial of Kurn Hattin Homes for Children by Children and Employees