Nearly a year ago, 16-year-old Cornelius Frederick, a foster child whose mother had died four years earlier, died at Michigan’s Lakeside Academy: Sequel Youth and Family Services after being restrained following a lunchroom altercation. Now, Fredricks’ former case manager, Meghan Folkerson — in her first public interview since the incident will tell what happened in the hourlong NBC News special. Folkerson said restraints were overused and commonplace at Lakeside; that it was a cultural thing at the academy.
Folkerson didn’t see what had happened, but Lakeside’s security cameras captured it all: After Cornelius threw a sandwich at another child during lunch on April 29, seven male staff members held him on the floor for more than 10 minutes, putting weight on his legs and torso. Cornelius died two days later at a hospital.
The fatal restraint ultimately led to a re-evaluation of the care children receive in these facilities in Michigan and increased scrutiny of the for-profit behavioral health company that ran Lakeside: Sequel Youth and Family Services.
“I’m still angry,” said Folkerson, who was director of case management at Lakeside, which closed last June. “I think that everyone is allowed and going to be angry at this death. Because it was preventable. It was uncalled-for.”
At least three states — California, Michigan and Washington — severed ties with Sequel,m the for-profit company in 2020. Sequel said that it takes “any allegation of abuse or negligence seriously” and immediately reports any claims to authorities.
“We regret that some states, influenced by political and activist pressure, have prioritized perception over the best possible care for the individual,” the company said in a statement. “We remain steadfast in our mission to provide compassionate, therapeutic care knowing that the overwhelming majority of state child-serving agencies in the United States continue to find our services to be essential and operating at, or exceeding, their highest standards.”
After Cornelius died, Michigan issued emergency rules restricting restraints in group homes and announced it would no longer contract with child care facilities that use Sequel. Officials then convened a task force composed of child welfare officials and private child care providers to propose rule changes that would improve care for children in state custody.
