Camp Adams to close permanently next month

Youth Services Agency, the Penn Forest Township juvenile justice camp which drew the ire of parents in the Jim Thorpe Area School District, is closing permanently.

The owners of the facility known locally as Camp Adams recently sent a letter to local officials informing them that they will close the camp on June 30.

All 53 employees at the camp are expected to be laid off.

“This closing is occurring as a result of a significant downturn in business and resulting corporatewide organization,” said the letter, signed by Sarah Wooder, YSA’s executive director.

YSA has contracts with counties across the state to rehabilitate juvenile offenders. It offers short-term and long-term residential care at its facility, focusing on teaching juvenile offenders vocational skills.

Over the years the facility made headlines at various times because of residents who escaped.

But many district residents became aware of the facility in 2014. That’s when the camp proposed to send up to 70 of its residents to Jim Thorpe schools under a state law which requires that juvenile offenders must be educated by the school district where their detention facility is located.

After YSA announced its intent, 200 parents packed the auditorium at Jim Thorpe Area High School in protest. The parents didn’t want YSA residents attending regular classes in the district.

The district ultimately listened to parents and reached an agreement which would keep YSA’s academic program open.

In exchange, Jim Thorpe Area School District agreed to pay $70 per day per student so Camp Adams residents could continue to study at their facility. The figure was raised to $76.25 in 2016. Jim Thorpe school district also agreed to provide special education services at YSA.

Some residents have since criticized the district for failing to collect thousands of dollars from districts in Philadelphia and other areas for students who were enrolled in the academic program at YSA.

The clients at YSA had some positive impact on the Carbon County community through service projects benefiting different areas.

In 2011, Camp Adams residents cleaned up a wildcat dump site in the Penn Forest Streams Community. In 2009, they built and donated doghouses to Carbon County Friends of Animals. In 2005, they helped remove downed trees from the Towamensing Trails development after a storm.