A MOVEMENT FOR CHILD SAFETY, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND VOICE
Stand With Willow
Her voice was small. Her pain was real. Her story will be heard.
A four-year-old autistic girl was hurt in the care of one of the largest ABA providers in the country. Its own clinical lead lied about examining her, then weaponized the child-protection system against her family. This is not a story asking to be heard. It is a story that will be heard.
On October 29, 2025, Willow — a four-year-old autistic child with significant communication limitations — was injured while in the exclusive care of Action Behavior Centers (ABC) at its Manor Shadowglen facility in Texas. Emergency medical records from that evening document bruising, swelling, tenderness, limited movement, and an acute buckle fracture of the distal radius with findings involving the distal ulna. Her arm was immobilized in a splint and sling.
Willow was pushed by another child and fell. ABC staff knew. The clinical lead on Willow's case — the BCBA who ran the site — told the family she had personally examined Willow's arm and found nothing wrong. She later admitted, on a recorded call, that she never examined her at all. Within the same hour of the fall she emailed Willow's parents about routine scheduling and said nothing. ABC did not call. Willow was sent home in pain. The written incident report was created more than 24 hours late and contained the wrong body region, the wrong staff member, and none of the severity a double fracture would demand.
Then, more than five weeks after Willow had already left the facility — as the family asked for mediation — that same clinical lead filed a false CPS report against the family. Wrong date. Wrong staff member. Filed under her own name, with an on-its-face admission that she had no reasonable cause to suspect abuse. Filed to punish a mother for asking questions.
This is not a mistake. This is a pattern. And it is happening to other children right now.
Lens one — A corporation with skeletons in every closet
The ABA industry is unregulated at the level a child's safety demands, and ABC has built a business inside that gap
Action Behavior Centers is one of the largest ABA providers in the United States, backed by private equity (Charlesbank Capital Partners), operating across multiple states and hundreds of clinics. Applied Behavior Analysis for children of Willow's age is not regulated the way a hospital is regulated. There is no meaningful state inspection regime, no independent injury registry, no mandatory public reporting. That is the gap ABC has built a business inside. What happened to Willow is what that gap looks like when a child is inside it:
- Real-time documentation was skipped. Texas Administrative Code §448.1205 requires an incident to be documented within one hour. ABC's report was created more than 24 hours late.
- Parent notification never happened on the day of injury. ABC did not call. Willow's mother discovered the injury from Willow's condition at pickup.
- The clinical lead lied about examining the child. She claimed she had physically inspected Willow's arm at the facility. She later admitted, on tape, that she had not. A double fracture cannot pass a real hands-on exam without a reaction. There was no exam.
- Opposite-sex toileting of a four-year-old girl by a male RBT was acknowledged by ABC's own BCBA in writing hours after the injury — with no reference to the fracture that had occurred that same day.
- No leadership intervention followed. ABC's executive leadership was given repeated opportunities to resolve this privately, quietly, and honorably. They chose delay.
Other Texas families have already reported the same pattern of negligence followed by concealment inside ABC clinics. Willow's Voice exists to bring those stories into one place — and to make it impossible for ABC's leadership, its investors, its regulators, and its future customers to keep looking away.
Lens two — The same woman who lied about the exam filed the false CPS report
ABC's leadership used the calendar as a weapon — then used a child-protection agency as one
After the injury, Willow's family did what families are told to do. They asked for an explanation. They asked for the incident report. They asked for accountability. They asked for mediation. What followed was not a good-faith response. It was a coordinated strategy — executed over months, from a corporate office, against a single mother:
- Meetings, calls, and mediation dates were scheduled and then cancelled by ABC and its counsel over a period of months.
- Each cancellation reset the clock and pushed Willow further from the daily therapy she depended on.
- During those same months, Willow's mother lost her employment and the employer-provided insurance that made Willow's treatment possible.
- Willow — at a developmental age where regression can be permanent — went without the services she had waited nearly a year to receive.
Then the same person came back into the story.
More than five weeks after Willow had already exited the facility, the ABC clinical lead — the one who had told the family she examined Willow's arm and later admitted on tape that she never did — filed a CPS report against the family in her own name. Not an anonymous tip. Not from a neutral witness. From the same ABC employee whose false statement about an exam is on record. The report contained information that was not accurate:
- the wrong date of injury — October 25 instead of October 29, 2025
- the wrong RBT identified as involved
- a stated admission that the filer had no reasonable cause to suspect abuse or neglect
- described as an "abundance of caution" — filed only after the family began pressing for mediation
CPS declined to investigate and referred the matter to TDLR. The wrong information traveled with the referral. The correct information was already inside ABC's own records. The wrong information was not a mistake — it was supplied on purpose, by the same clinician who had lied about an exam, to hurt the family that was asking her employer to answer for a fractured arm.
Willow's Voice is not asking politely. This is a public accountability campaign against a corporation with skeletons in every closet — filed on behalf of one child whose future depends on it, and every other child ABC has treated as disposable.
A mother's sacrifice
She waited nearly a year for help
Willow's mother, Faith, spent months trying to obtain the specialized support her daughter needed. While Willow remained on a waiting list, Faith continued working, caring for three children, coordinating school schedules, and transporting Willow between different educational and therapeutic settings.
When a place finally became available, Faith believed the sacrifice had been worth it. She reorganized the family's schedule around the program. She managed long drives. She coordinated the needs of Willow's two older siblings. She worked to preserve the insurance coverage that made treatment possible. She trusted the adults responsible for Willow's care.
The day everything changed
Then Willow came home hurt
Willow returned from ABC exhausted, crying, and protecting her left arm. She could not use the arm normally. She communicated pain with the limited words available to her. Her family took her for emergency treatment that evening. The medical record documented bruising, swelling, tenderness, limited movement, and a fractured left forearm.
ABC did not call. ABC did not disclose. The family learned what had happened to Willow from Willow's own body.
She had been hurting for hours. No one from ABC told her family.
The cost
The injury changed the entire family
The consequences extended far beyond the fracture.
The family says Willow lost access to the daily therapy she had waited almost a year to receive. Faith could not simply return her children to their former school and care arrangements. She had to manage:
- medical treatment
- loss of therapy
- transportation changes
- school disruptions
- insurance concerns
- communications with the facility
- agency inquiries
- legal correspondence
- the needs of Willow's siblings
- the emotional effect on the household
Eventually, Faith could no longer continue working as before. The family lost income, stability, routine, and access to services at the same time.
Before this became public
She did not begin by asking for a public fight
Faith wanted an honest explanation. She wanted to know:
- Who was supervising Willow?
- When did staff learn something had happened?
- Why was the family not called?
- Why was Willow sent home in pain?
- Why was the incident not fully documented at the time?
- Why did later explanations keep changing?
Faith repeatedly sought private resolution and mediation. ABC and its counsel scheduled meetings and then cancelled them. Weeks became months. Willow went without therapy. Then ABC filed a CPS report containing information that did not match its own records — and did so only after the family kept pressing.
Purpose
Why Willow's Voice exists
Willow could not fully explain what happened. Her family will not stop telling her story. This campaign exists to:
- present the documented record
- protect Willow's dignity
- support her recovery
- help restore access to therapy and education
- advocate for safer treatment settings
- encourage accurate incident reporting
- support other families who have experienced similar concerns