DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – Attorney Michael Jaafar confirmed to The Investigators on Local 4 Thursday that his firm has launched an investigation into what he called “disturbing allegations” from former residents of Vista Maria, a youth residential facility in Dearborn Heights, and said his firm plans to file suit.
“We’ve begun investigating disturbing allegations from former residents of Vista Maria that sound more like a real-life Hunger Games than a place meant to protect children.
Several survivors have now retained our firm, and we anticipate filing suit.
Next week, we’ll hold a press conference to address this investigation, and to give these young women their voices back.”
Attorney Michael Jaafar
The announcement follows what Vista Maria described as a major organizational shift, one affecting nearly a dozen girls and more than 100 employees.
The facility recently announced it is “making a thoughtful shift in how we serve Michigan’s youth by ending residential youth mental health programming,” transferring the remaining 11 girls in its care to other facilities by December.
For some, the changes are long overdue.
“I was excited they’re actually being paid attention to now. And being held accountable,” said Trisha Wade, whose teenage loved one, a trafficking survivor, ran from Vista Maria and was later found staying with a 62-year-old man. “I was frustrated that it took so long.”
The Investigators on Local 4 found that Dearborn Heights police were called to Vista Maria’s campus 368 times in a single year.
State reports reviewed by Local 4 revealed food and training violations, allegations of threats and verbal abuse, and reports of inappropriate relationships between staff and residents.
“I feel like I’ve been screaming about this place for years, and I haven’t been heard,” said Janene Tague, a former resident. “I know we are one step closer to unsilencing voices that have been silenced for decades, one step closer to justice, and one step closer to healing.”
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services temporarily suspended new placements at Vista Maria from April through July of 2025.
During that period, 33 girls were discharged from the facility.
“Reading those allegations kills us, and that’s why you’ve seen a lot of terminations coming out of Vista Maria, because safety is sacred to us,” said Kathy Regan, CEO of Vista Maria, in August of 2025.
The facility and the state said they used the suspension period “to assess progress and develop a re-admission plan.”
“I feel like we are so prepared now,” Regan said back in August. “We know what we need to do. We are not taking more kids until we have the right staff at the right time in the right buildings, period.”
Some issues raised at Vista Maria mirror challenges seen across Michigan youth facilities.
Dan Gowdy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wedgwood Christian Services in Grand Rapids, testified alongside others in May of 2025 at a Michigan House of Representatives joint oversight Subcommittee on Public Health and Food Security and Child Welfare System in Lansing.
Gowdy referenced spikes in issues like self-injury, assault, property damage, ambulance, and police calls at Wedgwood in the last year.
“Police contact has soared 457%; this is unsustainable from our perspective,” Gowdy said.
But some former residents and employees told Local 4 they believe Vista Maria could have and should have done more.
“Mental health is on the rise in our youth,” one former employee said. “Vista Maria was capable of providing those resources if they would have focused on their youth and not the dollar signs.”
“I want to see [the girls] get justice for what they’ve been through,” said Wade.
What does justice look like?
Some former residents and employees say they want the facility shut down completely. Others are calling for accountability at the state level.