BUTTE - Minors taken into protective custody after they were
removed from a wilderness therapy camp were picked up by parents or
guardians this week, state officials said. Shirley Tiernan, training
bureau chief for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human
Services, said the last of the teens headed home Thursday."Our big concern
was making sure that the children were safe, getting them to their parents
and guardians. We have done that as of today," Tiernan said. The teens
were enrolled in the Utah-based High Peaks Wilderness Program, which was
shut down by Utah officials on July 30. A landowner in Ramsay called
authorities last week after he noticed the teens camping in cold and rain
for several days with only makeshift shelter. Social workers who visited
the group last week reported that the teens had very limited food, some of
which had spoiled. Most of the kids also did not have proper clothing for
the weather, Tiernan said. Tiernan said the kids were "cold and dirty,"
but appeared unhurt. They were taken into protective custody on Friday.