6-year-old autistic child was physically abused by therapist, North Texas parents say
A North Texas couple said their family’s lives have not been the same since their 6-year-old daughter, who has autism, was abused at a behavioral therapy center.
Jessi-Marie and Chase Safro filed a lawsuit Dec. 10 against ABA Interactive, accusing the center of gross negligence and trying to cover up the physical abuse. The parents are demanding a jury trial and seeking over $1 million in damages.
This is the second lawsuit brought by families who have accused the facility in North Richland Hills of child abuse.
The Safros’ lawsuit claims that the center failed to supervise its employees properly and allowed children under its care to be physically assaulted.
The lawsuit comes after Ashley Moreno, an employee of ABA Interactive, was arrested in August. Moreno was accused of throwing another autistic child against a wall in June, in an attack that was captured on video, according to another lawsuit. The parents of that child filed their civil suit in August.
Moreno faces a felony charge of second-degree injury to a child in connection to the first case.
ABA Interactive, at 8225 Mid Cities Blvd. in North Richland Hills, closed after owner Kiara Henry was arrested on a charge of failure to report the abuse.
Both women have been released on bond and await court dates, records show. Criminal defense attorneys for both Henry and Moreno did not respond to the Star-Telegram’s request for comments.
A North Richland Hills police spokesperson said there is an open investigation into the alleged abuse of the Safros’ daughter.
An attorney representing ABA Interactive has not yet filed an answer to the Safros’ civil suit, but has filed a response to the August suit denying the allegations in that case.
Child’s behavior changed when abuse began, parents say
The mid-afternoon sun shone on Jessi and Chase Safro’s faces as they sat at their attorney’s office last week. Their voices broke with emotion as they shared their story with Star-Telegram.
Their 6-year-old daughter, referred to as H.S. in the lawsuit, is a “sweetheart,” mother Jessi said. The youngest of three children, she loves Minecraft, her favorite color is pink, and she adores her brother and sister.
“She was 3 when she got officially diagnosed with autism level two,” Jessi said.
Jessi and Chase wanted to find the best care for their special-needs daughter.
The 6-year-old was referred to ABA therapy in February 2022, after being diagnosed with auditory learning delays and communication delays, Jessi said.
ABA interactive was one of the first options to pop up when they were searching online for facilities near their house and the center had good reviews, Jessi said.
The couple’s daughter was enrolled there from July 2022 to July 2024.
“It was good in the beginning — she did make progress,” Jessi said. “We did see some positives up until the last six months there.”
Their daughter initially thrived under the care of a therapist, Jessi said. But that therapist left ABA Interactive around November 2023, and things drastically changed, the mother said. The 6-year-old went from looking forward to going to therapy, to hiding under the bed to avoid going, Jessi and the family’s attorney said.
“She never had a history of self-injurious behaviors or aggression towards others,” Jessi said.
But after Moreno became the girl’s main therapist, the parents noticed some behavior changes, Jessi said.
Jessi could not hold her tears back and said, “She started to get aggressive, she got angry, she started hitting her brother a lot when he would upset her — she never did that before.”
Jessi said that she and her husband had multiple conversations about withdrawing their daughter early based on the behavior changes. But they assumed she was just tired of going to therapy or wanted to be at home because her brother and sister were out of school for summer, she said.
“We never thought something like this could be going on,” Jessi said.
In July, “Every parent’s worst nightmare became their reality,” the lawsuit reads.
An employee of ABA contacted Jessie to express his concerns for their daughter’s safety and to notify the parents about the physical abuse, according to the lawsuit.
The employee had communicated to ABA’s owner, Henry, but was ignored and the abuse was “swept under the rug,” Jessi and the family’s attorney said.
When the parents arrived at the center to withdraw their daughter from the program, the facility was surrounded by police vehicles, Jessi said.
The couple said they were notified by law enforcement that an ABA employee had physically abused their daughter.
“I had a conversation with my daughter, because in the past about eight months, she’s had a lot of growth in her communication,” Jessi said.
“She told me that Ashley hit her. She specified it happened in a red room,” Jessi said. “I don’t know if she could have fixated on a color in that room. She also told me she saw Ashley hit another kid.”
Jessi recalled one time when there was a small bruise on her daughter’s back. “It was round, probably about the size of a thumbprint.” The girl would sometimes throw herself on the ground, so the mother had assumed that it was something along those lines.
Jessi said their daughter has opened up more since they withdrew her from the ABA center.
“I want neither one of them to ever work with kids again,” Jessi said. “I want them held accountable for their actions and justice for her and young victims.”
Toward the end of the conversation Jessi rested her head on Chase’s shoulder and said, “I don’t know what the future looks like for her as far as how this will affect her long term. We are in the process of getting her into therapy to deal with what she went through.”
“I want to get her back into the therapies that she needs — it’s just gonna take time,” Chase said.
Attorney Ty Stimpson of Varghese Summersett law firm is representing the Safro family.
“Any early childhood development is important for all children of all ages, but it’s even more important when you’re working with children with autism and other special education needs, and so by allowing this to happen, it stunts that development or hinders that development, and this all could have been avoided if they continue to put children first and not profits,” Stimpson said.
Stimpson said the Safro family is like any other family that’s loving, protective and supporting, and they want the best for their children.
“We hope to achieve justice for the Safro family and to make sure that Kiara can never own any type of facility, and that Ashley can never work with children,” he said.