There are eerily similar circumstances between these two facilities that committed acts that resulted in the deaths of two very young children. Parents should be keenly aware that the vast majority of camps that harm children follow an eerily similar script to prevent families from obtaining the answers they so desperately seek by shutting down communications and driving misleading public relations campaigns. Years of researching camp harm shows that camps that harm kids do all they can to bury facts and deflect accountability to protect their bottom line.

Yoni Gottesman attended a private summer camp at Cathedral Oaks Athletic Club in greater Santa Barbara, California, August of 2005. Roxie Forbes attended a private summer camp named Summerkids in Altadena, California, June of 2019. Summerkids was founded by two parents who are former Pasadena City College teachers. Their daughter, a former Los Angles Times reporter, became Camp Director in 2014.

Yoni’s camp allegedly gave him a swim test, determined he was not a fully capable swimmer and relegated him to hold on to the side of the pool. Roxie’s camp allegedly gave her a swim test and determined she was a non-swimmer and relegated her to the steps area of their small pool. Both swim tests were deeply flawed, according to experts and court documents.

Both camps claimed their pool facility was safe.

Both camps claimed they had well-trained lifeguards. Summerkids Camp fraudulently certified its counselors as lifeguards, according to court documents, trial transcripts, exhibits, experts and admissions from staff. The American Red Cross chhief legal counsel determined that Summerkids camp operators did not provide legitimate lifeguard training, despite putting children as young as three in their pool for decades, according to additional documents that we provided.

Both children died cruel, wholly preventable drownings. Both lawsuits claimed the drownings were due to grossly negligent acts by camp owner-operators.

Both facilities remained open after these children died in their pools.

Both facilities retained their employees involved in the deaths.

Camp counselors ignored Yoni drowning for at least eight minutes. Fake lifeguards at Summerkids neglected Roxie drowning and floating dead for no fewer than five minutes, according to multiple experts and admissions from staff.

Counselors from both camps administered severely flawed rescue and CPR efforts, according to multiple experts, medical personnel, court documents, trial transcripts and exhibits.

Both camps delayed calling 911 according to records provided by first responders.

After both drowning deaths, the State of California Department of Social Services investigated the camps.

According to Yoni’s family attorney, the facility “knowingly took shortcuts, failed to properly train staff, and utterly ignored the need to implement basic safety protocols.”

Roxie’s father investigated the camp-owning family for five years during his graduate studies program in journalism at Harvard. He unearthed an abundance of documents, transcripts, exhibits and attestations from former staffers that illustrated how the family lied to thousands of parents about training, certifications and the cause of Roxie’s death. These lies were acknowledged during trial.

Yoni’s facility director aggressively attempted to cover up the facts and shift the blame to his own employees.

The Summerkids director-owner immediately, aggressively attempted to cover up the facts and shift the blame to Roxie herself, according to her claims in court documents. She wrote a series of erroneous emails to her large database about how Roxie died. She admitted at trial that she intentionally and immediately removed Roxie’s parents Doug and Elena from all communication with no explanation or permission so they could not get the answers they desperately wanted. She also admitted that she misled major media that Doug and Elena demanded their privacy when all they wanted were answers. And, she did all of this while withholding their $3,000+ camp tuition. All of these allegations are supported by court documents, trial transcripts, exhibits and admissions.

Summerkids camp counselors have admitted to neglecting Roxie and to holding fraudulent lifeguard certifications. The camp family, primarily the camp director and her father admitted at trial that they were “ultimately responsible” for a scheme that certified counselors as lifeguards and water safety instructors without required Red Cross training or any testing. Invoices introduced at trial prove they pocketed extra money that should have been spent on following proper Red Cross protocols.

Both facilities withheld vital information related to the preventable drownings that occurred. Judges in both cases agreed to allow Plaintiffs in both cases to pursue charges of gross negligence at trial, including the claim of fraud related to Summerkids owner-operators.

Yoni’s facility failed to turn over the video of the drowning. Roxie’s facility has withheld numerous documents, including a non-disclosure agreement that apparently demanded the silence of one minor counselor responsible for neglecting Roxie to death, according to the counselor herself. Summerkids’ owner-father apparently demanded that the minor sign the NDA without her parents present, according to the counselors’ admissions.

Yoni’s facility baselessly tried to disqualify his parents’ attorney.

The defense attorneys for Roxie’s camp repeatedly attempted to muzzle the Forbes family. They threatened Roxie’s mother Elena’s law career in a shocking, publicly available letter. They deployed another shocking publicly available letter and email that threatened Doug’s advocacy websites and efforts in admitted attempts to silence him related to what he dsicovered about the circumstances of Roxie’s agonizing death, including how they ignored regulations.

Numerous persons previously associated with camp’s operation have provided accounts of the camp-owning family’s intimidating, disturbing pattern of behavior over many years. These emails and phone call notes are also publicly available upon request.

Soon after Yoni’s death, the facility changed management.

Soon after Roxie’s death, Summerkids’ former assistant director quit after a decade. The Summerkids director hired a replacement with no camp experience. Her LinkedIn recruitment ad for the job not-so-subtly shifted blame toward the former assistant camp director and away from herself.

Other wholly preventable safety incidents occurred at Yoni’s facility and the sister facility.

Other preventable safety incidents occurred at Summerkids, according to public information requests and admissions, including a very serious child injury only weeks after Roxie’s death. The camp director-owner, however, said to media that Roxie’s death was the only serious safety incident in their history. One preventable, traumatic death or incident of camp harm should not be acceptable to any parent. Summerkids sent at least eight children to the hospital during a span of roughly 5 years, according to EMS reports and admissions.