Senator Walley’s Immunity Bill Shrouded With Conflict Of Interest (Op-Ed By Connie Reguli, J.D.)

While this legislation noticeably only covers “nonprofit” service contractors, the previous article drew attention to the for-profit StepStone continuum care provider (aka Alternative Youth Services). From the end-user, consumer perspective, it makes no difference.  There is nothing about the process of foster care and institutionalization of children that distinguishes between the two.  So why insulate non-profits as opposed to ALL DCS contract providers?  Surely, the distinction as proposed would encourage providers to shift their corporate structure to a not-for-profit entity so that they enjoy this protection from liability.  

What can be said is that the top foster care vendor, Youth Villages ($155 million a year), operates as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation.  Operating “not-for-profit”, of course, does not mean that these organizations do not make a profit or that they do not acquire substantial assets, including investments and real estate.  

Youth Villages (YV), for instance, has acquired $317 million on assets off the backs of vulnerable children and enjoys a revenue of $412 million a year.  The revenue generated by YV comes from tax payers, state contracts, federal grants, federal benefits, and medicaid.  A mere $4 million is recorded as donations.  

All children in the care or continuum of Youth Villages, Inc., the state’s largest provider, would be denied the right to sue for injuries, assaults, or lack of care provided by YV upon the passage of Senator Walley’s bill.  

The second largest vendor for foster care is Omni Visions, Inc. ($51 million).  While Omni Visions, Inc. is registered in Tennessee as a for-profit corporation, a host of break-aways organizations have a close relationship with state leadership and enjoy their own separate contracts, such as Omni Community Health, Omni Community Services, Omni Family Institute, Omni Family Foundation, Omni Services, and Omni Family of Services.

Just how close is the Omni bouquet of contract services to Tennessee leadership?  Omni Visions was created by Jim Henry from East Tennessee who served as a State House Representative from 2011 to 2013.  In 2013, Governor Haslam named Henry as Commissioner of the Department of Children’s Services.  At the time that he was appointed as DCS commissioner with a state salary of $180,000, Omni Visions, Inc. received $44,717,921 for contract services from DCS.  

In 2015, after the media exposed his conflict of interest, Henry left that office taking a position as the governor’s chief of staff taking a substantial pay cut in his salary.  Although it is unclear where he went after Governor Bill Lee took office in 2019, the Tennessee salary search shows that a “James Henry” is employed as a disability claims referee making over $6,000 a month.  

Omni, however, continued to evolve and grow with $52 million in revenue from DCS in 2025.  

In 2018, the non-profit Omni Family Foundation (OFF) was born and was quickly purchasing single family homes all over the state of Tennessee. Twelve homes were purchased in Davidson County and other properties have been located in Shelby and Madison Counties.  By 2022, Omni Family Foundation had its first contract with the State of Tennessee for twenty-seven thousand dollars.  By the 2025 fiscal year, the contract revenue had grown to $501,741.   

The purpose of Omni Family Foundations became clear in 2022 when Senators Page Walley, Ed Jackson, Sarah Kyle, and London Lamar participated in the celebration that Omni Family Foundation, Inc. had been awarded a competitive contract to provide housing for youth aging-out of foster care.  The headline picture above shows the senators receiving the check for $239 thousand.  The public release stated that Omni would acquire sixteen units in Memphis and Jackson with funding through the THDA’s (Tennessee Housing and Development) single family mortgage program.  

Children “aging-out” of foster care continue to receive tax-payer funded benefits through the federal Chaffee program, which is resourced through DCS.  Children “aging-out” means they have been made “legal orphans” by state action and all family connections have been terminated through legal process.  Through federal and state funding these young adults have their own unique poverty/welfare program with allotments, educational grants, complete medical coverage, and housing subsidies until they reach 24 years of age.  

Omni Family Foundation will be a benefactor of Senator Walley’s proposed legislation and OFF will be shielded from lawsuits.  Now, OFF has changed its name to “I Am Next, Inc.”  According to Dunn & Bradstreet, Page Walley is the executive director of “I Am Next, Inc.”  And the address for the organization of 301 Perimeter Park Drive, is the same address for the “for-profit”, DCS contractor “Omni Visions”.  “I Am Next, Inc.” is shown to have $952 thousand in revenue and $9 million in assets. 

Who are some of the other “non-profit” contractors with DCS that would benefit from this legislation? 

Smoky Mountain Children’s Home receives $7 million a year from DCS and has $6 million in assets.  

Harmony Family Center, Inc. receives $6 million a year from DCS and has assets of $6 million.  

Helen Ross McNabb Center, Inc. receives $9 million a year from DCS and has $92 million in assets.  

Evergreen Presbyterian Ministries, Inc. receives $7 million a year from DCS and has $36 million in assets.  

There are many more. But since there is no transparency on the individual contractors  providing services for our most vulnerable children, the public is not aware.  The operation of DCS is an industry of which our children are the commodity. Daniel Hatcher’s book, Injustice, Inc., dives deep into the scope of child profiteering for those who want to know.  Tennessee’s deep and mysterious web of contractors with access to our children is no exception. 

While this proposed legislation purports to provide protection to children by requiring background checks every five years and undefined ambiguous training requirements, the public should not assume all is well.  

Any vendor/contractor who seeks to serve the children of Tennessee also should be prepared to face financial loss and liability for injuries caused by the acts of omissions of their employees, volunteers and caretakers.  

Good governance requires transparency, accountability, and oversight.  While it is noble that Senator Walley has an interest in services for children in this state, his relationship with Omni has not been disclosed.  This bill should be withdrawn for conflict of interest and because it poses a direct disservice to the children of Tennessee. 

This bill should be rejected. 

Say NO to HB 1987 / SB 1470.

Contact the sponsors: 

Tim Hicks 615-741-1717 / rep.tim.hicks@capitol.tn.gov 

Page Walley 615-741-2368 /  sen.page.walley@capitol.tn.gov 

The bill in the Senate has been assigned to the Judiciary.  

The members are listed here.  

Todd Gardenhire 615-741-6682 / sen.todd.gardenhire@capitol.tn.gov 

Kerry Roberts 615-741-4499 / sen.kerry.roberts@capitol.tn.gov 

Paul Rose 615-741-1967 / sen.paul.rose@capitol.tn.gov 

Bobby Harshbarger 615-741-5761 / sen.bobby.harshbarger@capitol.tn.gov 

Sara Kyle 615-741-4167 / sen.sara.kyle@capitol.tn.gov 

London Lamar 615-741-2509 / sen.london.lamar@capitol.tn.gov 

John Stevens 615-741-4576 / sen.john.stevens@capitol.tn.gov 

Brent Taylor 615-741-3036 / sen.brent.taylor@capitol.tn.gov 

Dawn White 615-741-6853 / sen.dawn.white@capitol.tn.gov 

Connie Reguli J.D. is a former family and juvenile law attorney and political activist for child welfare reform.  

She organized the Family Forward Project through social media and has 27,000 families nationwide working towards reform.  She can be contacted at connie.familyforward@gmail.com or through Facebook messenger.