Wordsworth Academy and its Wordsworth CUA 5 and Wordsworth CUA 10 affiliates filed Chapter 11 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 30, 2017. The petition identified the case as a non-individual Chapter 11 and listed major unsecured creditors including A Second Chance at $1.74 million, List Associates at $723,924, Child First Services at $643,107, George Junior Republic at $623,223, and Catholic Social Services at $565,696 source filing.

The filing followed an October 2016 resident death during a staff restraint at the Ford Road residential facility, which led Wordsworth to close that facility, replace senior management, and face wrongful-death and other personal-injury claims. Donald Stewart, acting CEO and CFO, described a nonprofit founded in 1952 that served more than 5,600 children and families in 2016, had 817 employees, and operated on a $77.88 million budget. The restructuring posture was operational, not a liquidation: Wordsworth sought to preserve viable education, behavioral-health, and child-welfare programs while addressing a roughly $4.7 million M&T Bank term loan and implementing an affiliation with PHMC and Turning Points for Children source filing.