Alliance business owners sell to Sequel

COEUR d'ALENE - The owners and operators of Alliance Family Services North Inc. sold their business to Alabama-based Sequel Youth and Family Services.

Alliance offers outpatient psychiatric services, mental health therapy, chemical dependency treatment, and care for developmentally disabled children and adults.

Alliance has offices in Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint, Kellogg, St. Maries, Bonners Ferry, Priest River, Moscow, Lewiston and three offices in Nevada, with a total of 265 employees.

Sequel operates in 17 states with a total of 3,000 employees, and has a corporate office in Huntsville.

Sequel is a privately owned company operating programs for people with behavioral, emotional and physical challenges. Sequel offers inpatient services.

The acquisition was completed March 1.

Alliance's now-former owners, Tracey and Fred Lange, will stay on and work as executive directors, said Fred Lange.

The Langes started Alliance in June 2000.

"We just really could not have done it without our fantastic employees and managers," Lange said. "It has been our great pleasure to work with them the past 15 years. We certainly hope the success continues."

The Langes worked with kids in residential programs prior to starting Alliance. He was a teacher and she was a counselor.

"We would see kids make progress in residential programs, then see them go home and revert back to the same behaviors that got them in trouble in the first place," he said.

The Langes, who are Sandpoint residents, have been looking for a buyer for a few years, he said.

"(New ownership) is going to offer our employees more in the way of benefits," he said. There will also be more opportunity for Alliance employees to advance into management, he said.

Sequel has promised continuity, he said.

"They reassured us they don't plan on making major changes to the business," he said.

The combined businesses will be called Sequel Alliance Family Services LLC, Lange said.

The Langes will maintain AFS Home Health, a home health-care business that serves the geriatric population in Idaho.