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Abuse History No Bar to For-Profit Teen Biz: Arrest Probably Won’t End It, Either

By Maia Szalavitz

Admitting to pepper-spraying a teenager “more than two times a day” as a means of discipline might be seen by some as a bar to opening and operating a school for troubled children. Conceding, on videotape that “from somebody on the outside looking in, I would say it would be abusive,” seems even less likely to make you a winner in this area.

And in fact, when Randall Hinton, who made those admissions in a French documentary, sought to buy a military school in Missouri and use it as a facility for “troubled teens,” these and other accounts of abuseprompted the school’s owners to reject his plan.

That didn’t stop Hinton and his associates from the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP or WWASPS) from trying again in Colorado– where they founded the Royal Gorge Academy in Canon City in 2006 (also known as Royal Peak Academy).

Now Hinton has been arrested on charges of “false imprisonment,” with claims that he made a teenage girl lie on the floor for six hours, injured her wrists and denied her medical attention. According to a local television station, a Royal Gorge employee told police that Hinton also slammed a boy’s face into the floor until he bled.

Of course, at his previous place of employment, the WWASP-linked facility Tranquility Bay in Jamaica, six hours of lying on the floor is a minor sanction. The owner of that school claimed that the “record” time his program made a child lie on the floor during waking hours was 18 months in an interview with the British paper, The Observer.

Tranquility Bay is also notorious for assaults by staff on students– one filed a lawsuit after a restraint resulted in a broken jaw. In that case as well, medical attention was withheld from the victim. The program is still open.

A man involved in the operation of a WWASP-affiliated Mexican program that sent teens to a off-campus site that kept them in outdoor dog cages now operates a WWASP-linked facility in upstate New York, known as Academy at Ivy Ridge.

Recently, an Ivy Ridge employee was fired for forcing two teenage girls into oral sex and New York state made the same facility to return some $2 million to parents because it had falsely claimed to be an accredited state high school. In late 2006, the state denied its application to be accredited and noted health and safety problems with training, students disciplining other students, restraint and denial of bathroom access.

The man who runs WWASP’s MidWest Academy, formerly headed their program in Samoa. That one was shut down following a U.S. State Department-led investigation which found “credible allegations of physical abuse” including “beatings, isolation, food and water deprivation, choke-holds, kicking, punching, bondage, spraying with chemical agents, forced medication, [and] verbal abuse.” Mexico has shuttered three WWASP-linked programs, Costa Rica one and the Czech Republic, another.

But here in the U.S., it’s business as usual in upstate New York, South Carolina, Iowa, and Utah– and Americans can still send their kids to Jamaica’s Tranquility Bay. Why is this organization and its employees allowed to operate facilities for vulnerable and disturbed children in 21st century America– and when will the federal government finally step in to stop them, once and for all?

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Knee deep : Lawsuits mount against Spring Creek Lodge

Spring Creek Main Page (click here)
WWASPS Lawsuits (click here)
Amended Complaint (click here)

by John S. Adams
November 23, 2006

On Oct. 7, 2004, just days before her 17th birthday, Karlye Anne Newman slipped into a bathroom at Spring Creek Lodge Academy—a behavior modification boarding school outside Thompson Falls—and hanged herself in a stall with her sweatshirt.

The Sanders County Sheriff’s Department investigated Newman’s death, found no signs of foul play, and ruled it a suicide.

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) also investigated Newman’s death. As a result of that investigation, a Montana PBS documentary recently revealed, DPHHS filed a child abuse and neglect complaint against Cameron and Chaffin Pullan, the twin brothers who own and operate Spring Creek Lodge. The case was ultimately dismissed, and due to a state law designed to protect juvenile victims of abuse, it remains sealed from public scrutiny. As a result, few details about DPHHS’ investigation or the facts surrounding Newman’s death have been revealed to the public.

Some of those facts may soon surface in court now that Karlye’s mother, Judith Newman, has filed a lawsuit against Spring Creek Lodge and the Pullans. Filed Nov. 6, the complaint alleges wrongful death, negligence, breach of contract and fraud on behalf of the school and its directors. It’s the third in a string of lawsuits filed this year naming Spring Creek Lodge as a defendant.

In March, former Spring Creek Lodge student Jonathan Herrick filed a lawsuit in Sanders County District Court alleging negligence and breach of contract by Spring Creek Lodge. Herrick’s suit claims Spring Creek’s inadequate staffing and oversight policies led to repeated physical and psychological assaults against him during the time he was a student there. The five-page complaint doesn’t detail the alleged abuses, other than to say that Herrick “suffered serious physical, mental and emotional injuries” while at Spring Creek. Polson attorney James Manley, lead counsel on both the Herrick and Newman lawsuits, declined to comment specifically on either case.

Additionally, in October Spring Creek was added to a long list of defendants in a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Utah. That suit alleges negligence, fraud, breach of contract, battery, assault, false imprisonment and racketeering violations—among others—on behalf of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (widely known as WWASPS) and its associated programs, which until June included Spring Creek Lodge. The 36-page complaint currently lists 27 plaintiffs, though Dallas, Texas attorney Windle Turley said he expects to add “many more” to the suit in the coming months. Turley said he couldn’t comment on which of the complaint’s allegations pertain specifically to Spring Creek Lodge.

At press time the two Montana lawsuits had not yet been served. Spring Creek Program Director Mike Chism said Nov. 20 that Spring Creek officials weren’t aware of them and thus declined to comment. As for the Utah suit, Chism said, three plaintiffs are former Spring Creek students, though he declined to identify which three. He also said the three students had been enrolled in other WWASPS programs either prior to, or after leaving, Spring Creek.

“The lawsuit is really vague,” Chism said, noting that the complaint doesn’t specify whether any of the alleged crimes were supposed to have occurred at Spring Creek.

The Newman lawsuit, however, is more specific, and mirrors many of the allegations DPHHS initially made against the Pullans, as reported by Montana PBS.

According to the Newman lawsuit, Spring Creek’s program “was not designed or operated to provide quality or even adequate care” and the defendants “planned and operated Spring Creek Lodge Academy in such a manner that physical, educational, mental or emotional harm was consistently and foreseeably caused to the children at Spring Creek, including Karlye Newman.”

Karlye’s mother alleges that Spring Creek staff concealed the fact that Karlye was not progressing well in the program and that she had deteriorated physically, mentally and emotionally in the months she was enrolled at Spring Creek. Judith claims her daughter expressed “self loathing, hatred of her life there, depression and despair,” and that Karlye made repeated statements that she was going to kill herself, but that those statements were ignored by Spring Creek staff.

According to the Montana PBS documentary “Who’s Watching the Kids,” (which can be viewed online at http://www.montanapbs.org/WhosWatchingTheKids), DPHHS charged that Cameron and Chaffin Pullan, as officials of the school, neglected Karlye when she became suicidal by not providing her adequate therapy. “Who’s Watching the Kids?” also reported that DPHHS alleged that Spring Creek employees placed Karlye in solitary confinement for periods of hours, sometimes days, “damaging her mentally.” Finally, according to the documentary, the department alleged that Spring Creek’s method for keeping track of students was inadequate in that it left Karlye alone long enough to commit suicide.

A DPHHS hearings examiner initially dismissed the department’s complaint on the basis that 1) DPPHS lacked the legal authority to regulate the school; for that reason, the department can’t declare Spring Creek’s rules and regulations inadequate, and 2) the examiner didn’t believe DPHHS could prove its allegations of abuse and neglect. A district court judge upheld the hearings examiner’s ruling, and DPHHS appealed to the Montana Supreme Court before ultimately withdrawing the administrative charges.

In a statement issued by the school following Karlye Newman’s death, Spring Creek officials claimed that “SCLA [Spring Creek Lodge Academy] was acutely aware of the girl’s fragility and had placed her on ‘high risk’ observation. After showing signs of improvement, the 16-year-old student was recently removed from high risk after consultation with the student’s counselor, the assistant clinical director and four staff members who had worked closely with her.”

But Judith Newman claims the staff never sought or conducted a competent suicide evaluation for Karlye and then failed to take appropriate steps to monitor, supervise and protect the teen.

According to the complaint, Karlye was missing for more than an hour before she was discovered hanging in the bathroom.

“Defendants made no attempt to look for her, or otherwise protect her,” the complaint states. “When a staff member found Karlye hanging, the untrained and unqualified staff member ran out in panic. Defendants failed to provide immediate and necessary aid which might have saved Karlye’s life.”

Manley said he expects the Herrick and Newman lawsuits to go to trial sometime next year. Turley says it could be years before the Utah lawsuit goes to a jury trial.

jadams@missoulanews.com

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Romney, Torture, and Teens
The former governor’s connections to abusive “tough love” camps

By Maia Szalavitz | June 27, 2007

Article quoted from Reason.com

When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he’d support doubling the size of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, he was trying to show voters that he’d be tough on terror. Two of his top fundraisers, however, have long supported using tactics that have been likened to torture for troubled teenagers.

As The Hill noted last week, 133 plaintiffs filed a civil suit against Romney’s Utah finance co-chair, Robert Lichfield, and his various business entities involved in residential treatment programs for adolescents. The umbrella group for his organization is the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS, sometimes known as WWASP) and Lichfield is its founder and is on its board of directors.

The suit alleges that teens were locked in outdoor dog cages, exercised to exhaustion, deprived of food and sleep, exposed to extreme temperatures without adequate clothing or water, severely beaten, emotionally brutalized, and sexually abused and humiliated. Some were even made to eat their own vomit.

But the link to teen abuse goes far higher up in the Romney campaign. Romney’s national finance co-chair is a man named Mel Sembler. A long time friend of the Bushes, Sembler was campaign finance chair for the Republican party during the first election of George W. Bush, and a major fundraiser for his father.

Like Lichfield, Sembler also founded a nationwide network of treatment programs for troubled youth. Known as Straight Inc., from 1976 to 1993, it variously operated nine programs in seven states. At all of Straight’s facilities, state investigators and/or civil lawsuits documented scores of abuses including teens being beaten, deprived of food and sleep for days, restrained by fellow youth for hours, bound, sexually humiliated, abused and spat upon.

According to the L.A. Times, California investigators said that at Straight teens were “subjected to unusual punishment, infliction of pain, humiliation, intimidation, ridicule, coercion, threats, mental abuse… and interference with daily living functions such as eating, sleeping and toileting.”

Through a spokesperson, Lichfield has dismissed the similar charges against WWASPS to The Hill as “ludicrous,” claiming that the teens who sued “have a long history of lying, fabricating and twisting the story around to their own benefit.”

Straight would use virtually identical language in its denials: In the 1990 L.A. Times article cited above, a Straight counselor downplayed the California investigators’ report by saying, “Some kids get very upset and lie and some parents believe them.” Both Straight and WWASPS have repeatedly called their teen participants “liars” and “manipulators” who oppose the programs because they want to continue taking drugs or engage in other bad behavior.

Curiously, however, both programs regularly admitted teens who did not actually have serious problems. In 1982, 18-year-old Fred Collins, a Virginia Tech student with excellent grades, went to visit his brother, who was in treatment for a drug problem at Straight in Orlando, Florida.

A counselor determined that he was high on marijuana because his eyes were red (this would later turn out to have been due to swimming in a pool with contacts on). He did admit to occasional marijuana use, but insisted he was not high at the time, nor was he an addict. Nonetheless, he was barraged with hours of humiliating questions, strip-searched, and held against his will for months until he managed to escape.

He won $220,000 in a lawsuit he filed against the program for false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, and battery. Ultimately, Straight would pay out millions in settlements before it finally closed. However, to this day, there are at least eight programs operating that use Straight’s methods, often in former Straight buildings operated by former Straight staff. They include: Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center (Canada), Pathway Family Center (Michigan, Indiana, Ohio), Growing Together (Florida), Possibilities Unlimited (Kentucky), SAFE (Florida), and Phoenix Institute for Adolescents (Georgia).

Sembler has never admitted to the problems with Straight’s methods. In fact, when he recently served as Ambassador to Italy, he listed it among his accomplishments on his official State Department profile. Although all of the programs with the Straight name are closed, the nonprofit Straight Foundation that funded them still exists, though under a different name. It’s now called the Drug Free America Foundation, and it lobbies for drug testing and in support of tougher policies in the war on drugs.

One of the plaintiffs in the current case against WWASPS, 21-year-old Chelsea Filer, spoke to me when I was researching a TV segment on the industry. She told me that she was forced to walk for miles on a track in scorching desert heat with a 35-pound sandbag on her back. “You were not allowed to scratch your face, move your fingers, lick your lips, move your eyes from the ground,” she said. When she asked for a chapstick, “They put a piece of wood in my mouth and I had to hold it there for two weeks. I was bleeding on my tongue.”

Why was Filer subject to such punishment? “I had less interest in school and more interest in boys and my mom was worried about me,” she says, explaining that her mother believed that the program was nothing more than a strict boarding school.

Because she has attention deficit disorder, Filer was unable to consistently follow the exacting rules, and repeated small violations were seen as ongoing defiance. “It broke my heart that my mom had no belief in me,” she says, describing how, because WWASPS had told her mother to dismiss complaints as “manipulation,” her mother ignored her pleas to come home.

“I’m not a bad kid,” she continued, “I never used drugs, I was never in trouble, I have no criminal record. I know my mom was worried about me—but so many times I told her that this is too much. I would gladly have gone to prison instead.”

WWASPS is linked with facilities Academy at Ivy Ridge (New York), Carolina Springs Academy (South Carolina), Cross Creek Programs (Utah), Darrington Academy (Georgia), Horizon Academy (Nevada), Majestic Ranch Academy (Utah), MidWest Academy (Iowa), Respect Camp (Mississippi), Royal Gorge Academy (Colorado), Spring Creek Lodge (Montana), and Tranquility Bay (Jamaica).

Although it has settled several lawsuits out of court, the organization has never publicly admitted wrong-doing. However, the U.S. State Department spurred Samoa to investigate its Paradise Cove program in 1998 after receiving “credible allegations of physical abuse,” including “beatings, isolation, food and water deprivation, choke-holds, kicking, punching, bondage, spraying with chemical agents, forced medication, verbal abuse and threats of further physical abuse.” Paradise Cove closed shortly thereafter. That same year, the Czech Republic forced the closure of WWASP-linked Morava Academy following employees’ allegations that teens were being abused.

The former director of the Dundee Ranch Academy Program in Costa Rica went to local authorities after seeing medical neglect and other severe abuse, although human rights abuse charges were ultimately dropped against the owner, Robert Lichfield’s brother Narvin. That program closed in 2003.

Police in Mexico have shut down three WWASP-linked facilities: Sunrise Beach (1996), Casa By The Sea (2004) and High Impact (where police videotaped the teens chained in dog cages).

In 2005, New York’s Eliot Spitzer forced WWASP to return over $1 million to the parents of Academy at Ivy Ridge students, because the school had fraudulently claimed to provide legitimate New York high school diplomas. He fined Ivy Ridge $250,000, plus $2000 in court costs. A civil suit has been filed for educational fraud in New York as well, by a different law firm.

Straight’s Sembler currently heads the Scooter Libby Defense Fund, in addition to his work for Romney, and has worked tirelessly to keep the Vice President’s former Chief of Staff out of prison, even after his conviction on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. After all, if running programs that impose these kinds of “treatments” on American teenagers is not a prison-worthy offense, why should lying to a court be?

The Romney campaign is aware of the WWASP suits, and should be familiar with the Straight suits. If not, it’s worth asking: Does Romney support these types of tactics for at-risk youth? Or does he take the line the organizations founded by his fundraisers take—that these dozens of lawsuits are merely from bad kids who make up lies?

Coming from the man who wants to double the size of Guantanamo, these aren’t insignificant questions. If Romney doesn’t believe the aggressive tactics he supports for use against enemy combatants ought to be used against troubled teens and youth drug users, he should say so, and show he means it by removing these men from his campaign.

Maia Szalavitz is author of Help At Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (Riverhead, 2006) and a senior fellow at stats.org. Her latest book, co-written with Dr. Bruce D. Perry is The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook. (Basic Books, 2007).

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New details emerge on several wrongful deaths since the Bain takeover in 2006

Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mitt Romney in 1984, prides itself on turning around failing businesses. But lawsuits and critics allege that controversial profit-maximizing methods and the residential treatment industry don’t mix.

In 2006, Bain took over the CRC Health Group, including a national drug-treatment chain, and went on an acquisition frenzy — adding more sites and venturing into the world of residential facilities for troubled teens by buying Aspen Education. Aspen was a scandal-plagued company even before Bain took over — facing a high-profile wrongful death suit over the 2004 heat stroke death of a boy at one of its wilderness camps. Now there are allegations that things have gotten worse.

In a months-long investigation, reporter Art Levine traveled to Utah and California and interviewed current and former staffers and residents of CRC facilities, revealing reports of systemic abuse and neglect that has flourished in the last six years under Bain.

Levine tells the story of Brendan Blum — a 14-year-old autistic boy, left in an isolation room all night at a CRC facility as he screamed in agony. Hours later he was dead from a twisted bowel infarction, his corpse discovered on the morning shift. In the 12 years before Bain took over, CRC had no known cases of a wrongful death. But Levine uncovered fresh details about six wrongful deaths since the Bain takeover in 2006.

He also explores how CRC permitted “therapy” to run amok, with some girls forced to do lap dances during sessions and used distorted disciplinary practices, including encounter sessions so harsh that some girls choked themselves to avoid attending. In what critics and lawsuits suggest was part of a drive for profits, medical staff in at least two drug treatment facilities were pressured to admit patients who were far too ill for the facilities to handle. And in a drive to avoid scrutiny, at many CRC facilities, lower-level staff were barred from calling 911.

Levine asks whether these abusive and sometimes deadly incidents reflect the CRC corporate culture, which critics say elevates profits over the health and safety of clients. And he examines whether CRC’s corporate culture, in turn, reflects the attitudes and financial imperatives of its owners at Bain Capital. Mitt Romney, Levine finds, is likely aware of the problems at CRC: Not only are two of his major campaign donors on CRC’s board, but two of his key fundraisers, Robert Lichfield, and Mel Sembler, faced firestorms after allegations of abuse emerged regarding their own residential treatment chains.

Levine also places CRC and Bain within the context of a troubled teen industry operating in a regulatory Wild West, with some states lacking any licensing system for residential programs. Regulation of drug treatment programs is shoddy, too. In California, for example, the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs has yet to investigate the deaths of nearly 200 patients at CRC’s 12 outpatient methadone clinics.

“Dark side of a Bain Success” was published on Salon and is available online here: Salon.com It was reported  by Art Levine and published in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, with generous additional support from the Fund for Constitutional Journalism.

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Wide-scope school abuse lawsuit to be heard in St. George

Written by  Kevin Jenkins

August 15, 2012 · Last Update: 10:57 AM

ST. GEORGE — A lawsuit claiming several youth correctional schools throughout the world were involved in perpetrating physical and sexual abuse against children from across the country will be heard in St. George’s 5th District Court, in large part because most of the companies accused of the abuse — and the people operating them — call Washington County their home.

Judge James Shumate ruled Tuesday the lawsuit will continue to be heard in St. George despite motions filed by the Texas attorney representing more than 350 alleged victims and family members that sought to have the case transferred back to Salt Lake City, even though a judge there ruled the case should be heard in Southern Utah.

The complaint claims nearly 60 defendant companies and their owners were involved in the systematic abuse of juveniles who were placed in boarding schools or residential treatment centers by their parents or guardians.

Although the schools and treatment centers accused in the lawsuit bear a variety of names and have been located in multiple countries, the plaintiffs allege they are all connected as enterprises of an institution named the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, which is based in St. George and owned by Toquerville resident Robert Lichfield and co-owners Brent Facer and Ken Kay, who list St. George business addresses.

“Thirty-eight of the 57 defendants reside in Washington County. That would bear out that the case should be in Washington County,” Salt Lake City attorney Stewart Harman, representing the Washington County defendants, argued. “That’s where the documents of this alleged conspiracy would be located.”

Examples of abuse by staff members of the different facilities, enumerated in the complaint, include allegations of locking the youths in small cages in painful positions, denying them adequate food, denying them proper medical care, kicking and beating them, forcing them to eat their own vomit, forcing them into sexual relations and depriving them of sleep or access to the toilet.

The complaint acknowledges that not all youths in the program were alleged to have suffered all the forms of abuse listed, but it claims all of the student plaintiffs suffered multiple forms of abuse during their time in the boarding programs.

Dallas attorney Windle Turley argued Tuesday for the plaintiffs that the case’s expansive scope should be heard in Salt Lake City’s court because the only Utah plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are five people from the Wasatch Front area and because it would be easier for non-Utah plaintiffs to travel to the Salt Lake area than to St. George.

The non-Utah plaintiffs list addresses in 36 other states, plus one each in Washington, D.C., and in England, and Turley argued a Washington County trial would be prejudicial in favor of the defense.

The lawsuit is filed as a joint-action case, meaning each plaintiff retains his or her own standing, instead of as a class-action lawsuit in which the defendants would all be considered to be uniform in their circumstance and case outcome, Turley said.

The lawsuit was filed in Utah’s federal court in 2006 under racketeering allegations, but those claims were dismissed last year, and the abuse complaint moved to the state’s 3rd District court. Salt Lake City Judge John Paul Kennedy sent the case to Washington County in June in response to a motion by the defense.

Shumate sought to assure Turley that St. George has sufficient staff and technological resources to handle the complex case, and allowed that the different parties may participate in the organizational court hearings via telephone without traveling to Utah.

“In order to not use your valuable time nor your clients’ resources … I’m avoiding airline tickets and travel expenses for the parties,” Shumate said. “The court’s sensitive to the expenses of the parties and the firms (involved).”

Shumate said there likely is still a lengthy court process ahead and scheduled an Oct. 2 status conference to ensure the case is progressing.

“Let’s get some wheels on this thing and get it moving,” Shumate said.

Wood VS WWASP Original Complaint 

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What do Mitt Romney, Bain Capital and the notorious Troubled Teen Industry have in common?… Sadly, quite a lot.

I wouldn’t consider myself a “Troubled Teen”… but as a kid diagnosed with ADD, I was struggling in school and my Mom was concerned for the future of my education. She decided to look for professional help and an opportunity for me to get a higher education.

Casa By The Sea Ensenada, Mexico

Looking for a therapeutic boarding school on the internet she stumbled upon many options for teen behavior modification programs. Through an Educational Consultant (EdCon), she was recommended to a program called Casa By The Sea in Ensenada Mexico owned by WWASP,  World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools or Teen Revitalization as it has become today. To this day I don’t blame her for her initial decision to reach out for help, but help isn’t what she found from WWASP… What she got was conned… and I was abused.

The problem is Casa By the Sea wasn’t the only abusive school out there and WWASP, now Teen Revitalization, is only one of the Multi-Million dollar corporations that make up the The Troubled Teen Industry. The Troubled Teen Industry is a global term for any privately owned teen detention facility, (some that accept government grants), that operate a “Tough Love” system and utilize the infliction of stress, humiliation, pain, isolation and over exercising as punishment for punitive rule violations. These “residential treatment facilities” commonly utilize pseudo-scientific methods, hire unqualified staff and operate under no clinical standards or child protective regulations.

What they are telling the parents is that tough love is what teens need in order to change but what you don’t know is how far these people take the punishments, and to what length they will go to humiliate you, brainwash you, and break you down in order to send you back home, just grateful to still be alive. I, myself was locked in dog cages for days, made to lay out on my face in the middle of the scorching desert sun, starved, burned, beaten unconscious and nearly murdered by a staff member who found a letter I wrote home describing the daily abuse. These people are child abusers, they are sick, they are perverted… and they are still operating programs today. Despite the multitude of allegations of abuse against the owners and current employees of the troubled teen industry, thousands of families are still getting sucked into these programs, controlled by fear, lies and the cult-like practices of a company who’s only real interest is to make an un-godly amount of money.

For more than a decade we have been monitoring and reporting on new abuses in the Troubled Teen Industry, so it’s no secret that abuse, both physical and sexual, as well as psychologically damaging practices are still being used in these facilities today. What you don’t know is why?… and how are these people STILL getting away with essentially torturing american children. To answer that, you need look no further than our front running Republican Candidate, Mitt Romney.

What’s Mitt got to do with it?

Republican front runner, Mitt Romney profits from teen bootcamps that torture, brainwash and defraud.

Mitt Romney is a Utah money man, turned  politician, His “qualifications” for the job being his massive success in business with his former position of CEO, Venture Capitalist at Bain Capital. A company that regularly bought or invested in failing businesses, and squeezed whatever profits to be had out of them before laying off their employees and selling them off.

Two  such companies that would be acquired by Bain Capital are Aspen Education Group, The parent company to another long list of notorious tough love schools, who have countless reports of abuse and even death… At least one of which, Mount Bachelor Academy, has recently been subject to a lawsuit alleging emotional, physical and sexual abuse. As well as, CRC Health Group, an all but too obvious marketing arm of Aspen. Although Mitt “retroactively retired” from Bain Capitol in 1999, his severance package seems to still afford him a special, more over, financial interest in the Troubled Teen Industry.

In 2007, Mitt Romney ran for President, boasting a massive campaign budget and a squeaky clean Mormon reputation, he looked like a sure bet to snag the GOP nomination. However, his dreams of the candidacy would be short lived, Feb, 7th 2008, Mitt Romney dropped out of the race, bowing to the near inevitability of his opponent Sen. John McCain. John McCain had a choice between Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin for his VP running mate, he chose Palin.

Robert Lichfield Co-Owner WWASPS (Teen Revitalization)

Durring his run, one of his Romney’s biggest donors and his campaign’s utah financial co-chair, was WWASP’s owner Robert Lichfield, who also happened to be the primary defendant in a pending civil suit on behalf of over 350 plaintiffs suing for a long list of maltreatment including assault, willful negligence, sexual abuse and fraud. If that weren’t bad enough, I’m sure he found out that over a dozen WWASP facilities had been closed following investigations of abuse and multiple lawsuits and charges had been filed against WWASP including the conviction of assault of a WWASP staffer, Randall Hinton. Robert Lichfield claims this is all in the name of God… seeing himself doing “God’s Work” and the survivors who oppose his program as “evil” and fueled by Satan.

Despite these issues, Romney kept taking his money and through his beneficiary of Bain Capitol he continues still to profit (and tremendously I might add) from the Troubled Teen Industry.

However as soon as word got out to the public, Romney had no choice but to ask Lichfield to step down from his position and a statement was released by Ken Kay, President of then WWASP:

“Governor Romney has asked Mr. Lichfield to step down and not be involved in any more fundraising until the lawsuit is resolved in the positive, which we are confident will happen,” Kay said via e-mail to the Radar Magazine

As of 2012, this lawsuit has still not resolved in the positive for WWASP.

Fast forward to 2012, Mitt’s back and he’s got a whole new crew of cronies. Including his current financial co-chair and one of Romney’s biggest contributors, none other than the god father of the Troubled Teen Industry himself, Mel Sembler. Sembler is responsible for the starting of Straight Inc. one of the MOST notorious networks of involuntary drug rehabilitation centers which even in it’s closure in the early 90′s spawned the re-opening of multiple spin-off programs, (most closed, some still in operation today) all with the same “straight” model of brainwashing and all with the same systematic abuse. Today Straight has a new name, and a seemingly new direction, in it’s guise as the Drug Free America Foundation, as a republican Anti-Drug think tank.

Another interesting connection to Romney and the Troubled Teen Industry is through another one of his former campaign co-chairs, Paul Babeu, who stepped down amidst a scandal involving a threat to deport his gay lover. However his truly scandalous past lies in his days as headmaster of the troubled teen program, DeSisto School. While Babeu escaped any charges for the multiple accounts of abuse by former students, he was found to be involved in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17 year old male student.

It seems that these interests don’t end at profit for the Romney’s, In 2011, at a campaign stop in Iowa, Mitt’s wife Ann Romney said working with “at risk” kids would be the cause she devotes herself to if she becomes first lady.

“At risk youth has been a concern of mine and love of mine for a lot of years,” - Ann Romney

Even though she has acknowledged that abuse has and still does exist in the Troubled Teen Industry, she still intends to heard your kids on into these teen torture camps… and make some pretty decent money off it as well. Just as Nancy Reagan did with Straight Inc in the 80′s. All the while, her husband will be vetoing any legislations to reform and advocate for kids currently detained in these facilities. Giving these corporations all the power they need to silence their victims, continue draining the bank accounts of desperate parents and abusing their children.

These people are running the scam of the century and our government is allowing them to do so with no accountability whatsoever. Because they operate in the private sector, and are able to operate without proper licenses, they are commonly out of the jurisdiction of state regulation, CPS and local authorities. Federal legislation to regulate these programs have been proposed, but are always thwarted because politicians are willing to keep children’s lives at risk in favor of less private sector regulations. This should be considered a states issue, but when states like Utah allow these programs to operate under the nose of the law without any regulation you have to call for a federal standard. They need to be stopped, not given a pass by our government just because they have financial ties to Mitt Romney. If Romney becomes president we can expect to lose any and all progress we may have made trying to pass regulation in the industry, and we can probably expect our websites to get shut down too, not to mention all the kids who will be beat down or possibly even killed in these programs before we will ever be able to reach them. As long as money can buy you a lawyer, a judge, a congressmen and even a president… These programs will continue to escape justice, and keep operating in the lucrative teen torture business of the troubled teen industry.

The question I now ask you is this… Can you vote for Mitt Romney knowing he profits from the torture of children and shows preference to special interests who have children’s blood on their hands?

Please take a moment to follow the links within this post, and these following related links to read more…

Mitt Romney’s Deep Connections to the Troubled Teen Industry - By Chelsea Maldonado

The Dark Side of Bain Success – Salon.com - Art Levine

Romney Profits From Bain-owned Health Company Facing Wrongful Death, Neglect Allegations – Huffingtonpost.com - Art Levine

New Abuse Allegations Arise at Drug Treatment Programs Owned by Bain Capital - By Maia Szalavitz

How Romney Profits from Child Abuse – MarkLevine.tv

Another Lichfield “Troubled Teen” School Hit With Another Abuse Lawsuit (And How Mitt Romney Benefits Directly from For-Profit Teen Boot Camp Industry)

Romney, Torture and Teens - By Maia Szalavitz

The Mitt Romney Troubled Teen Connection

Mitt Romney and the Company He Keeps

Authentic Cruelty of a Synthetic Man. 

Brainwashing is Real and is Really NOT Therapy

List of Deaths in The Troubled Teen Industry

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Roch Longueépée

THE I THAT IS WE: a self determination of peoples – Address to the AGM for the Coalition for Persons with Disabilities.

Delivered October, 24, 2012, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

I want to express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this group today. I come today to share my hope for all of you and this community. I come to speak of a common dream born of universal hopes and aspirations. – A promise that in a tolerant society, disability is diversity not a sentence.

I stand here today grateful to be in the presence of heroes. Charles Wilton, a member of this community, has represented Canada at the Para Olympics and has three world records in track. Charles and his partner Maricyl Palisoc are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy named William. Maricyl and Charles also have Cerebral Palsy, a disorder that limits their motor skills and slurs their speech, but has no effect on their cognitive abilities.

In May of this year, Peel Region Children’s Aid Society attempted to apprehend their child on grounds the parents were unfit due to their disability. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/05/01/toronto-mississauga-disabled-couple-fight-to-keep-son.html ) Despite the fact that the family was living in specialized supportive care with round the clock support for the baby, the Children’s Aid Society still ensued. In the face of this adversity, Charles and Maricyl did not back down, nor did their advocates. Staff with the Coalition for Persons with Disabilities worked heroically and gave of their personal finances and time. Their story captured the hearts of the nation and the world. National and international press weighed in on their story, including Oprah Winfrey.

With the community, international press and advocates, the Peel Region Children’s Aid Society backed down. The voice of the people had spoken. The family is now safe and our nation is better because of all of you. You have done us proud.  If anyone wants to know what it truly means to be Canadian, they should come to Mississauga.

I must confess to you today that my perception of disabled persons was once prejudiced.  I have spent most of my life surrounded by disabled people. I used to view disabled persons as weak, something due to my own personal struggles I feared to identify with.

Unbeknownst to me, I too was disabled. But it would be many years before I would come to understand the true nature of my disability. I am a survivor of institutional child abuse turned international advocate in support of survivors of institutional child abuse. I, like many survivors, suffered an extensive and horrific history of repeated physical, verbal, psychological and emotional abuse. This included prolonged sexual abuse during my childhood and adolescence. I helplessly endured neglect and unlawful confinement by multiple perpetrators.

Staff and caregivers at the Mount Hebert Orphanage, where I was orphaned from 1971-1975, added to that misery.

Members of my family, including my mother, stepfather, siblings and grandparents with whom I lived from aged five to sixteen, made my life a living hell. Even teachers and students in schools I attended made an already desperate situation worse through bullying, ridicule and shame.

I was placed in an orphanage several months after my biological father committed suicide. The fifth finger on my right hand is deformed from being severed and surgically reattached during my time at the orphanage. I also endured nutritional deprivation. I endured severe beatings from my mother and others, resulting in major medical injuries. These included bone, neural, and spinal cord injury. Other injuries included jaw displacement, a broken nose, resulting in sinus problems, vision loss, chronic nightmares and suicidal ideation.  The Child Welfare authorities failed me during my childhood and adolescence leaving me in abusive home situations despite repeated assessments. Many of my medical conditions were overlooked or misdiagnosed.

That history left a trail of failed relationships, chronic poverty, homelessness, near death experiences and unexplained illnesses. I have watched many survivors throughout my life succumb to addictions, violent crime, and suicide. I suffered depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation – ongoing themes as I struggled to find a sense of purpose.

In 1999-2000, I entered undergraduate studies at Dalhousie University. That year was met with challenges. I did not fair well nor did my health. I was becoming increasingly aware that something was terribly wrong. So, I left my studies. After many years of struggling to understand what my underlying medical issues were.  I set out on a path determined to get to the bottom of what was ailing me.

From 2000–2002, my quest began with an intense review of my entire history. In my investigation I came across “Restoring Dignity” The Law Commission of Canada’s March, 2000 report on Child abuse in Canadian institutions. I was not alone. I quickly discovered millions of survivors like me the world over. My quest would not be a selfish one.

In October 2002, I founded a non-partisan, non-religious based NGO currently known as  “Restoring Dignity” inspired in part by The Law Commission of Canada’s March, 2000 report on Child abuse in Canadian institutions.

In a line from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet., Act 1. Scene III, we read: This above all else – to thine own self be true.  This is a principle I have always held dear to my heart. I have spent my entire life dodging labels from a sea of experts in broken government systems.

In 2007, I was diagnosed with Chronic Post Traumatic Stress disorder. In December 2011, I was diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury.  Some medical experts have cited my case as the worst case of child welfare negligence they have encountered in their entire careers. Medical experts later commented that they had seen many cases like mine, but in those cases the children did not survive.

Legal and mental health experts cited my traumas not as abuse but rather ‘torture’.

The child welfare system in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island failed to protect me from the traumas of my childhood and adolescence.

Those failures led to my disabilities. The health care systems in both provinces failed to properly diagnose me. My diagnosis came as a result of the professional connections I developed in my volunteer, non-profit work via Restoring Dignity.  Those experts in London, Ontario were Dr. Michael Rieder and Dr. Keith Sequira with the University of Western Ontario. The lead medical investigator, Dr. Michael Rieder, I am deeply in debt to for his commitment and determination to help me identify the true nature of my medical issues.

In January 2012, I became the first survivor to speak about the link between child abuse and brain injury. My case has been identified by experts as precedent setting and is now being written up in academic literature reviews. This review will help in providing recommendations to health care givers in a published worldwide database.

After receiving my official legal status as a person with permanent disability, I realized I also had to come to terms with my medical status. The research on Brain Injury was clear; I was a strong candidate for early onset of dementia. By early onset I am referring to victims in their forties and fifties. I am forty-two years old. My days on this earth are numbered.

Among disabled persons, ‘invisible disability’ is largely unrecognized. This is also a reality for too many institutional child abuse survivors like me.

For too many, this shuts out the chance to reach their full potential. And only those who have very exceptional talents are afforded those opportunities. Upon reviewing the first World Disability Report, Professor Stephen Hawking, University of Cambridge, one of the world’s most famous disabled persons, and the world’s top intellectual thinkers of our time, had this to share:

But I realize that I am very lucky in many ways. My success in theoretical physics has endured that I am supported to live a worthwhile life. Looking at the evidence in the pages of this new Report. It is very clear that the majority of people with disabilities in the world have had a very hard time with everyday survival, let alone personal fulfillment.  I have always given my personal support to efforts to promote access and inclusion, and I am delighted to be able to endorse this important report. I hope governments throughout the world will consider all the millions of people with disabilities who are denied access to health, rehabilitation, support, education and employment and therefore never get the chance to shine.

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities shares the following on their website:

14.3% of Canadians report having a disability. Canadians with disabilities are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than other Canadians. They face exclusion from quality education, from employment and from participation in their communities.

The Canadian Charter of Rights Decisions Digest reads:

Exclusion from the mainstream of society results from the construction of a society based solely on “mainstream” attributes to which disabled persons will never be able to gain access.  Whether it is the impossibility of success at a written test for a blind person, or the need for ramp access to a library, the discrimination does not lie in the attribution of untrue characteristics to the disabled individual.  Rather, it is the failure to make reasonable accommodation, to fine-tune society so that its structures and assumptions do not result in the relegation and banishment of disabled persons from participation, which results in discrimination against them.

The road ahead for marginalized groups and individuals is fraught with challenge.  We are called to invoke the legacy of our forbearers. We must reaffirm the leadership of humane purpose to purge our communities of the dark forces of ignorance and social exclusion.

Edith Hamilton, one of my favorite authors once wrote:

 The man who fights for a new cause does not receive that tribute. He is up against the immense force of stubborn resistance the new always arouses. He must give battle without trumpets and drums and with the probability that he will not live to see the victory.

Since my diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury I have had to come to accept this truth. My days on this earth are numbered – and I know that.

When I look into the eyes of my son or nieces I want to know that they will not inherit the fate so many others and I have endured.  I want them to grow up in a world of peace and tolerance, free to live out the innocence and wonder of life.

Though my days upon this earth are shortened, that hope must not. The cause must endure; the torch must be passed to light the way for future generations.

You each have the power to change that reality for yourselves and every other individual like you. Find your voice and you will define your destiny. History has shown us, that we cannot simply rely on governments to do their job. The inherent good of who you truly are is the substance of which will save you. And in saving yourself you will help to save others.

One of Canada’s most awe inspiring stories of heroism was that of Terry Fox, a young amputee who set out on one leg, across Canada determined to eradicate a disease which has plagued millions of people all over the world.

After 3,339 miles, Fox had run six provinces, two-thirds of the way home. On September 1, 1980, Terrance Stanley Fox ran his last mile. His personal battle with cancer had claimed his leg and finally, his life. Almost three decades later, Fox’s valour endures to define the war against cancer. His legacy has inspired runs for thousands of causes.

It has inspired disabled persons to live beyond the limitations of their disabilities everywhere.

The perils of discrimination remind us of why our work and our concern for our fellow human beings are so important. Human Rights and freedoms has become the stepping stones to progress and survival – we are the officers, the keepers of the gate, and we have a duty now as we continue to overcome the deficits of morality and empathy in the world around us; to stand steadfast in the struggle for equality, social inclusion regardless of race, culture, gender or disability.

Our struggles must redefine the promise of tomorrow – that we are stronger than our condition – and better despite it. Our story of strife and struggle speaks to the true character of our nation.  Together our stories will stand the test of time and whisper hope to future generations.

In the end, the lasting legacy of our lives must be the I that is we – a self determination of peoples. Let us honor this truth that we are more than the sum of our parts, out of many we are truly one.

In the last course of these events may it be that our common dream born of universal hopes and aspirations is one day realized for the all the world to see.

©2012 rkl Restoring Dignity

WEBSITE: http://restoringdignity.org/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/restoringdignity/

Facebook ‘Like’ Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Restoring-Dignity/278096795557836

 TWITTER: twitter@rochnation

ABOUT ME: http://about.me/therochfiles

YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/user/Longueepee/videos

Blog: http://restoringdignitycampaign.blogspot.ca/

SKYPE: rochnation

RESTORING DIGNITY – BACKGROUND

Restoring Dignity is a non-partisan, non religious based NGO, inspired, in part by “Restoring Dignity” The Law Commission of Canada’s March, 2000 report on Child abuse in Canadian institutions. Restoring Dignity is an international organization that works with people who, as children, were abused under the auspices of institutions. As part of our mandate we also work on the issues of poverty in Canada.  The guiding principles and values of Restoring Dignity embrace the dignity of individuals and cultures and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Unlike many groups involved in the field of institutional child abuse, Restoring Dignity works with all forms of institutional child abuse affecting all cultures, marginalized individuals and groups as well as children. In an effort to educate society on the issue of institutional child abuse, Restoring Dignity has set out to define what an institution is and the role institutions play in society, in particular those which work with marginalized groups, cultures and children. Working from the model of national inquiries conducted in Australia on institutional child abuse, Restoring Dignity is currently planning to establish a national inquiry on institutional child abuse in Canada.  Restoring Dignity is also involved in aiding institutional child abuse survivors to establish civil remedies and other forms of redress within Canada.

Restoring Dignity recognizes that not only have survivors experienced unspeakable abuses as children, but as they become adults and parents they may be powerless to stop the cycles of abuse from continuing in their own families and communities. For this reason Restoring Dignity opposes adversarial approaches to redress and healing. The countless stories on the issue of institutional victims becoming abusers bare a similar plot to that of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein where the abuse can be attributed not to the individual but the circumstances of the individual’s development. The endeavor of Restoring Dignity is to reverse this effect and to offer hope and purpose to the millions of lives institutional child abuse has impacted in Canada and abroad.

Restoring Dignity aspires to become the official watchdog on the issue of institutional child abuse at home and abroad and to eventually provide full services to survivors, their families and communities. 

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 Has your child been in a ‘tough love’ program?

Did you place your child into a controversial ‘teen rehab’ or a behavioral treatment program?  Does your child harbor resentment towards you for placing him/her in it? Does your relationship with your child feel strained because of the experience? Do you need help repairing it?  Email only if you are willing to appear on TV.

WWASP Survivors was contacted by the Dr Phil Show’s Executive Producer looking for survivors who might want to participate in the show. Our initial call to action was met with so much support that it seems that there will be a great turn out for this show. So much so that we thought it appropriate to use this opportunity to show our numbers and ask that any survivors of these tough love programs come forward here, tell your story and share with the world your concerns for the kids currently in these programs.

Dr. Phil’s viewership is exactly the audience we need to reach, the struggling families with challenging youth, and the supporters of the tough love mentality that are not aware of the way these programs operate on a day to day basis. If Dr. Phil can show that these schools are doing it wrong, I believe many will start to understand that there is much more to the troubled teen industry than meets the eye.

We encourage every survivor who has been through these programs to stand up and fight for these kids… Because we are the ones who know what it’s like and our best weapon against these places is the truth. Please leave a comment with the program you went to and a short description of your experience. Help us to show the Dr. Phil show how many of us out there have been effected by these programs and are deeply concerned for the kids currently in them.

Watch full episode here:

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Redditor Speaks out to /r/troubledteens about his experience in Horizon Academy

“I went to a WWASP called Horizon Academy in Amargosa Valley Nevada. I had just turned 13 and was there for over 2 years. After I was there for a few weeks to a month I started being raped by a few students. This lasted for months. I tried to get help from the director but I was ignored. I thought that it was normal. Eventually I got to see the local sheriff and gave him a report and told him the whole story. I never heard back from him for weeks until the director told me he told my dad, sheriff and every one else that I made the whole thing up. Before I go on, I do NOT want to continue any legal stuff.

Last night I submitted my story to /r/rapecounseling because I’ve been having excessive flashbacks and night terrors and I felt i need to get it off my chest. (i’ll put what I said below.) A few hours ago my dad went through my history and found that I submitted that. He was furious. He said he was going to send me back. And I heard him talking to someone on the phone. Im panicing I cant go back there. PLEASE DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH THE POLICE OR ANY ORGANIZATION. If my dad really isnt going to send me somewhere and the cops call, I’m fucked. I just want to know what to do, or leave what happened to me before I get brainwashed again.”

Please read the full article here: http://wwaspsurvivors.com/redditor-horizon-academy-survivor-raped-bullied-isolated-and-in-fear-of-being-sent-back/

If you are a Horizon, Casa by the Sea or Cross Creek Survivor please comment on this article or submit your full testimony to WWASP Survivors to show this kid’s father he is not making this up, that there are many survivors out there who experienced the same things and that Youth Foundation Inc (formerly Horizon Academy) is the same abusive organization it has always been!

The more comments/ reports we can collect the more chance we have to convince this kid’s father not to send him back.

Submit testimony here: http://wwaspsurvivors.com/submit-testimony/

Horizon Academy, Youth Foundation Success Academy, Youth Foundation Inc, Jade Robinson

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From KUTV News:

(KUTV) A teenage boy was on a day hike with his school when he fell 60 feet in a canyon.

A group of students from a troubled youth home in La Verkin, called Youth Foundations, were on a day hike in Kanarraville Falls when a 16-year-old boy tumbled 60 feet and hit a ledge.

According to staff members, it appears the boy suffered a broken ankle, scrapes and possibly broken ribs.

The staff tried to get him out, but decided to get help so they wouldn’t further injure him.

The boy, from Las Vegas, is alert and talking.

A helicopter with a rescue hoist system is en route. Crews are still deciding the best way to reach the boy.

http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_4967.shtml

UPDATE FROM KUTV NEWS, BOY HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY RESCUED:

The boy, from Las Vegas, was alert and talking while he waited about four hours to be extracted from the canyon. Rescue crews were able to reach him on foot, but needed a helicopter with a rescue hoist system to pull him out. The helicopter came from Ogden.

The boy has been taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George.

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http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/08/19/60378.htm

SALT LAKE CITY (CN) – A “charlatan behavior modification facility” took a girl’s “desperate and deluded” mother for $100,000, made the girl a “mindless slave,” and forced her to listen to stories about rape and bestiality, she claims in court.
Sarah Artim and her mother, Nancy Artim, sued Cross Creek Manor, and its operator, the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs, in Federal Court. The seven causes of action include fraud and slavery.
“This case is about a 15-year-old girl’s being unlawfully locked up for 16 months in a private prison in Utah,” the lawsuit states. “Doing this to her daughter cost a desperate mother almost $100,000, paid to a charlatan behavior modification facility called Cross Creek Manor in St. George, Utah. It is part of a major Utah industry that preys on desperate parents and charges enormous fees to treat their children worse than any felon in a Utah correctional facility. When the parent runs out of money, and the child is released, she will be far worse off than when she was forcibly committed, and her developing adolescent mind will be forever impaired. The retribution she here seeks will not begin to repair the harm she has suffered, or the money spent by her mother to help her.”
The Artims say in the complaint that Sarah was sent to Cross Creek for treatment of anorexia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety.
“On or about January 2007, Nancy Artim signed an enrollment agreement with Cross Creek Manor along with a demanded [sic] of $4,500 month for the 16 months that Sarah was at Cross Creek, and additional amounts totaling approximately $100,000, which eventually forced Nancy into bankruptcy. In consideration of the money paid, Nancy had to transfer to Cross Creek full and complete possession, custody, and control of her minor daughter, Sarah Artim.
“The written adhesion agreement provided that Nancy would sign a power of attorney transferring custody of Sarah for the duration of the agreement, and nevertheless accept responsibility for all expenses, damaged property, run away retrieval expenses, nursing and medical care, and release Cross Creek and its employees or contractors from any liability for injury to or death of Sarah.
“The agreement gave Cross Creek full authority to strip search Sarah by removing all of her clothing so as visually to inspect her person and body cavities. Cross Creek had the right to physically control and detain Sarah by any restraint deemed necessary, which it did. Should she escape, Cross Creek could enlist any and all enforcement agencies to capture and return her to Cross Creek at Nancy’s expense.
“Cross Creek was authorized to obtain medical care and records, and engage any medical, dental, psychiatric, and hospital, ambulance or other health related care at Nancy’s expense. Cross Creek agreed that it understood that Sarah was a minor placed in its custody and control without her consent. Sarah thus belonged to Cross Creek.”
Cross Creek is surrounded by tall fences and parents saw only what staff wanted them to see, the Artims say.
“Even in the outside area the parents were trapped into seeing only what the staff wanted them to see as the fences were 12 to 16 [feet] tall. They made the children do manual labor like washing the stairs with toothbrushes. There were isolation rooms for punishment,” the 34-page complaint states.
Sarah was not allowed to go to the bathroom without permission; she was allowed to call her parents only once a week, while a therapist listened; and was forced to listen to group members’ “unbearable” stories about “rape, bestiality, incest, molestation, drug use, death, abandonment and many other things,” she says in the complaint.
The lawsuit cites a letter from Sarah, now 22.
“I believe my 15-month stay has damaged me more than any event in my life thus far. I feel passionately that Cross Creek, and or places similar too it should be shut down so no other kid has to go through the things myself and fellow classmates were put through. Like I said it has been many years since my completion of Cross Creek and many events I have simply tucked away because they are painful, but I’m going to do my best to give examples of reasons why this place should no longer operate. It has taken me many years to heal, and get my life back on track. It honestly is still a work in progress to get over.”
Six pages later, the letter states: “One point in my therapy I was put on one month of silence where I could only speak to my therapist. I was put on it because my therapist said I didn’t share enough in group and I wasn’t working on my issues enough. This was one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever been put through. My freedom of choice was not only taken away but now my interaction with people and my voice. During this time was also my sixteenth birthday. I was eventually taken off when I started to give aggressive feedback to a girl in my group who was struggling to adopt the beliefs of the program.
“I believe through the group therapy the therapist was able to set up a dynamic that forced students to attack anyone not conforming and were rewarded by being told they are making changes and doing good. By doing this we all became brainwashed and adopting their beliefs. I learned to just go on autopilot and do whatever I was told so that I could return home. Therapist/staff constantly encouraged us to tell on others who weren’t following rules, and to almost shame people into conforming. Feedback was used not to help, but to destroy girls with already self-esteem that was on the floor. They wanted our self-esteem to be low so they could form us into what they wanted us to become, and so we wouldn’t question any other their methods.
“To graduate the program you must complete six levels and graduate at least 8 seminars. You must graduate each of the seminars to move up to the other. If you do not graduate your seminar you will be in the program at least another 2 months because they only take place every two months. They tell you to graduate these seminars is simple all you have to do is be honest and share. That was not my experience.
“The seminars consisted of strange, confusing rules to follow (that if you break one the facilitator will most likely eliminate you from the seminar).
“Exercises that consisted of things like beating chairs and screaming, being forced to share things you had done that were ‘bad’ in your past.
“Not being allowed to use the restroom under any circumstance unless on a break, which were few and far in between.
“The facilitators were always very strong, intimidating, loud, powerful speakers, who would constantly bring up how we had destroyed our families and were ungrateful. They would start the seminars out always bringing us down and forcing us into tears and stories giving us the hope of showing them we’ve changed and deserve to graduate and go back home. …
“Looking back and talking about my experiences makes me sad and sick. No matter what I say or how I described my stay there, I don’t feel anyone will ever understand. I was a robot for a long time I did as I was told and morphed into what a ‘good’ student was supposed to be. When I got home I couldn’t even go into public for long periods of time without crying. I was overwhelmed, anxious and scared to break nonexistent rules. I had nightmares about going back the first few months. I came back 40 pounds heavier from lack of exercise and constant manipulation through food and fatty snacks. My self-esteem was even lower then when I had been sent away. I dealt with constant shame that I wasn’t better and didn’t change enough for my family. We were constantly told if we did what the program said we would come back happy, healthy successful people and when I wasn’t I fell into a deep depression and felt I couldn’t relate to anyone anymore not even lifelong childhood friends, family or anyone. “Cross Creek took weak girls such as myself, filled our head with lies and manipulated us and our parent’s weakness because we were all in vulnerable situations. They made constant promises that if we graduated the program we would be most likely to succeed in life and told our parents if we left before we would just become worse off and they even threatened we’d die. I graduated and truly believe I am worse off for attending such a place. Anytime I look back on my time spent there I have a huge knot in my stomach that reminds me of all the pain. I don’t revisit my memories spent there because all it brings me back to what a sad, hurt, lonely and scared girl I was. I never want another girl to go through the emotional trials Cross Creek brings.”
Nancy Artim says in the lawsuit that she “bitterly regretted” sending Sarah to Cross Creek.
“The consequences of her stay there had a profound adverse effect upon her life and family, with which both mother and daughter are still struggling many years later,” the complaint states.
 Hundreds of parents sued the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools in 2011, claiming a group of boarding schools tortured their children by locking them in dog cages, forcing them to lie in feces and eat vomit, masturbating them and denying the troubled teens any religion “except for the Mormon faith.”
Sarah and Nancy Artim seek punitive damages for slavery, breach of contract, fraud and conspiracy.
They are represented by Thomas Burton.

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The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2013

Tens of thousands of U.S. teenagers attend private and public residential programs – including therapeutic boarding schools, wilderness camps, boot camps, and behavior modification facilities – that are intended to help them with behavioral, emotional, mental health, or substance abuse problems. Depending on the state in which the program operates, some of these programs are subject to state law or regulation, while others are not. As a result of this loose patchwork of state oversight, children at some the programs have been subject to abuse and neglect with little to no accountability.

The Government Accountability Office found thousands of allegations of child abuse and neglect at residential programs for teens since the early 1990s. Tragically, in a number of cases, this abuse and neglect led to the death of a child.

To address this urgent problem, the “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2013” would:Keep teens safe with minimum standards for residential programs that are focused on teens with behavioral, emotional, mental health, or substance abuse problems

• Prohibit programs from physically, mentally, or sexually abusing children in their care;
• Prohibit programs from denying children essential water, food, clothing, shelter, or medical care – whether as a form of punishment or for any other reason;
• Require programs to provide children with reasonable access to a telephone and inform children accordingly;
• Require programs to train staff in what constitutes child abuse and neglect and how to report it;
• Require that programs only physically restrain children if it is necessary for their safety or the safety of others, and to do so in a way that is consistent with federal law already applicable in other contexts; and
• Require programs to have plans in place to provide emergency medical care. Increase transparency to help parents make safer choices for their children.

Increase transparency to help parents make safer choices for their children

• Require programs to disclose to parents the qualifications, roles, and responsibilities of staff members;
• Require programs to notify parents of substantiated reports of child abuse or violations of health and safety laws; and
• Require programs to include a link or web address for the website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which will carry information on residential programs. Hold teen residential programs accountable for violating the law

Hold teen residential programs accountable for violating the law

• Require states to inform the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of reports of child abuse and neglect at covered programs and require HHS to conduct investigations of such programs to determine if a violation of the national standards has occurred; and
• Provide HHS the authority to assess civil penalties up to $50,000 for every violation of the law. Ask states to step in to protect teens in residential programs

Ask state to step in to protect teens in residential programs Within three years, states must require all public and private programs to be licensed, meet standards that are at least as stringent as the national standards, and implement a monitoring and enforcement system. The Department of Health and Human Services would continue to inspect programs where a child fatality has occurred or where a pattern of violations has emerged. Read the text of Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act. See a list of supporters of the bill.

More Info on HR 1981 on govtrack.us

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October 10th, 2013

According to recent reports, as of October 13th 2013, Youth Foundation Success Academy (YFSA) will be ceasing operations. WWASP Survivors has obtained an email sent to all parents by Youth Foundation Inc’s Board of Directors. This letter announces that the program is permanently closing down due to a financial crisis caused by on-going litigation with WWASP’s primary billing company, Optimum Billing LLC. known to be owned and operated by Robert Lichfield. An accompanying letter from YF Family Representative Jody Harris also mentioned alternative programs for parents to consider, including the notoriously abusive, Diamond Ranch Academy.

The complete text of the email is as follows:

Dear Parents,

As you probably know, Youth Foundation, Inc. is involved in a lawsuit with Optimum Billing Services, LLC over the collection and disbursement of funds. Youth Foundation was able to obtain a preliminary injunction allowing Youth Foundation to continue to collect all tuition payments related to its services.

However, the law requires that a bond be posted, which we are unable to do at this time. Youth Foundation has been unable to post the bond. Without the bond being posted, the preliminary injunction will not be in force.

Youth Foundation, Inc. was established as a non‐profit charity to provide support to parents and help to troubled children. Youth Foundation, Inc. intends to continue with this goal. Youth Foundation believes the School has been the best method to accomplish this goal, but unfortunately, it cannot continue under its current financial circumstances. We regret to inform you that the school will be closing on Sunday,October 13, 2013.

We apologize for this turn of events. However, Youth Foundation intends to make every effort to fulfill its purpose, even without the School, and pursue other avenues for doing so. Youth Foundation also intends to continue to pursue its legal rights as long as it can.

Sincerely,
Board of Directors

Apparent financial disputes caused strain between Optimum Billing and Youth Foundation and resulted in the resignation of YFSA Executive Director, Jade Robinson. In August, a letter from Optimum Billing was sent out to all parents with children enrolled in Youth Foundation Success Academy describing allegations of abuse, irresponsible management and a possible closure on the horizon. This action incited Youth Foundation to pursue legal action against Optimum Billing, including a restraining order to prevent them from contacting YF parents in the future. An eviction was issued to Youth Foundation by the owner of the building, Robert Lichfield. Acting Director Chaffin Pullan attempted to move the children to a property in Hurricane, the former site of Diamond Ranch Academy. Ongoing litigation with Optimum has left Youth Foundation bankrupted and unable to sustain their school. It is unclear what this closure means for YFSA’s sister facilities RiverView Camp in Utah and RiverView Academy, located in Thompson Falls, Montana.

Update:

Following the closing, several of the displaced YFSA students were transferred to Diamond Ranch Academy, a notably abusive school with many critics and 2 confirmed deaths of children due to medical neglect. Several other children were left to the care of Chaffin Pullan and currently reside on his personal property in Hurricane Utah.

…..

This is not the first scandal that Youth Foundation has faced. Earlier this year an incident of a student falling 60 feet down a cliff during a school field trip and a staff member being arrested and charged for showing students pornography brought Youth Foundation under fire. However, most troubling is the path that lead to the creation of Youth Foundation Inc…

Youth Foundation Success Academy’s (former) owner, Jade Robinson began working for WWASP as a low-level staff member at WWASP’s Cross Creek Manor in Utah and later Spring Creek Lodge in Montana. He then transferred to the notorious Tranquility Bay program in Jamaica before leaving to become an administrator of Dace Goulding‘s Casa By The Sea in Ensenada, Mexico. CBS was closed by Mexican officials in 2004. Reasons for it’s closure included evidence of abuse, child endangerment and the unauthorized use of a pharmacy. Many allegations of abuse arose from Robinson’s tenure at Casa By the Sea, including allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse and intentional medical neglect.

Later that same year, he opened his own program in Terra Bella, California called Bell Academy. Bell Academy never got off the ground because Robinson refused to cooperate with California’s licensing requirements. Robinson moved the students to a facility in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, re-naming it Horizon Academy.  In 2011,  Nevada CPS officials investigated and noted several student safety concerns. Allegations of physical abuse and multiple gang rapes have been reported, including an incident where Robinson himself attempted to cover up a sexual abuse case and lied to law enforcement. In 2011, Robinson fled with over 80 children to La Verkin, Utah, reinventing Horizon Academy on the same grounds as WWASP’s original program, Cross Creek Center.

At first, the facilities operated separately, but gradually began to merge. The facility operated as Horizon Academy until 2012, when Youth Foundation Inc was established and the facility was re-named Youth Foundation Success Academy. Although no official reason was announced, the change was widely suspected to be motivated by the bad press of abuse allegations surmounting against Robinson and Horizon Academy. These incidents, combined with another lawsuit being filed against Cross Creek Programs and a withering New York Times article brought unwanted attention to the terrible conditions under which detainees at the school live. Relentless pressure from the media and a number of WWASP survivor websites like this one targeted parents with this damning information, and enrollment at the school began to decline.

WWASP Survivors has received reports that Robinson may likely be working at the old Horizon Academy, now dubbed Northwest Academy in Amargosa Valley, NV. This facility is currently operated by WWASP’s resident psychologist Dr. Marcel Chappuis, and apparent dual family rep (for YFSA) Jody Harris. Our research confirms that Jody Harris had to withdraw her LSAC license because she was charged with “engaging in an inappropriate dual relationship with a client”. However in 2011 Harris’ license was re-instated due in part to a letter on her behalf from Dr Marcel Chappuis.

Robinson is also rumored to be working with Dace Goulding in an attempt to open another program on the property of the former Casa By the Sea, in Ensenada Mexico.

Oh… but there’s more.

Current Director, Chaffin Pullan is the former owner of WWASP’s (CLOSED) Spring Creek Lodge in Thompson Falls MT. The school was closed amid allegations of a wrongful death, in which principals of the foundation recently settled a lawsuit for $3 Million. Many allegations of abuse arose from Pullan’s time at Spring Creek, as well many continue to surmount against him as director for Youth Foundation Success Academy.

Current administrator, Jason Finlinson is the former owner of WWASP’s (CLOSED) Academy at Ivy Ridge which closed amid a $100 Million lawsuit alleging false claims of accreditations and fake diplomas being issued. Finlinson also tenured employment as administrator at WWASP’s (CLOSED) Casa By the Sea, where he has been accused of multiple serious allegations of violence, sexual abuse and vicious treatment of students. Allegations against him continue to arise in his staff role at Youth Foundation Success Academy.

Current Night Staff, Brian Vaifanua is the former owner of WWASP’s (CLOSED) Paradise Cove, in Somoa which closed amid investigations into allegations of abuse. Vaifanua was formerly employed by the Hurricane Public School District as a coach, however, after reports from his former abuse victims reached the district’s board he was subsequently fired from the district. Vaifanua was hired by Youth Foundation Success Academy as night staff, an employee with unlimited access to children at night with little to no supervision.

Many other principals of Youth Foundation Inc. have deep ties to WWASP and their spin off programs, including Mickey Manning, current president of Youth Foundation Inc, and current owner of RiverView Academy in Thompson Falls MT.

We sincerely hope that this cycle of abuse will not continue with YF’s recommendations to other abusive schools like Diamond Ranch Academy. We encourage all parents to recognize the patterns of such a scam in any program. For more information on abuse in residential programs please view our Red Flag’s list. We hope that you will make all efforts to protect your children from any further harm and refuse to place your child in the hands of abusers.

If you were abused at any WWASP affiliated facility, please help us educate prospective parents and the general public about WWASP by reporting the abuse and submitting your testimony to to WWASP Survivors by filling out the form located here. Please also consider donating to WWASP Survivors to support our mission to end institutional child abuse in residential treatment programs.

The Truth Will Set THEM Free!!

WWASP Survivors

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Logan River Academy is an abusive program in the style of WWASP located in Utah. Abuse, neglect, forced medication, and even deaths have occurred and continue to occur.

LRA is a member of NATSAP, a non-accrediting membership body that does not enforce any ethical nor professional standards on its members. Though Logan River Academy’s academic program is accredited and they are licensed as a residential treatment center by the State of Utah, only LRA’s academic program is accredited – not its residential program. This is directly against U.S. FTC & GAO advice. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry advises that punishments should be entirely prohibited in residential treatment programs. In addition, the U.S. Surgeon General has found Logan River Academy’s style of program to be ineffective.

If you want to know more about the efforts to close Logan River Academy, visit Shutdown Logan River.

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When Cracked.com runs a story on the troubled teen industry, you know the industry is a total joke. The story, unfortunately, isn’t. Neither is the harrowing tale of abuse related by the author of the story, nor are the thousands of other stories out there of teens being abused, tortured, and even killed.

The story in full can be found here:
http://www.cracked.com/article_20843_6-shocking-realities-secret-troubled-teen-industry.html

More stories from survivors here:
http://wwaspsurvivors.com/survivor-testimony/

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WWASP’s Paradise Cove, Samoa – One of the most notorious and abusive behavior modification programs

Thanks to a friend of the page Mike Sanford, who is a Paradise Cove survivor, we here at WWASP Survivors have obtained a copy of the WWASP Paradise Cove Parent Manual from the mid-90s. This manual is basically spin made by WWASP to parents to head off the inevitable complaints of abuse and mistreatment that they knew were going to be coming from the children.

WWASP knew that if they could warn parents these complaints were coming ahead of time, they could paint these legitimate grievances as lies and manipulation. You really have to read this to believe it. The level these child abusers were capable of sinking to in order to drive a wedge between parents and children is amazing and unconscionable, and unfortunately for many survivors and their families, this wedge remains to this day.

On another note, this document contains a good biography of Brain Vaifanua. Details of his past association with WWASP have been difficult to fully nail down. More subtly, this document contains proof that Paradise Cove was indeed a WWASP program, since Brian states he “accepted the position of Director of Paradise Cove.” If he owned the program, that statement doesn’t make any sense. Instead, it’s clear from that admission that Paradise Cove was owned by someone else, at least initially, probably WWASP or the Lichfields.  This documents serves to further cement the connection between Paradise Cove, Brian Vaifanua, and WWASP, and eternally ties all three to the horrific human rights abuses of children that occurred there.
Check the whole document out for yourself.

WWASP – Paradise Cove Parent Manual

Please feel free to download and distribute freely, but also please credit us appropriately. Thanks.

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Yours truly has started a new petition on Change.org to end the practice of using teen escorts (aka legal kidnapping) to get kids to residential treatment centers. This practice is widely considered one of the most traumatic, harmful, and damaging in the industry and stopping is not only good for children, it also stands a good chance of stemming the flow of kids and money into these places, cutting the industry off at the knees.
Our friends at Shutdown Logan River Academy are behind us!  Will you please help too?

Noted #TTI Activist Bill Boyles has started a new petition: https://t.co/4cYvYD1D1i Please help us spread the word & build signatures! (1/2)

— Shutdown Logan River (@StopLoganRiver) March 15, 2014

Want to see what the escort process is like? Nick Gaglia’s excellent movie Aaron Bacon shows it in stunningly accurate detail (trigger warning.) The escort scene starts at 1:20.

You can sign the petition here.

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