229. Star Meadows Academy / Hope Ranch

Old website when it was up

This girls home was located near Whitefish, Montana. The girls were forced to wear a farm like uniform and subjected to a very Christian program. The owners had their problems with creditors and the girls who had been at the program believed that the owners wanted them to be there even if all problems were fixed to the owners could continue to milk the parents for money.

A former student wrote:

I would never, in a million years, put my daughter through such a terrible program…. I am 22 now, and am still trying to get past many of the issuse that my stay at Hope Ranch have cause in my life… My relationship with my parents is beyond repair and I always find myself associating with people who my parents strongly disapprove of…. If your relationship with your daughter is a struggle… look at yourselfs as well as your interaction with her… Hope Ranch will NEVER be an option for my child because I wouldn’t risk losing her the way my parents lost me…. as far as I’m concerned… they gave up their rights as parents, the day that they sent me to Hope Ranch.

It doesn’t sound like a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

• A student testimony about Star Meadows Academy in Montana (When far from Home – testimonial blog)
• Staff list for Hope Ranch in Whitefish, Montana (HEAL-online)
• I am a survivor and here is my story (Reddit r/TroubledTeens)