Archive by Author | birthe1951
05/03/2023  

934. WinGate Wilderness Therapy

WinGate Wilderness Therapy is located in Kanab, Utah. The operate on public land in parts of Utah. The teenagers detained at the wilderness program are sent to the program by their parents. Some reportedly transported by the programs in handcuffs and shackles.

During their detention in the program the teenagers are evaluated and if they fit the need random so-called treatment facilities claim to be able to fix, they are referred to those facilities when their stay at the wilderness program come to an end. Sometime referral fees are exchanged with these facilities as reward for a good profitable diagnosis.

The safety of the teenagers while partipating in the program can be at risk. One student got injuries when he was forced to participate in rock climbing which he had no training in. Over the years teenagers have died partipating in such programs. However, we have not found cases of death among the teenagers who have been detained at Wingate – yet.

It cannot be fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

26/02/2023  

933. Hope Haven

Hope Haven located near New Orleans in Louisiana was founded in 1911 as  St. Vincent’s Hotel. The targetgroup was homeless men and boys. Over time it grew. Maybe the facility became too big to monitor as information now surface that a priest abused boys. The organization in charge at the time of the alleged abuse is the religious orders of Salesians of Don Bosco and School Sisters of Notre Dame as they are named in a lawsuit.

It would not be the first time lack of supervision results in abuse.

It sounds like it was not a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

21/11/2016  

493. Holmegaardshuset

Holmegaardshuset is located in Fensmark on the southern part of Sealand in Denmark. Recently it was in the Danish newspapers due to criticism not investigated fully by the social services at they are supposed to according to Danish legislation. It was also noticed that they worked together with the controversial psychologist Finn Westh who has been suspected of doctoring investigations of parents and children in cases the social services really wanted to get a report which supported their case when a case involving the removal of a child is going before court.

There is a reason for strict supervisions of group homes like Holmegaardshuset. Previously there have been cases of abuse. Only strict supervision has shown to reduce the risk of such abuse. That is the reason that every report must be followed up to the letter.

2021 Update

More recent articles have shown cases of conflict of interest. Case workers who while they were working in the public sector saw to that children were placed at the group home was then hired by the group seemingly because they secured income to the group home.

Reports about the families of the children who had children placed at the group were seemingly doctored to make the families look worse in shape.

Some focus has shifted to the social service departments using group homes like Holmegaardshuset. Are they are aware what they use the taxpayers money for. Some of they try to avoid responsibility by referring to other public departments.

It cannot be fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

04/10/2015  

369. Abundant Life Academy (I)

Abundant Life Academy is the name for several facilities. This article covers the Adudant Life Academy which were located several places in Mexico and Nevada.

In 2004 they were forced to close down their activities after incidents involving the authorities. As the founder described it with bible quotes:

6 months later Abundant Life Academy was hit with the biggest attack of all to date. Child Protective Services of Nevada had received a false report of neglect and abuse from a former disgruntled parent of ALA (late April of 2005). For whatever reason, this parent submitted several false claims (totally fabricated) to CPS of Nevada, who then launched an attack of epic proportion against Abundant Life Academy. On May 2nd, 2005, CPS illegally, without investigating the false allegations, removed 33 ALA students from Hidden Canyon Ranch. Due to the uproar from the ALA parents CPS immediately launched a strategy to cover up their actions. To justify their illegal actions CPS filed a series of false reports against Abundant Life Academy that were eventually found to be unsubstantiated.

“Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who because a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.” Acts 1:16

While the court let the case go due to a technicality, the authorities are not using their time on this area unless it is serious so it is safe to state that it could not have been fun to be staying there as a teenager.

Sources:

19/09/2015  

367. Young Judaea

This company has wilderness trips for young people. If the teenagers were there on an exclusive voluntary basis we wouldn’t write about it here but it seems that some teenagers were forced to attend these activities against their will. We even heard of a foreigner named Hannah Nuszen from the United States being forced to attend these activities on the what for her is the other side of the world.

That is where we must be alerted. Not only can nothing good come from being pressured into an activity it can lead to psychological damages or posttraumatic stress disorder. Around the millennium many teenagers from the United States were forced into discount rehabs in countries like Samoa, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Czech Republic. The suffering they endured was terrible and the number of former students in these facilities has a high number of suicide attempts where many tragically were successful.

Israel is located near a warzone where any use of force towards teenagers who might already have been traumatized should be avoided at all cost.

We can only urge parents to consider very carefully using force to achieve the goal of having a Stepford child. It cannot be fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

18/09/2015  

365. Maximum Life Skills

Sometime you have to endure something to achieve something. For two teenagers it meant that they had to live in prison for years. But still many think that it was a better outcome than staying additional months at Maximum Life Skills.

Unfortunately an innocent counselor died during the events which led to their imprisonment – A man with so much potential whose life was cut short. This counselor was led down by the management. The other teenagers forced to live at the facility was led down forced to witness the terrible events.

The state of Utah closed down Maximum Life Skills. They had not secured proper paperwork when they took in out-of-state students. They had not employees in the right number working at all time 24-7.

It seems odd that the manager in charge now runs Second Chances located in LaVerkin. Maybe it is only a question of time before the next tragedy happens.

It could not have been fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

20/07/2015  

353. Love Demonstrated Ministries Christian Boot Camp

Tragedy was close to happen when the so-called counselors decided to drag a girl behind a car because she would not participate fully in the activities in this boot camp.

The police pressed charges but the legal system can be complicated so the case got stuck in appeals. At least it led to the closure of the boot camp. What is remaining is that the Charles Flowers is fired from whatever job he might have which includes contact with minors.

Later the pastor became involved in the fight against same-sex marriage. He proclaimed “a divorce between the Civil Rights Movement and the HLGC agenda citing irreconcilable differences.”

It could not have been fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

19/07/2015  

352. Krause Children’s Center

14-year-old Maria Mendoza died at this treatment facility in 2002. One of the teenagers who were there when the tragedy took place later wrote:

I was there for this incident. Their restraints were not as they said “the least harful possible.” I was thrown on the ground on my chest with my arms underneath me. I told my restrainer(who was also the same person to restrain Maria Mendoza) that I could not breathe and to let me up. He told me that I would just have to calm down then, wouldn’t I? He had restrained her earlier that week and the pressure had been so much that something had gone wrong with her eye. One of them was blood red like it was bleeding. that day, Maria had been mad about not being able to visit her family because she had been “rude” to one of the staff. She got upset and the man taunted her. She went after him, as she did have a little bit of an anger problem and was restrained. They took her to our “quiet room” after awhile to calm down. I was in the bedroom across from the quiet room at the time and I was peeking out of my door, being nosey. The quiet room had an open front, so it was easy to see everything, unless a staff member stepped in front of the door. Maria told the other staff that she was calm but that if the man (not sure if I can use his name or not) came in there she was going to kick his ____. He had been alongside the wall for the majority of her conversation and at that time stepped in front of the door. Maria tried to do exactly as she said. He flipped her onto the floor and she was trying to scream at him, both cussing and saying she couldn’t breathe. He told her if she wanted to be let up she had to calm down. Now tell me how a 14 year old girl with an anger problem is supposed to calm down when the man who upset her in the first place is the one restraining her? Eventually she stopped fighting and they just assumed that she had calmed down. I got a brief glimpse of her when they all got up and she was motionless. Then everyone got frantic but still managed to stand around useless. One of the other staff asked if anyone knew CPR. The man who restrained her was also our designated lifeguard for when we went swimming. I thought lifeguards are supposed to know CPR. No one performed CPR on Maria until the ambulance came. I knew they were going to tell us she was dead after seeing her laying there not moving. They told us the next day though, after taking her away to the nearby hospital. Alot of us were moved after that, to foster homes or group homes and such. The remaining kids moved with the Krause Center to it’s new location at the time which I heard them saying was going to be one of the floors of a mental institution. I remember not being allowed to go on family visits and such because there were so many people outside who were asking questions. Some police came by and took our statements. I gave them mine, but the staff was there and managed to both talk me out of most of what I was saying and to discredit me as I was a foster child and everyone knows that we are unstable, right? I am surprised that the details are so fresh in my mind after so many years but then again, I’m not as that incident scarred me. I could not stand seeing or even hearing anyone being restrained after that, no matter how much I was reassured that they knew what they were doing. I am now 18 and out of the system but I ran across this story and needed the right version to be heard. Thank you for your time.

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

Sources:

17/07/2015  

351. KIDS of El Paso

KIDS of El Paso was a so-called drug rehab based on the Straight Inc. model. It has since proven to be a dangerous system which causes more relapse compared to parents doing nothing.

Kids were isolated in untrained foster families where they were confined like they were in prison. Result was relapse and an alarming percentage of suicides among the kids who were sent there.

It could not have been fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

16/07/2015  

350. Heartlight Ministries

This place located in Texas is known to punish teenagers abandoned there by their family in orange jumpsuits. There have been several cases of runaways and the place as also focus of the “Free Nathan” campaign some years ago.

It cannot be fun to be there as a teenager.

Sources:

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