Bendaman1 at the Advent Home Learning Center

This testimony was found on Reddit. All rights goes to the original author:

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Hi. I'm 19, and I'm a guy. I am so pissed that I must start rambling now. I can't forget what happened. This organization needs to be shut down is all, and it seams that it's legal! Well it shouldn't! So I guess, AMA, but also, how do I sue Advent Home? I was 17, and it traumatized me. I will never think of my mom the same way. I was never diagnosed with ADD, yet I went to a place for ADD kids! Not even the full-on cult/human rights violator organization Seventh Day Adventists endorse this place! It's in Chattanooga TN, and they renamed it to "behavioral therapy" rather than ADD therapy, which by the way, I have never been diagnosed with. I was bullied into going to church. They were taking advantage of my already shady mother. All for suspecting me of smoking pot, which I had been doing for years. She couldn't talk to me about it, and she would never ever debate me on it. She just payed thousands of dollars a month to send me to Advent Home and abandoned me. Ruined my education. I had to get a GED, and now my only option is Jobcorps to find a place to live. Just saying, this organization needs to prosecuted. One kid was there for 5 years against his will. And it's all christian crazy fucking people staffing it, even with tazers. You can't leave even if you are over 18, because the police will force you to come back. They bragged that they have the local judge in the bag. I was raised going to SDA schools, churches, and "pathfinders", a version of boyscouts. My entire life was encased in lies and human rights violations.

Suing them might be tough even if you had a lot of money to hire an attorney. How long have you been out and what is the statute of limitations for bringing suit in TN?

It's possible if you could document specific instances of abuse or neglect that you could take some action against them, but generally religious schools/programs enjoy a lot of legal protections. Were you injured or sexually abused?

How did you get there in the first place? Did your mother take you or did she hire men to come take you? Did they use force against you? handcuffs? Did you live in TN or were you transported across state lines?

How long were you there?

What kind of contact did you have with the outside world? Who could you write and call? Were your letters read by the staff before you could send them? Did you have visits home?

Was there a level system? What was daily life like?

What were some of the more abusive elements of the program?


Yes Freedom of thought, conscience and religion Sexual orientation and gender identity - I'm not LGBT, but anything SDA, including Advent Home, does discriminate against them. You see, you must have 250 points to leave. You can, at the max, get 5-10 points in a week. You can easily get 15 docked off though. For anything. You are blackmailed into gong to church, because they would dock off points if they have a staff keep me at the Advent Home. Although I wasn't a slave, and I wasn't tortured, I was kept there entirely against my will.

I don't know a single kid there who wanted to be there, OR benefited from the program. My mom lied to me, as the director told her to do. Dr. B. I was told that it was a boarding school. I was doing a "christian online school" and it was BS. When I arrived, my cell phone and laptop were taken away from me. They happened to have the same exact online program! The one that i had just quit! They computers had errors, and I was out of school for two months straight. I would plan pinball, and got a high score of 4 million! The next half of the day was WORK WORK WORK, terrible vegan food with no salt allowed. The diet was terrible and disgusting. Mom let me put the laptop and the cell on the plane as a bluff. They left me there just as it got dark, and never came back. Since mom and dad are divorced, dad had the authority to take me out. I was doing the online school, then I went down to california where I was almost complete with an alternative high school. I wanted a diploma fast. Mom took me out and placed me in Advent Home. I wanted to leave by the very first day.

I had no contact for the first two weeks. I got 15 minutes for each parents each week I believe, or two weeks. Everything WAS screened. They would even talk to you about you personal life. If I were to try to leave I would have been met with force. The first thing everyone told me was, don't try to escape! I had no visits home. There was a level system. There was favoritism in the highest. This one kid was a snitch to the highest degree. I would wake up at 5 or 6 and have almost zero time to take a shower and get into a super gay Advent home shirts tucked in with pants and a belt. proper shoes and everything. I bunked with 3 other guys. Oh by the way, it's male only. There were lots of meetings and crazy kids who needed their parents and more meds. They would take any kid for their money, and string along the rich parents for as long as possible, since they decide how many points the kid gets! I know that back in the day, kids got hit by the staff, and abused. I know because the older kids were in the same situation as me. A poor kid named lance and two black kids. We were all nice kids, and atleast the little kids might change a little. We were just nice kids, we didn't belong there!

I live in california when I was transported to TN. I took a plane. Two Months. No contact with my friends and my girlfriend. I had no time to say anything on facebook even! I took a staff phone and returned it, even deleting the call history. I called dad. I told him how much I hated it and he had to get me out ASAP. I was freaking out hardcore. When you get violent, they "disable you" They hold you down in a very uncomfortable way until you chill out. I did not have to go through this. The water was cholorinated. I was being poisoned by it and always felt terrible. So I started secretly drinking non-potable water, which, was delicious. As a country boy, i'm guessing it was fine because it tasted fresh. The abusive elements were the endless rules and demeaning nature of it. You always had to volunteer extra work for points they said.

When I went to church, we had our own section! And we were all looked down upon. Nobody really liked us at all. We went on a field trip or two, to an aquarium. It was fun, but we never had contact with the outside world. The kid I knew who was there, I wish I could say his name, he tried to escape three times. He even stole a car and sped on the highway. He almost got away with it. I saw the little kids terribly unhappy. All the little kids just need a parent, not some christian songs every single morning. Don't want to sing or sit up straight? docked points. If we were late to a meeting, 25 pushups. Dumb pixar movies were "theater time." I saw him turn 18 and leave the place. His parents bribed him with a cruise but he left anyways. He had to finish a few extra month of school there, even though he was 18. He came back that night wet from rain, crying. He finished up the year, idk if he got that cruise but im pretty sure he did not get to go. The school aspect was laughable.


What's your relationship like with your mom now?

What was her reaction when your dad pulled you out of the program?

Was your dad SDA also?


Superficial. I keep her up to date. She just kinda blew it again with me though. It's paper thin. I don't know if I can honestly say I even like her anymore. Since I owe money, I am blackmailed into being nice. If I am not nice, I get freedoms are taken away, or, since im at dad, she finds a way to make me miserable. When I have my own place, car, job, life, I will be able to tell her what I feel. It's funny that any parent would think they could get their kid to be good by threatening them with consequences. It just made me into a liar! Mom was always in denial that I didn't like it, kind of like schools i never liked, when they wasted my college money on elementary school and high school. Dad was SDA, like my grandma and *grandpa. Now he is just right wing super crazy. IE Churck Missler, Glen Beck, Rush and Sean Hannity, with a hint of anti-federalism and conspiracies. For instance, fossil fuels are not actually from fossils! Titanic was a conspiracy too! Biblical UFOS! Alien Pyramids! Yet Dad is way smart and cool. We get along. At least he reads like crazy, he has just been mislead, and it's far too late to convince him otherwise. In other words, Dad is a non-descript christian now.

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The website belonging to the facility is down. The facility might be closed now

Source:

• The Interview on Reddit
• Factsheet about the school (Fornits Wiki)

A testimony about Heartlight Ministries

This testimony about Hearlight Ministries was found on Judy's book. All rights goes to the original author

I was sent to Heartlight over 10 years ago.

It helped me to stop stereotyping people, and I formed life long friendships with both residents and staff.

When I arrived, I was so angry, I wouldn't even look at my parents. When I left, I was cheery and outgoing. I came back home after 15 months and made new friends which led to my joining a garage band. This angered my parents who have always considered my passion for singing a waste of time.

They claimed I was using drugs, which was unfounded and untrue. They made the decision to send me back to Heartlight after only being home for 3 months. Mark Gregston decided to be my counselor for my 2nd time there. I was back for 2 months and in that time, I saw him once. He cancelled all the other sessions. I was eventually kicked out for trying to runaway. A couple of months later, my first roommate died. Being adopted, then sent away twice, hurt so much more than it helped.

To this day my parents and I have a very strained relationship and most of it is because of Heartlight. Oh, and I went to jail twice for weed after my Heartlight stay. I didn't even smoke before I went to Heartlight either time. I was very close with my first roommate and the marijuana had a lot to do with numbing the pain I felt from her absence. Every single person I was at Heartlight with has expressed the same view. It hurts more than helps.

I truely believe when Gregston first started this, it was to help people. Now, the other residents I lived with and even some of the staff I'm still in touch with believe this is all about the money for him. Want proof? He named a cabin after my friend Caroline who passed away (and who was also sent to the program twice), then changed the name after someone who donated a ton of money to the organization. Also, if the parents aren't willing to take part and heal themselves, this program has no chance in working. If drugs are involved, this place will not help whatsoever. They do not follow a 12 step program.

Since it was founded Heartlight Ministries has been the focus of a number of campaigns where relatives and friends try to get teenagers released. Also a number of teenagers have tried to escape. Punishment reported includes being forced to wear orange jumpsuits like prison inmates.

Sources:

• “Think twice!” (The original testimony on Judy's book)
• Datasheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Feedback from former residents of Valley Springs Youth Ranch in Missouri

Donny from Des Moines in Iowa testified:

I lived in that nightmare for over a year and the harsh lessons I learnt from the "christian" staff and the little monsters they made worse still haunt me. Abuse of ALL forms runs rampant there. Paroles and overgrown bullies (some of which were perverts) staff the place. Inner city punks are warehoused there to steep in each others psychological filth. Any decent person that goes there is either silenced, ruined or driven out. It is a hell on earth that no child should be subjected to and any adult should be Hung for supporting. I hope there is a special place in Muspell for George Becker and his cronies (especially Tony Shaw) for the abuses I and and the other residents suffered in that festering scab

Dustin Combs from Warrenton in Missouri testified:

hello people hope you all read this would you all like to hear a story well here goes my name is dustin combs and i spent 4 freaking years in that hell hole and to let you know they dont run it like they should the legal way lets just say fights happen there bc the staff they hire some of them dont give two shits its just a paycheck staff betting on which boy will win in a fight staff watching as people get the hell beat out of them and not caring at 17 i weighted 100 pounds and i was so doped on meds so i wouldnt be a probleem and they didnt have to worry bout me i got my butt kicked two times a day aT THE LEAST MADE FUN OF PHYSICALLY AND MENTALY ABUSED BY KIDS AND SOME STAFF ALIKE IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN PRISON BC I WASNT ABLE TO DEFEND MYSELF now there are some good staff but there is bad and to enlighten you there are kids there who dont need to be there i was there bc my adopted parents got tired of me when the money ran out dont dare any of you talk bad bout the guys there you dont know the half of wat some have been through some need it others dont and you all think you are better than me and the guys in the ranch well guess wat fuck you all that think that

A former vsyr boy from Las Cruces in New Mexico testified:

I spent 3 years at vsyr during the mid to late 90's. Now, I can't honestly comment on how things are run now (the daughters of staff were the only girls there at the time), but I am a firm believer that a leopard cannot change its spots. Before you judge me as a reckless thug or spoiled brat, I can honestly tell you that I arrived at vsyr because my parents were herion addicts and judged unfit.

I truly believe George and Joanne have great intentions, and, there were a few staff members who deeply cared for the boys in their charge.For the young men housed there, I truly hope there are more quality people in charge.

But I will share some of my experiences and insights from my time at vsyr. The staff are all about helping someone feel unique and indiviual, as long as you fit into their idea of what that should be. If you deviate from their standard, you are punished and degraded. On one occasion, I was forced to sit outside in the middle of January, without a coat. Several of my housemates, the "bigger" guys, were turned into zombies because of large dosages of sedatives that made them less of a threat. It was very common for a female night staff to have her "favorites" and take those young men to private areas in the middle of the night. Anyone not following the explicit orders of a staff member, even those orders which any other person would scoff at, would be subjected to "restraint," which meant being tackled to the ground. Those with developmental issues were routinely called retard by the staff.

I think, in all my time there, the worst example of abuse happened to the, then, youngest resident. He was 11, and had his face rubbed into the gravel driveway by a 300 pound man. The reason? His grandmother had just died, and he told the man to leave him alone for a while. I, personally, picked little rocks out of the cuts in his skin.

As others have stated, it did no good whenever the abuse hotline was called. George, Jonanne, and their staff all put on a bright, shiny act when investigators came, and then the claimant was severely punished.

I have moved on from my time there, in spite of the soul crushing practices they employed.Perhaps vsyr has changed over the years, but please don't let their fancy words and glossy pictures fool you. It is not as idyllic as they make it sound.

Sources:

• Thread on topix containing the testimonies
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)