Book: Fall of the Guardians

This book tells the story about what goes on in many religious based so-called treatment centers and boarding schools.

In a thread on reddit the author introduced the book:

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors when a “difficult” teen gets sent away? Based on real-life events from the early 1990’s, this book tells the harrowing story of Vanessa, who at age 13, was one of those kids. She was ripped away from everything she knew and sent away to an abusive military boarding school for girls run by a religious cult that promised to fix these so-called “troubled teens”.
Like most Troubled Teen Industry survivors, Vanessa and her surrogate four-year-old little sister, Jess, experienced unspeakable horrors no human should ever have to endure. But unlike most, they were able to do things no one else could. Along her way, Vanessa found family. She was the catalyst for the formation of the Guardians, a special unit in her program tasked with making the girls human again. With the help of her family and friends, Vanessa came of age while making a real difference to hundreds of other girls in an impossible situation, that is, until it all came crashing down, as the Guardians fell.
Find out what it took for them to survive their time in this cult, their successes and failures, how they finally escaped, and what came next, including a 2022 update on what happened to the girls and staff she wrote about over the ensuing years and a number of response letters from some of the others she wrote about.
This powerful and heart-wrenching book is a must-read for anyone who has ever been or known a “difficult” teen, anyone who attended a Troubled Teen program, and especially for any parent that has sent away a difficult child or is thinking that sending their child away is the best or only option.

Sources:

• Fall of the Guardians - Paperback (Amazon)
• My book is out (Reddit r/Troubledteens)

Video: A stay at a religious boarding school in Somaliland

The Danish television channel TV2 made a documentary about religious boarding schools in Somaliland where teenagers from Europe and United States are held against their will in chains because their parents believe that the teenagers have adapted a too western life style.

The teenagers are often lured to Somalia under false pretext.

These schools which operate in a similar way as many therapeutic boarding schools in the United States and the for Indian boarding schools in the United States and boarding schools for in Australia need to be stopped.

Here is a video from the documentary.



The human rights organization based in Denmark - Domestic Prisoners of Conscience also made a press-release:

President Trump - please put Somaliland on your watchlist

When Trump became president, he considered to restrict people from 12 countries from entering the United States.

We believe that he should put all those countries which were formerly a part of Somalia on this list.

In one part now known as Somaliland a new industry has established itself. It is a industry of extreme religious boarding schools where parents who live in the United States and Europe can send their children to if the children become too American or too European in their customs.

That is a problem when we address the security issues in every country in the world because closed school environments can be abused allowing the children to be forced into being taught about violence and that terrorism can be a tool to change the world.

We ordinary citizens in Europe and United States want to live in peace. Allowing children to leave our countries so they are placed in schools abroad where they learn to disgust our way of life and even fight it, is a serious threat against our peaceful lives.

We urge Trump and the American administration to put the area of Somalia on a watch list. We ask their customs to detain and interview every traveller leaving for and coming from the Somali area so it can be determined if they are parents or relatives to a child being detained at one of these boarding schools.

If they have a child at one of these schools they should be detained until the child is safely back in the United States where they then should be put under the protection of the social services.

If the parents then should be allowed to stay in the United States must be up to the court system to decide.

We are aware that many of the parents of Somali origins believe that they are only doing what other American parents do when they hire professionals to put their children in handcuffs and shackles so the children can be taken to Missouri or Utah where they are put into likewise religious boarding schools. The parents have a point.

Why target children with one religion when children are put through similar abuse just inside the United States?

Well. In an ideal world the United States should also put their foot down on all closed boarding schools in the United States. No child should be allowed to be contained under conditions which allows them less rights and more severe conditions compared to what they would experience in local prisons if they had broken the laws and the conditions in local boarding schools in Missouri and Utah are really bad.

But the laws are not there. Federal legislation making it difficult to bring children across state lines into states where legislators and law authorities do not care about children are not in place.

But border control to and from outside United States exist. Here is a chance to put the foot down and prevent abuse and the possibility that the children are introduced into terrorism.

That is why the United States should put the areas of the former Somalia on their watch list and restrict travelling to and from this area.

Bendaman1 at the Advent Home Learning Center

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

---

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.

---
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)

Various testimonies about Stockton Boys Ranch in Missouri

These testimonies were made on Yelp.com. All rights goes to the original authors

Gabriel C.'s experience

Worst 14 months of my life here. I was physically and mentally abused. Please email me for my story or more info. If you don't want to take my word for it, I can give you plenty of other references that will tell you the same thing. Please DO NOT send your son here.

gabey_chow@yahoo.com


wisdom l.'s experience

This place is a hell-hole located in a shit-hole of a state. Avoid at all costs. Honestly, if you want your kid and the family to have a better relationship try FAMILY THERAPY. Not send your kid off to a completely different state, not be able to have a first visit until 3 MONTHS LATER, and have other visits every other 3 months. I spent 30 min in the morning reading the KJV Bible and another 30 before sleeping. I also went to CHURCH EVERY DAY...twice on Wednesdays and Sundays. SOOO boring, I pretty much fall asleep every time because of how stupid and illogical the place was.

Oh yeah all this place does is hire staff that belittle the students all day, and is run by a ego-maniac by the name of Bryan Clemenson. These people are stuck in the past and refuse to understand that civilization is moving forward as a whole and don't need backwards ideas from the stone age.


Brett W. Harper's experience

Child abuse, child labor, scare tactics, cover ups, staff being expelled for using horse tranquilizers, other things I will not mention. This school has been shut down in Washington and California for child abuse and failure to adhere to state laws and has only been successful in Missouri where they stay far away from most people who could potentially report their failure to adhere to child abuse and labor laws and state regulations, and where the laws on child abuse are nice and lax.


I spent 4 horrible years here! I was subject to military style PT's or "Physical Training" by X Marines and Army staff when I was just 14 years old. I have PTSD, spinal problems, and all because of this school and I have doctors that will back that up! I would sue but that is spiteful. Besides I care not about gaining anything from them or hurting them. Just take it from an ex student or talk to any other students that have left there (NOT THE ONES THERE BECAUSE THEY MAKE SURE YOU DON'T SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT THE SCHOOL BY CENSORING YOUR LETTERS AND PHONE CALLS AND LISTENING TO YOU EVERYWHERE!)

Before I got to this school I didn't know what drugs were, but after talking with students there I did. This school is a TERRIBLE idea for any parent feeling they need help bringing their son closer to them or God.

Want proof? Here ya go... "Be sure your sins will find you out." Facts don't lie; this many people don't just "make stuff up":

• http://sharperiron.org/forum/thread-should-niu-separate-from-bju
• http://www.nospank.net/n-l88r.htm
• http://agapeboardingschooltruth.blogspot.com
• http://www.teenliberty.org/mtnpark.htm

If you feel your intentions are good you really need to work on your methods. Your success rate is TERRIBLE! Over half of my graduating class is dead or in jail. Some success you have there right? You have a lap pool, nice cars, your staff have half a million dollar homes yet you ask for donations "for the kids" and charge as much as you do? Your no better than the televangelists who only want people's money and use religion as a way to get that money!

I challenge you all to think about what I have said, read through the material linked, take your time, do your research, and make an informed decision before sending your son or daughter here. Thanks!

Sincerely,

Brett W. Harper




Sources:

• The original testimonies (Yelp.com)
• Stockton Boys Ranch (A thread on the Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)

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)

Kimberly at Gentle Spirit Ranch (From the Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)

This statement was found on the Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora. All rights belong to the original author named Kimberly

As I said above there were three “counselors”, Armina, Melanie and a woman whose name I can’t remember. There was also the “teacher” whose name I believe is Donna, she lived in a trailer that was further away from the main house and she smelled terrible. Close to the end of my stay there were only a few girls for a time, and there was one weekend where Mark and Ginny left for some reason and Donna was in charge of us. We went over to her trailer and the placed reeked. For some reason that really burned in my head. I think that Armina and the other counselor were fired, even though I didn’t know it at the time. When they came to tell all the girls they were leaving they were equally sad as us and crying right along with us. Melanie stuck it out for awhile with us, even though she was the only counselor and I cannot recall whether or not she was even there in the end. We did not get along very much, but then again I was 15-16 and not a nice little girl, I was pretty much angry at the world just because it existed.

Mark and Ginny were rarely around, and they were busy doing who knows what. I remember seeing them on any outings we had, and then also on the days that we didn’t go to church but they held “church” in the house. There was one or two rare occasions when we were allowed to go into their “house” (pretty much an apartment that was the second story of the main house) and that was so we could do their housecleaning. I remember thinking even then, considering who I was and all I had done to get myself there, that their daughters had some serious issues. They wouldn’t walk everywhere, they trotted like horses. Now I know little kids do this when they are playing, but they stop to go to other activities and then at a certain point they stop all together and grow up. These girls were 6 and 7 I think and they were trotting everywhere, even outside. Looking back, those girls needed some serious socialization with kids there age and maybe the horse thing was a coping mechanism.

The girls that I remember are limited unfortunately, I have a hard time remembering a lot of my childhood, I guess that was my coping mechanism. Ok well there were more than the 6 girls that they said they always kept it at or wanted to keep it at. If I remember correctly, There were 4 bedrooms in the main house that the girls had and also a trailer that a girl had that had been there for a long time. I remember a girl that we all called Daisy, I cannot remember her real name, and she had bleach blonde hair and seemed real normal to me. She shared a room with a girl that left shortly after I got there and then a girl named Jessica came and shared the room with her. When Jessica first came she told all of us that her name was something different all together and she ended up alienating herself in a way. I had the room next and I shared it with a girl named Jamie, who I became fairly close to simply because we were roommates and that she lived close to where my aunt did. I remember a girl named Brenda that was 13 and she was so funny, a very shy girl and her father worked for Frito-Lay. She had a room with a girl that ran away and actually got free. There was also Tabitha who I remember quite a bit about, she was my best friend there and I really would like to know how she is doing. I remember she lived in Humboldt at the time. She had a roommate that was Mexican with long hair that was straight and really pretty, she always wore baggy sweatpants. The girl that lived in the trailer by herself had been there for over a year and her name was Shar (short for Sharlene I think.) I got close with her as well. I know that there were other girls there but I cannot remember their names at all.

We went to a church that was in Temecula and the drive was terrible because the ranch literally was in the middle of nowhere. We were called the Hidden Valley Ranch girls by the people there; it was absolutely humiliating to go out anywhere. Depending on how new you were to the ranch or how bad you acted you had to stay no more than 2 arms lengths away from an adult, can you imagine how difficult that became at certain places? There some other activities that we got to do that were quite fun despite the situation, we went to another ranch and were taught vaulting with a horse. We saw a Cirque Du Soleil show that involved horses- Cavalia.

We did go to school for a set amount of hours during the day and we were all told that it was accredited. Well, when I came back to the real world I found out that it was not and had lost almost a whole school years worth of work. I was a junior in high school, but I had to work twice as hard to make up for those lost credits. We read the bible a lot- 3 times a day to be exact. When you woke up after you did chores and then got ready you read for an hour. We also read when we first got into the school room and then again at night before bed by ourselves. We had to cook our own meals and clean up after ourselves. We had work hours which were pretty much extra chores like cleaning up the horse pens if you misbehaved. We would get a trailer or truck full of food once a week, that I’m guessing came from one grocery store or a few and it was the reject stuff. We would sort through it and take out what we wanted and the box up everything else and sale it. They took away any personal belongings that you came with and locked them away for example when I came, I came with very little but I had a yearbook, medication that was supposed to help level my moods and various other things. My yearbook was gone through and censored, yes censored. Anything that they felt was inappropriate was blacked out with a marker, I still have the yearbook and there is barely anything to read in the thing. The medication was taken away from me and I was not allowed to take it, they believed that medication was unnecessary and against their religion-Christian. And it’s but at the time what bothered me about them taking away the meds were that they were taking yet something else that was mine that I felt I had rights too, I could care less that I wouldn’t be able to take the meds, I felt like a zombie on them anyway. Unfortunately, I quickly became a very angry person that didn’t know how to control my anger and soon I was screaming at everyone uncontrollably, throwing things at walls and people, putting holes in the walls and doors, at one point my anger was so intense that I was laying on my bed thoroughly upset at something and I started to hit my head up against the wall, until I couldn’t do it anymore. I also cut myself while I was there, it was amazing how easy it was to hide and get away with.

The ranch did not give me one tool to help me learn or cope with my emotions. I didn’t learn why drugs or alcohol was bad. If anything one bad habit was taken away only to be replaced so quickly with something else, like anger and food. I came to the ranch sometime when it was warm, I do not remember the month of course and I remember leaving for Easter break and never coming back thanks to the allegations. I refused to speak to my father (who was the reason I was there) up until my last month there, and the only reason I did speak to him is because he said that I would leave. Neither he nor I knew that it would be that soon. Now I know that I may sound like a spoiled brat or typical troubled teen that blames her own problems on other people, but I am very honest and very realistic about things. I do not sugar coat and I certainly accept when blame is mine. My father was a drug from the high school and still is actually, he beat me whenever he was clean. I was on a downward spiral and I was going fast. I was cutting myself a lot then, I was using drugs and drinking a lot and I didn’t use pot, it was pills and crack and anything else I could get my hands on, the same with the alcohol, it was usually straight vodka because it was easy to get and clear. I was very promiscuous and in general didn’t care about my life. My father certainly didn’t seem to care about his life or mine so why should I? I called the police on him and CPS many times during my childhood, the police couldn’t do anything because he usually had consumed all the coke by the time they came and then hey no evidence; CPS wouldn’t do anything because there was a roof over my head and the place wasn’t infested with rodents. The events that lead directly up to me going to the ranch are something that I will never forget, although I wish I could. I was 15 a sophomore in high school and one day I was outside my apartment sitting on the curb hanging out with some friends. My father came home and was mad that I was outside even though I asked him if I could be outside, he told me to go inside. He grabbed his belt and beat me until my rear had bloody welts and puss welts. My downstairs neighbors heard me crying and screaming and called the police. When the police came, my father said that he was just taking care of a bratty child. The police came and spoke to me and I broke down completely, I showed them my arm where I had cut the word “DIE” into it from my wrist to my middle of my forearm. I begged them to take me out of there and take me anywhere else because I was going to kill myself soon if this stuff didn’t stop. The police were completely unaware of the beating I had just gotten and did not know about my rear. The police officers went and spoke to my father more and I heard him just saying that I was spoiled and starved for attention, the police officers and father thought it would be a good idea to teach me a lesson, so I was handcuffed, arrested and admitted into a hospital where I had pictures taken of my rear for proof. I spent the night there where I was later evaluated by a psychiatrist and my grandmother also came to see me in that condition. Everyone kept asking me what happened and when I told them, I was told that I was a liar, by everyone. I was later admitted into the mental hospital where I stayed for two weeks and was put on the medication because the psychiatrist there said I had about 6 different mental issues. I really was starting to believe I was the crazy one and at one point my father told me that I was so crazy that he could have me locked up forever in a straight jacket. The other option was to go to the ranch. Now like I said earlier the ranch didn’t teach me anything about how to deal with my family or life in general and a lot of what I was going through was normal stuff but intensified by other factors. I believe that maybe if someone would have showed me that I wasn’t crazy but I was just trying to deal with my life in the only way I knew how then maybe things would have gone a little more smoothly. When I left the ranch I still really hadn’t learned from the past and I still continued to use drugs, drink, be promiscuous and hurt myself. I eventually came to a point where most people come to where they learn to grow up. I needed to learn that I am the only person that can change me.

I am certain that I would not be here if it wasn’t for the ranch though, but the only reason I believe that is because it was a change in scenery-nothing more. I truly hope that the other girls have found their way in life. Every day I think about the path that I took to get where I am and hope they are as fortunate as I am. So that is a little bit of my story and some of what happened at the ranch. If I remember more I will be sure to add more. I am also looking for a photo album that was given to me while I was there, when I find it I will scan some pictures and put a link up of them. If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask or email me. I have no problem talking about my past, in some ways it helps to get it out. I keep hoping that I will start to remember more of what happened in my childhood but who knows.


Sources:

• Abuse Allegations Re-Surface at California Faith-Based School (The original statement found on Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)
• 66. Gentle Spirit Ranch (1000 places You don't want to be as a teenager - blog)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Kenny aka beaner the Heritage Boys Academy

I was that 14 year old that went to heritage boys academy. I'll mever forget the first night i went there. I was so depressed my parents told me we were going to Disney and when i woke up "brother buddy" came to the car and dragged me out and then my parents left me hysterical so there was this guy named marty the biggest asshole said "keep crying, keep crying"

I was still hsterical and he made me hold 2 broom sticks infront of me for 5 minutes long and i couldn't do hold them and he brought me into the staff room which was the CC room and he made me pick them up and hold them straight out again I couldn't Marty then picked me up and threw me through the closet causing a bump on my head so that later on I had to get surgery on it was a calcified hemotoma.

I told my parents a different story because he said he would beat my ass I was a scared 14 year old boy and yeah the gay kids name was Ben. Ben said "I'm going to tell everyone im gay so I can leave this taco stand". His exact words so the boys put bengay in his underwear and when he went to use the shower after he said "my balls are on fire" but yeah my butt was beat red I have a few stripes on my but to this day their nasty scars and marcus that kid used to be in there with me and was one of the worst kids how did he end up working there???

Marcus always told me "I wish i could take hold of that switch and give the kids an ass beating" not going to lie they were the biggest rascists ever my nickname was "beaner" the "grungie garzas" s brother rob would say were 3 brothers Johnathan Zachariah and Jeremiah Johnathan was called "chickster the spickster" because he was Spanish and had chicklet two front teeth and there were two black kids they were called n word by most of the staff or "dirt".

I couldn't imagine how much more worse it would be to the kids aron russle and cliff never smiled they always walked around with this sad depressed face on them and when you ran away you got about 40CC's for everyday for a little over a month i remember when I told buddy and rob i was going to die because they didnt let me use my inhalor I'm a "phoney bologna" they said.

I then had an asthma attack after they made me keep running and they had a defibrolator in the house that they then let me use after and also my inhalor I wasn't kidding in thought I was going to die but withing the next hour I then felt better and was able to almost fully breath but yeah my conclusion is dont give them the right to open that up again sure it is good by God we read the bible everyday but the corporal correction is abuse.

The school was closed by the authorities in 2010 but managed to be cleared of the child abuse charges due to legal technicalities.


Sources:

• The original statement (Topix.com)
• Factsheet about the school (Fornits Wiki)

Miss Bathory at Freedom Village, Lakemont

All rights goes to the original author known as Miss Bathory who posted this statement on Thoughts.com

I shall tell you I was at Freedom Village, which is a "Christian boarding school" in Lakemont New York from about March 2008 till May 2010 when I graduated.

The girls dorm was filthy even after we "cleaned it." We had to wear flip-flops or slippers in the girls' dorm to keep from getting foot fungus. We also got lice and ringworm regularly. The ringworm was from the shower curtains not being cleaned or changed out for fresh ones regularly enough. I knew one girl who had gotten five ringworms all up the side of her body from the filthy showers. This girl was very hygenic so it was quite the disturbance to all of us.

The schoolroom was so cold in the winter we had to wear our heavy jackets to keep warm all through the schoolday. The chapel and the new admin were the only places on campus that were air-conditioned or heated. The guys and girls dorms were freezing in winter and hot as Hell in summer.

Punishment was waking up at 5am to haul wood till breakfast, go to school, and then haul wood from after school till dinner, and then from dinner till 10 at night. We were also given much smaller portions of food than the other students when punished. In the summer, except for meals and chores, if you got into trouble you just hauled wood all day, period. Sunup to sundown. We were not allowed to talk about anything pertaining to the outside world as that was considered "evil." We couldn't even sing CHRISTIAN songs unless they were composed and sung by the boarding school's own singing groups themselves.

The kitchen had a really bad cockroach problem and these things were HUGE, not even kidding, and when we flicked on the lights to begin kitchen duty in the morning they scattered. It was like watching a huge black blanket on the floor just curl back towards the walls and under all the countertops and applicances. I was kitchen intern for a year there and so I would know...I was basically second in command when it came to the kitchen. Mama Neu was nice to me and I enjoyed my duties aside from the fact that there were roaches and I didn't get paid.

The staff people were often students who went through the program themselves and chose to stay, and they often didn't get paid because Pastor would keep the money for himself instead. It was a cult, definently, because everyone there was pretty much kept "hush-hush or else" and so they all seemed smiley and happy and convinced of what they were doing. Pastor was anti-homosexuality, anti-interracial marriage, anti-pro choice, ect.

Each day we woke up and after woodhauling (if you had to) we went to breakfast and then a chapel service. Then we would go to school, or if it was summertime you would do chores. Lunchtime was somewhere in there and then it was back to class followed by chores till dinner or if it was summer it was just chores till dinner. Then after dinner we would have a chapel service and then have "devotions" back at the dorm and then go to bed or haul wood till 10.

Some of the staff people were genuinely nice and you could tell they really had gotten sucked into the cult and into thinking what they are doing is right. Then others were power-craving asshats who were very cruel and would invent ways to get us in trouble. I have read many other people's negative testimonies and I have heard that recently most of the staff have left because Pastor had an affair behind his wife's back. I will post things other people have said about FV who have been there in following posts.

Sources:

• The original post on Thoughts.com
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Movie: BLOODBATH a documentary about Elizabeth McGrath

Elizabeth McGrath artist/musician shares the story of her life. Growing up in Altadena, CA and raised by religious parents, Elizabeth found an inner peace through her art and music.

When she was 13 years old her parents enrolled her in Victory Christian Academy, a fundamental Christian lock-down facility for girls. After leaving the school she encountered a time of homelessness, drugs and an abusive relationship that left her emotionally paralyzed.

Using her artistic talents to find work, she struggled to survive in Downtown LA where she remains today. Her art and music career has flourished over the years and now she is considered a prominent figure in the world of music and art.

Through interviews with her parents, friends, bandmates and artistic peers, this documentary shows that Liz McGrath has a urgent need for the cathartic outlet of art and music.


Sources:

• Website for the documentary
• Factsheet of the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Book: Christian School Confidential

This is a book which is supposed to be a satire. Despite our knowledge of the conditions in religius movements we have to say that it is a satire to remain sane and be able to sleep at night.

It is well written. It captures everyday incidents too well and it keeps the reader hooked to the book until the last page. We can only recommend it.

Source:
Blog with more information about the book

Q/A about living in an ordinar religious boarding school

This Q & A statement was seen on the homepage NHYM alumni. All rights belongs to the original person answering the questions.

• What is your name?
  Deirdre Sugiuchi
• To which institutions were you sent?
  Escuela Caribe Jan 1990 - Jun 1991
  Canada 1991
  Marion fall 1991
• How old were you?
  15-17
• When were you enrolled in The Program?
  January 4th, 1990 - Dec 1991
• What was the highest level you attained?
  4th with weeks towards 5th
Please describe the circumstances that got you sent to The Program:
• In which house(s) did you live?
  DR: TKB
  Marion: Herrick
• Please describe instances of abuse you experienced while in the program, if any:
  I entered the program compliantly because I thought it was a Christian boarding school. That impression was reversed my second night when my housefather (HF) made me perform exercises for hours. According to him, I had "an authority problem" at home. He made me do bear crawls, pushups and duck walks. He had me hold my arms out balancing books until I cried from pain. Such interrogations are typically used to brainwash individuals.
  - When I entered the program I was very sick with an ear infection and strep throat. The staff ignored my illness. Later they said it was because they did not know if I was faking. I had to do the daily drills, and make it up the casita with my 6'4 (?) HF outrunning all of us girls. As a “low-ranker” I had to stay within an arms-length of him. On my first free day, I couldn't keep up with him (I am 5'4") when we hiked up a mountain, so he gave me push-up support- ten pushups for every five steps that we walked. Everyone else watched me. This continued until the house mother asked for a break. For the record, the supervising group leader did nothing to stop this mistreatment by the housefather.
  When I was depressed it was viewed as something I could control, and my points were routinely slashed because of it. I got low points for “moodiness” when I became withdrawn.
  - I was part of a group punishment session in which my entire house was forced to maintain a push-up position for hours. The house mom couldn't find a spatula. We were blamed for its disappearance. The session ended only when the house mom came in with the spatula, which she had misplaced. It hurt to laugh for days.
  Once I moved up the levels and became a high-ranker, I had more responsibility. Part of this responsibility entailed narc-ing on my peers. Another responsibility was that I had to inspect the low-rankers to make sure their privates were soaped during showers. One girl did not wash herself properly; the housefather said he could smell her. He required all low-rankers to have their soaped privates inspected during showers. This was an edict of a HF who later became assistant director. For the record, all students had a maximum of fifteen minutes to wash, dress, and leave their personal areas in perfect order. Low-rankers usually had much less than 15 minutes. Her hygiene problems most likely resulted from not having enough time to wash.
  The house fathers regulated how much food we ate at meals. My first HF enjoyed assigning a large amount of food to students. Many girls had a problem eating the large portions, not just me. His own wife, who was closer to our size, would eat about half of what he required us girls to eat. Eventually my stomach became accustomed to the portions, but I gained several pounds during my time in the program, despite spending the majority of my time working or completing forced exercises.
• Describe abuse of other students you witnessed, if any:
  During one of my first weeks in Escuela Caribe, my HF made a housemate do exercises for "becoming angry" during a counseling session. She “performed” exercises long past midnight; I could hear her outside the dormitory window. I learned from this incident never to express my true feelings about anything - not a healthy reaction in a supposedly “therapeutic” boarding school.
  - Two girls were molested by a housefather, K. When the school administration learned of K's inappropriate conduct he was fired, but he was never prosecuted. At the same time, a male teacher, R, confessed to looking at pornography with K. Not only did the administration not discipline R, they later promoted him to housefather in a GIRLS' house (see Tara's questionnaire for details about living with him). A few years later, he was convicted by an Indiana court of molesting one or more girls in his charge.
  These incidents should have never happened-the administration knew the staff member had predilections, but they ignored the danger signs, keeping R on staff. Furthermore, the administrator who failed to discipline R kept his position even after R. was convicted of sex crimes.
  - One fellow student asked K, the HF, for permission to use the bathroom for 8 hours straight, but he wouldn't let her because he claimed she was being “manipulative in the way she asked permission.” After dinner that night, she could no longer hold it and urinated on herself in front of the whole house.
  Another HF, JB, singled out a friend of mine. He played mind games with her, ignoring her requests to move from room to room. He abused her often in different sections of the house. We knew she was doing exercises; we could hear him yell. Once he ordered her to do pushups in front of the rest of the house, and when she was physically incapable of completing them (from exhaustion), he insisted that she continue. She kept falling and hitting the patio. The next day she had large purple bruises on her hipbones.
  - There were several students in the program who had obvious mental health issues. Instead of getting the psychiatric help they needed, they were treated as if they had authority problems and kept on low levels. Being on a low level for a long period of time was the kiss of death in the program because the staff would single out low-level students for punishment and humiliation.
  There are many more instances. I am in the process of writing a book detailing the abuse.
• Do you have any good memories of The Program? If so, what are they?
  I liked hiking in the pine forests. I enjoyed going to the aquarium. I liked going on privileges with Lisa, Liz and Doug, getting to know staff like Eric, Susie and Jay. I enjoyed participating in service projects. I made some friends. It was hard to form deep relationships because everything was monitored, and when you became close to someone, they would confront you for excluding others.
• What is your overall impression of The Program? Did it “help you”?
  No. I had several sets of house parents; the instability was difficult, especially since most were abusive and/or sadistic.
  I am a teacher and have completed courses on teaching students with special needs. Everything the program does—the strict schedule, the point sheets, focusing on negative behavior, not the positive, etc.—is how you are not supposed to treat children, at least according to the research.
  I would have been much better off had I gone to a normal, rather than punitive, boarding school, or if our family had gone to counseling.
• What do you think of the quality of education you received?
  Abysmal—we learned from workbooks.
  As a teacher, I realize that a lot of my classmates at Escuela Caribe struggled in school because the administration made no attempt to accommodate different learning styles. Any deviance—behavioral, emotional, academic—was viewed as rebellion.
  I learned to read at the age of four and have always been a self-learner. I attribute this skill to any academic success.
• How old are you today?
  38
• Did you go to college after attending The Program? If so, what degrees do you have?
  B.A. in English Literature, M.Ed. in Instructional Technology
• What is your profession?
  School Library Media Specialist, Writer
• Do you consider yourself a Christian today?
  I have spiritual beliefs but don't consider myself a Christian.
• What effect did “The Program” have on your faith?
  Before I entered the program I was a Christian. I was raised in a strong Christian family. Being in the program and being tortured in the name of God changed the way I felt about Christianity. I equate my experience there with religious abuse. I no longer participate in organized religion.
• Please feel free to add comments here:
  Despite their “certification,” staff members are not certified to treat students with special needs. Any program as isolated as the Escuela Caribe is almost guaranteed to be abusive, by virtue of its isolation.
  According to the National Institutes of Health, boot camp programs like EC do not work, and may exacerbate a student's problems. What does work is utilizing family counseling to address dysfunctional relationships, as opposed to placing the burden of responsibility on the child, who is simply acting out in response to the family's problems.
  Any program that restricts communication is suspect, especially at the level used by Escuela Caribe.
  Escuela Caribe uses excessive physical punishment, emotional and verbal abuse to keep children under control. It has a history of neglecting the health of students.
  Most of my classmates were sent to Escuela Caribe for minor offenses. However, isolating your child with other troubled children, makes deviance become that child's norm, practically guaranteeing they find it difficult to adjust to “normal” life after they are released or find “normal teens” as friends.

Sources:

• The original Statement on NHYM-ALUMNI
• Datasheet about the boarding school on Fornits Wiki