“It is up to the buyer to beware, as in this case the stakes are very high – their children.”
Each year thousands of children are incarcerated and are not given due process. They lose their basic human rights. They also lose contact with the outside world, are abused, and are humiliated.
These are kids from all walks of life. Some who are straight A students, others are failing in school, some have disabilities and mental health issues, and some are just average kids. Some come from a two-parent home while others come from broken homes or are adopted. Some have woven their way through the foster care system. How do they all end up in the same place?
There is a silent and growing industry that the average American knows nothing about. It is the multi-billion dollar child / teen help industry. It is really quite simple to explain.
In the early 90′s two men discovered a need – parents at their wits end with their troubled children and teens. They found parents were willing to pay a lot of money for someone else to “fix” their child. Today, parents pay anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 per year in hopes someone else can return to them a normal, well-behaved child or teen. Does this sound too good to be true? It is.
These same two men found others who were like-minded. They developed seminars that parents and kids are forced to attend once they sign up for the program – seminars parents and teens say practice brain-washing techniques.
Parents have reported they were told their child was a manipulator and liar. Other than censored and altered letters, communication between them was banned for months, sometimes up to a year or more.
The reason for altering letters?
Parents are told the reason some letters are “blacked out” is because the child is only manipulating and lying to them in an effort to come home. And other times they do allow the parent to see the letter, telling parents the child is only manipulating and lying in an effort to come home. It is a lose-lose situation for a child who is locked behind closed doors with no way to report abuse if and/or when it occurs. Sadly it was too late by the time their learned their child was telling them the truth.
Children and teens are often told their parents do not want to talk to them, do not want to see them, and blame them for all of the problems in the family. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many parents have reported the agony they go through while their child is away – the guilt, the fear, and the shame. They have invested a lot of money into the “program” and want to believe they will get what they paid for – a normal, happy, well-adjusted child or teen. Sadly, they don’t get what they bargained for. Instead, some children are returned broken. Some have died and never come home.
Private abductions …
Many parents are convinced by program staff they should hire “teen escort” services to transport their children – some as young as seven – to their facilities located in remote rural areas. Though some transport services are licensed and hire caring staff, most are not licensed or regulated. Many youth are unjustifiably hand-cuffed, restrained, or pepper-sprayed in the process. The trauma of such abductions can last a lifetime
Parents were duped by glossy brochures, an endless number of convincing websites, and smooth-talking businessmen or their agents preying on their desperation.
Parents were talked into refinancing their homes, drawing from their retirement, spending their child’s college money, and taking out long-term loans.
Parents are convinced to give strangers Power of Attorney over their teens and pre-teens
Some children are as young as seven.
Where did children end up? In the hands of people who convinced parents they would save their child … in reality many of these children have been abused and neglected.
Dangerous and unfair forms of punishment:
Untrained staff perform dangerous restraints resulting in physical harm and all too often in the death of a child. Many programs operate on a points-based system. The youth lose hard-earned points for small infractions such as dropping a fork on the floor or belching. In some facilities, children are severely punished for looking out the window, as they are considered a runaway threat.
Over the years, thousands of children have ended up at WWASP’s Tranquility Bay facility in Jamaica where reports and articles have shown, and victims have alleged, there are no laws to protect the children, the facility is not licensed and there is no oversight
Children lose their basic human rights, many have no privacy to use the restroom or shower, and children lose contact with the outside world.
Once phone calls with parents are finally allowed, usually 3-6 months or more after the child enters the program, they are censored; children lose virtually all other verbal contact with the outside world. Children’s letters to extended family and friends are usually not delivered, and mail is censored. Many have spent months on their faces in isolation.
John France, an Educational and Forensic Psychologist, testified about his son’s stay at WWASP facility Spring Creek Lodge in Utah. He stated his son spent nearly nine months in “The Hobbit”, a small structure that was no more than two shelves on top of one another, his body barely able to fit.
It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. So cold, his orange he stored away at night was frozen by morning. He was forced to sleep on a small shelf and to urinate in his drinking cup during the night. He etched the words “Let Freedom Ring” on one of the shelves.
At WWASPS’ High Impact facility in Mexico bathroom accommodations were atrocious. There was absolutely no privacy of any kind when showering or using the restroom. In a recent lawsuit filed in Texas, it was said some children in WWASPS facilities were forced to eat their own vomit.
During the jury trial WWASPS, et al. v. Sue Scheff, et al, some of the jurors cried as they watched video clips of the “Box,” where American children were reportedly hog-tied, hand-cuffed, duct-taped, starved, and slugged by staff. Video clips were shown of children who were locked in dog cages in the hot Mexican sun at WWASP’s High Impact program in Mexico, sometimes for days at a time. Children were forced exercise beyond their capacity in the heat of the day.
High Impact was shut down by the Mexican government for allegations of child neglect and abuse. Although Robert Lichfield, Ken Kay, and Karr Farnsworth claim High Impact is not a WWASP program, former employees and parents testified they were. Employees testified they were asked not to divulge the program’s association with WWASP – one employee testified she traveled to High Impact with Ken Kay, president of WWASP, who specifically warned her against divulging its association with WWASP.
One WWASP victim who had been trafficked by WWASP through five of their programs sobbed in court as video clips of children in dog cages were shown. Children’s hands were tied to the corners of the dog cages as they lay in the scorching Mexico sun.
One boy went down to 80 pounds during his confinement at WWASP’s Paradise Cove. He was hidden from television reporters. His confinement within the WWASP Empire of children’s programs ended 4 ½ years later with his removal from the cages at High Impact.
WWASP, the largest corporation in the industry, continues to keep thousands of children from all over the United States in its programs each year. President Ken Kay and founder Robert Lichfield say their numbers are growing with today’s social problems. They deny all allegations of fraud, child abuse and neglect. The company admitted to annual revenue in excess of $90,000,000 from all its corporate shells – that was in 2004 and the numbers continue to grow.
Four separate countries, all with limited child protection laws, have shut WWASP facilities down for suspected child abuse and neglect, including Casa by the Sea in Mexico, Dundee Ranch in Costa Rica, Morava in Czech Republic, Paradise Cove in Western Samoa, Sunrise Beach, Mexico, and High Impact, Mexico
Something to ask ourselves … Can we believe all of these allegations are false? Coming from poverty-stricken nations who would normally welcome American money?
There are legitimate and good programs for children. But it is up to the buyer to beware, as in this case the stakes are very high – their children.
SUMMARIZED:
Children Warehoused for Profit:
Two young college students offering parents a weekend wilderness experience for their troubled youth stumbled onto a need in the early 90′s – parents at their wits end willing to do just about anything to “fix” their child. The response was alarming.
Their project grew into a multi-million dollar industry where children are warehoused for profit to facilities that are virtually unregulated and have little to no governmental oversight, oftentimes hiring untrained, unqualified staff. While some tout the program as having saved their lives, for many the results have been devastating. Reports of abuse, neglect, and deaths have been seen in hundreds of news articles, television reports, and now documentaries. For this, parents pay between $40,000 to $100,000 per year, with some children remaining in their programs for up to three years or more.
Still, most people are not aware it exists. Their marketing skills are excellent. Parents are convinced it’s a good idea to have their child woken up in the middle of the night by perfect strangers, escorted to facilities hundreds and thousands of miles from home, to a place parents have often never even visited. There, children are locked up without access to the outside world. Parents are not allowed to speak with their child for months, sometimes up to a year or more. Letters are censored or not sent at all. All contact with the outside world is prohibited for most children. Mandatory seminars for both parents and students have been reported as using brainwashing techniques.
I would urge parents to do their homework before sending their child or teen away. Any program restricting parent/child communication longer than the typical 2-week cool-down period should send out red flags. We warn our children to stay away from strangers and I believe it is our responsibility as parents to not put them into the hands of strangers without first doing extensive research. Please visit http://www.caica.org for more information.
April 7, 2007
By Isabelle Zehnder
© 2007