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The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools was an organization based in Utah, in the United States. WWASPS was founded by Robert Lichfield and was incorporated in 1998. WWASPS stated that it was an umbrella organization of independent institutions for education and treatment of troubled teenagers. Many outside observers believe, however, that the WWASPS-affiliated institutions were actually owned through limited partnerships, many of which have used the same street address by WWASPS or its principal officials or their close relatives. WWASPS is connected to several affiliated for-profit companies. These include Teen Help LLC, the marketing arm of WWASPS and the entity that processes admissions paperwork; Teen Escort Service, a teen escort company that transports teenagers to WWASPS facilities; R&B Billing, which does tuition billing and payment processing; and Premier Educational Systems, LLC, which conducts orientation and training workshops for parents whose children are in WWASPS facilities. WWASPS claims to have "helped" over 10,000 students with issues related to personal behavior. Some participants and parents give positive reports of their experiences, but others say that WWASPS programs were abusive. WWASPS has faced widespread allegations of physical and psychological abuse of the teenagers sent into its programs, resulting in a lawsuit filed against the organization in 2006. WWASPS officials report that the organization is no longer in business, and the facilities originally under it no longer associate with the name, but because of ongoing litigation, it has not been dissolved.
Tranquility Bay was a residential treatment facility affiliated with World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS), located in Calabash Bay, Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica. The facility operated from 1997 to 2009 and received notoriety for its harsh and often abusive treatment of its students, eventually shutting down in 2009 after allegations of child abuse came to light through lawsuits and highly publicized student testimonies.The adolescents reported violence to their parents, only to be ignored.
The First Baptist Church of Hammond is an Independent Fundamental Baptist megachurch in Hammond, Indiana, a suburb of Chicago. It is the largest church in the state of Indiana, and in 2007 was the 20th largest in the United States. Though founded in 1887 by Allen Hill, it was under Jack Hyles' leadership from 1959–2001 when it became one of the megachurches in the United States and during the 1970s had the highest Sunday school attendance of any church in the world. In 1990, the church had a weekly attendance of 20,000. It also operates Hyles-Anderson College, a non-accredited institution established for the training of pastors and missionaries, and two K-12 schools, called City Baptist Schools and Hammond Baptist Schools. John Wilkerson is the senior pastor at First Baptist Church.
Academy at Ivy Ridge was an independent privately owned and operated for-profit behavior modification facility in Ogdensburg, New York. It marketed itself as a boarding school. The 2024 Netflix documentary series The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping documented the conditions at the facility and the lasting impact it had on the people who attended it.
Provo Canyon School (PCS) is a psychiatric youth involuntary residential treatment center in Provo, Utah, owned and operated by Universal Health Services (UHS) since 2000. The involuntary residential program claims to use an "Acuity Based Care" (ABC) model that identifies and re-assesses the strengths and needs of its students. Residents instead receive a wide range of interventions including psychotropic drug therapy; use of physical restraints; humiliation; starvation; and solitary confinement.
Aspen Education Group is an American company that provides controversial therapeutic interventions for adolescents and young adults, including wilderness therapy programs, residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, and weight loss programs, which have been accused of torture and abuse. Since November 2006, Aspen Education Group, with corporate offices located in Cerritos, California has been a division of Bain Capital's CRC Health.
Old West Academy, formerly called Majestic Ranch Academy, is a therapeutic boarding school located in Randolph, Utah. Founded in 1986, it detains boys and girls with behavioral issues, ages 7 to 14.
Academy at Dundee Ranch was a behavior modification facility for United States teenagers, founded in 1991 and located at La Ceiba Cascajal, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of Orotina, province of Alajuela, Costa Rica. It was promoted as a residential school offering a program of behavior modification, motivational "emotional growth seminars", a progressive academic curriculum, and a structured daily schedule for teenagers struggling in their homes, schools, or communities.
Allynwood Academy, formerly the Family Foundation School, was a private, co-educational, college preparatory, therapeutic boarding school located in Hancock, New York. The school was in operation from 1984 through 2014, when it closed due to declining enrollment amid a raft of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse allegations made by alumni in a grassroots "truth campaign." At least ten lawsuits have been brought by former students since 2019, in which plaintiffs claimed that strip searches, hard labor, isolation rooms, physical restraint, and sexual assault were rampant at the school in the 1990s and 2000s. Three of the lawsuits were settled in October 2021 for undisclosed sums. A front-page New York Times article in 2018 reported a pattern of at least one hundred deaths by overdose and suicide among alumni, the vast majority before age 40.
Spring Ridge Academy, was a behavioral health residential facility for female adolescents 13-17 years old. In 2023, Spring Ridge Academy announced on their website they had permanently closed.
CEDU Educational Services, Inc., known simply as CEDU, was a company founded in 1967 by Mel Wasserman and associated with the troubled teen industry. The company owned and operated several therapeutic boarding schools licensed as group homes, wilderness therapy programs, and behavior modification programs in California and Idaho. The company's schools have faced numerous allegations of abuse. CEDU went out of business in 2005, amid lawsuits and state regulatory crackdowns.
West Ridge Academy, is a youth residential treatment center based in West Jordan, Utah, USA. It seeks to provide clinical services, education, and other programs for teens, both girls and boys, that are identified as at-risk. Until 2005, the Utah Boys Ranch was male-only. In early 2005, it opened new, separate facilities for girls and changed its name to West Ridge Academy. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation under the name Children and Youth Services, Inc. The academy states that it provides "quality clinical services, education, and experiences which promote spiritual awareness, personal accountability and change of heart." The facility has received criticism for past abusive practices toward residents, including facing lawsuits in 2008, 2010, and 2012 by former students. In 2016, the application to transition West Ridge Academy into a charter school, named Eagle Summit Academy, was approved by the Utah Board of Education after including caveats to keep public and private funding separate in the school's budgets and to ensure the safety of the new charter school's students.
Mount Bachelor Academy was an Oregon private co-educational therapeutic boarding school providing help to families of adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral disorders including, minor Depressive Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Substance abuse, and ADHD as well as help for teenagers and families struggling with adoption issues. The typical student was between 14 and 18 years of age. The average length of stay was 14 to 16 months.
Diamond Ranch Academy was a therapeutic boarding school just outside the town of Hurricane, Utah, United States. It admitted adolescents, 12–18, with various issues, including anger management issues and major depressive disorder. Diamond Ranch Academy was founded in Idaho Falls in 1999 by Rob Dias and later moved to southern Utah, where it occupied a 200-acre (81 ha) ranch. It closed in August 2023 after a decision by Utah officials not to renew the school's license.
Greenbrier Academy for Girls (GBA) is a therapeutic, college preparatory boarding school in Pence Springs, West Virginia for grades 8-12. Surrounded by a 140-acre (57 ha) campus, the Academy’s main building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. GBA is located in rural southeastern West Virginia. The Academy has been linked to multiple cases of child neglect, as well as the troubled teen industry. Greenbrier Academy announced plans to close on March 13, 2023.
Spring Creek Lodge Academy was a boarding school located in Thompson Falls, Montana. The school, formerly known as Spring Creek Community, was first opened in the 1970s by Nancy and Steve Cawdrey. In 1996, the school and the property were purchased by Cameron Pullan and Dan Peart and given the name Spring Creek Lodge Academy. For several years the school was associated with the Utah-based World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools. The school was opened as a place to address behavioral issues of young people from across the United States as well as motivate students for success.
Liahona Academy is a part of the troubled teen industry, and is a boarding school and treatment center located in Southern Utah. The program claims to be non-denominational, but its name is derived from a purported artifact described in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) scripture The Book of Mormon that is said to function as a compass.
Elevations RTC is a residential treatment center in Syracuse, Utah, for teens ages 13–18. The facility was formerly known as Island View Residential Treatment Center until 2014, when it was acquired by Syracuse RTC, LLC, which does business as Elevations RTC. The Elevations campus is shared with Seven Stars and ViewPoint Center.
Robert Lichfield is the founder of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.
The troubled teen industry is a broad range of youth residential programs aimed at struggling teenagers. The term encompasses various facilities and programs, including youth residential treatment centers, wilderness programs, boot camps, and therapeutic boarding schools.
References
- 1 2 "NWAC Accreditation". Archived from the original on July 10, 2009.
- 1 2 3 Brooke Adams, Founder's Passion Is Helping Youths, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 May 2003. Republished by Inside Costa Rica. Archived by archive.org, August 13, 2008.
- ↑ "Here's What Survivors of a 'Troubled Teen' Program Say Went On Inside", Vice News, retrieved 2021-08-23
- ↑ Troubled Teen Programs - 25 Plaintiffs Join in Lawsuit Against WWASPS, Cross Creek Manor, Robert Lichfield, and Associates – More Expected to Join In, press release by Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse, Webwire, October 16, 2006