Methodology
Teen escort companies regularly employ the practice of gooning, a form of legal kidnapping occurring predominantly in the United States, in which parents hire rehabilitation organizations to seize children they perceive as troubled and transport them to boot camps, behavior modification facilities, residential treatment centers, substance abuse treatment facilities, wilderness therapy, or therapeutic boarding school. [4] [5] [6] In most cases, the organizations send a group of people to show up by surprise and force the teenager into a vehicle. [7]
Children to be transported are often picked up during the middle of the night to take advantage of their initial disorientation and to minimize confrontation and flight risk. Aggressive tactics, such as being assaulted, restrained with handcuffs, or hogtied with cable wires, are common. [4] [8] [9] Children are sometimes picked up at school, with the school staff unaware of the escort company's employees' true intentions. [10] : 568
Children who resist are frequently threatened, restrained with handcuffs or zip ties, blindfolded, or hooded. [7] Children who have been gooned frequently report post traumatic stress disorder, problems sleeping at night, and recurring nightmares into adulthood. [4] Paris Hilton's documentary This Is Paris details her experience at age 17 with gooning, culminating in her transport to Provo Canyon School where she was abused. [11] [12]
United States
As a transport option, parents in the United States are able to hire teen escort companies to transport their children from their homes to residential treatment centers (RTCs) and other facilities in the troubled teen industry. [13] [14] These facilities go by many names, and include private religious re-education facilities, [15] [16] teen residential programs, wilderness therapy programs, therapeutic boarding schools, boot camps, or behavior modification programs. [17]
In 2004, it was estimated that there were more than twenty teen escort companies operating in the United States. [17] [18] Parents may use this type of service when they believe their child needs treatment outside the home, but are unable or unwilling to travel there. [19] The service can cost $5,000 to $8,000 U.S. dollars (up to $10,500 in 2024). [4] Many teen escort companies do not have any training or background requirements for prospective employees. [10] : 568
The use of such services is controversial, because the services are subject to little or no government regulation [18] [20] [21] [15] and because they are associated with treatment services which are themselves controversial. For teenagers seized in the middle of the night by strangers, being abducted by a teen escort company may result in permanent trauma. [15]
Supporters—including many clinicians and parent advocates—argue that when lower-intensity services have failed and risk of harm or elopement is high, planned professional transport to a licensed residential program can be the least-risky way to complete admission. [22] Provider literature describes “clinical” or “therapeutic” transport models that emphasize de-escalation, consent-seeking where possible, advance safety planning, and family communication before, during, and after the handoff to the receiving facility. [23] [24] This discussion sits within a wider U.S. youth mental-health crisis, in which residential treatment is recognized by major medical bodies as part of a continuum of care for adolescents who cannot be safely treated in the community; outcomes vary by program quality and aftercare, but multiple reviews report clinically meaningful improvement for many youth. [25] [26] [27] Some U.S. jurisdictions have also begun to regulate aspects of youth transport and residential placement to increase oversight and safety standards (for example, Utah requires youth transportation companies to register with the Office of Licensing, carry liability insurance, and submit staff for background checks). [28] [29] [30]
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