World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools

Programs it has run

34 on record.

• A Better Way Youth Academy Vaitele, Samoa | Closed
• Academy at Ivy Ridge Ogdensburg, New York | 2001-2009 | Closed
• Bell(e) Academy Terra Bella, California | 2003-2003 | Closed
• Bethel Girls Academy Petal, Mississippi | 1997-2005 | Closed
• Brightway Adolescent Hospital St. George, Utah | 1993-1998 | Closed
• Camas Ranch Plains, Montana | 2007-2009 | Closed
• Canyon View Park Trout Creek, Montana
• Carolina Springs Academy Donalds, South Carolina | 1998-2009 | Closed
• Casa by the Sea Baja California, Mexico | 1998-2004 | Closed
• Coral Island Academy Fiji | Closed
• Cross Creek Center La Verkin, Utah | 1988-2011 | Closed
• Cross Creek Manor La Verkin, Utah | 1986-2011 | Closed
• Darrington Academy Blue Ridge, Georgia | 2004-2009 | Closed
• Eagle Point Christian Academy Lucedale, Mississippi | 1978-2005 | Closed
• High Impact Baja California, Mexico | Closed
• Horizon Academy La Verkin, Utah | 2004-2013 | Closed
• Linden House St. George, Utah | 1998-2000 | Closed
• Midwest Academy Keokuk, Iowa | 2003-2016 | Closed
• Morava Academy Brno-Bystrc, Czech Republic | 1998-1998 | Closed
• Never Give Up Youth Healing Services Amargosa Valley, Nevada | 2013-2023 | Closed
• New Beginnings Maternity Home Utah
• Oceanside Teen Center Mexico | 2008 | Closed
• Old West Academy Randolph, Utah | 1986-2019 | Closed
• Paradise Cove Aufaga, Samoa | 1994-2000 | Closed
• Pillars of Hope Centro America, Costa Rica | 2004-2012 | Closed
• Pine View Christian Academy Mississippi
• Royal Gorge Academy Cañon City, Colorado | 2006-2008 | Closed
• Sky View Christian Academy Hawthorne, Nevada | 2005-2007 | Closed
• Spring Creek Lodge Academy Thompson Falls, Montana | 1979-2009 | Closed
• Sunrise Beach Cancun, Mexico | 1995-1995 | Closed
• Sunset Bay Academy México, Mexico | 2008-2009 | Closed
• Teen Mentor School Tarcoles, Costa Rica | 2010-2011 | Closed
• Tranquility Bay Calabash Bay, Jamaica | 1997-2009 | Closed
• US Youth Services Lecompte, Louisiana | 2015-2018 | Closed

People

The people the network map ties to the company, with their other jobs in the industry.

• Robert B. Lichfield

  founder, owner

  Elsewhere in the industry

  • Provo Canyon School Dorm parent, Director, Director of Residential Living (1977-2025)
  • Academy at Ivy Ridge Staff (2025)
  • Cross Creek Programs
  • Browning Distance Learning Academy owner

• Karr Farnsworth

  president

  Elsewhere in the industry

  • Provo Canyon School Staff; later WWASP president
  • Cross Creek Programs director, owner
  • Browning Distance Learning Academy trustee

• Ken Kay

  president

  Elsewhere in the industry

  • Brightway Adolescent Hospital Director, Night staff (1998-2026)
  • Cross Creek Programs program director
  • Browning Distance Learning Academy superintendent

News coverage

• Paris Hilton supports MI bill preventing use of restraints in 'troubled teen' transport My UP News | Mar 18, 2026 | event About one of its programs

  A Michigan bill aims to prevent the use of restraints during the transportation of minors to residential treatment programs. The bill was supported by Paris Hilton, who shared her own experience of being taken from her home in the middle of the night and restrained. Other survivors also testified about their experiences, including Elizabeth Bennett-Faucett, who described being transported to a facility in Mexico against her will.

• TEEN TORTURE: Sapulpa native advocates for boarding school regulation KJRH | Jan 6, 2026 | expose About one of its programs

  A Sapulpa native, John Moody, shares his story of experiencing physical abuse and trauma at Bethel Boys Academy in Mississippi. Moody is now advocating for increased regulation of behavioral boarding schools. The academy has since shut down, but many states still lack oversight of these types of facilities.

• I was abandoned 2.5k miles from home at ‘Lord of the Flies’ troubled teen school – I thought I’d die any day from abuse The US Sun | Jul 27, 2024 | lawsuit About one of its programs

  Survivors Allen Knoll and Dave Bowsher made a documentary together called Teen Torture Inc., which is streaming now on HBO Max. Bethel Boys Academy in Lucedale, Mississippi was closed in 2008 Many pictures of students and campus life Founded in 1978 by Reverend Herman Fountain Students were repeatedly removed from campus in connection with credible allegations of child abuse beginning in 1980 yet the school was allowed to remain open for 10 more years When the state finally intervened, Herman Fountain assaulted a police officer and consequently served 9 months in prison After prison, Fountain reopened the facility under a modified name in 1994 A staff member who was known to be particularly abusive, William Knott, was never held accountable for his crimes at Bethel. However, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for child abuse at his next workplace, Restoration Youth Academy, in 2017 Includes stories from Bethel survivors Allen Knoll, Daniel Edwards, Dave Bowsher, Ralph Nock, Steven Caccamo, Colin Buckley Buckley and Caccamo are also survivors of Academy at Ivy Ridge Buckley and Caccamo founded a non-profit called the Troubled Teen Advocate Group to help other survivors Bethel survivors filed a class action lawsuit that failed Herman Fountain’s son, John, took over as director in the final years of the academy Parents filed a lawsuit against Bethel that was settled out of court A lawsuit filed by a survivor’s father resulted in Bethel and Knott being ordered to pay out nearly $1m Bethel rebranded as Eagle Point Christian Academy in 2005

• An Examination of Allegations and Practices Within the Troubled Teen Industry Refinery29 | Jun 29, 2021 | expose About one of its programs

  Multiple survivors have come forward with allegations of emotional, physical, and psychological abuse within various residential treatment facilities and behavioral modification programs. Former residents report practices including involuntary transport, isolation, forced labor, and peer-to-peer shaming sessions, prompting increased public scrutiny of the troubled teen industry.

• Investigation Reveals Recurrent Ownership and Oversight Concerns Across Montana Youth Residential Programs Missoulian | Jan 26, 2019 | expose About one of its programs

  An investigative report examines the network of owners and administrators operating private residential youth programs in Montana, highlighting instances where individuals with histories of regulatory violations, licensing revocations, or criminal charges established or worked at multiple facilities. The report details multiple civil lawsuits against facilities including Reflections Academy, alleging failures to protect students from staff misconduct and inadequate state regulatory oversight.

• Former Montana Residential Program Students Report Isolation and Punitive Practices Missoulian | Jan 25, 2019 | expose About one of its programs

  Former students of various private residential programs in Montana detailed institutional practices such as prolonged social isolation, physical exertion punishments, and behavioral restriction levels. Documentation and interviews also revealed instances of physical restraint, restrictive dietary measures, and allegations of forced peer physical contact overseen by facility staff.

• 12 years, 58 complaints, no sanctions at Montana residential programs Missoulian | Jan 23, 2019 | expose About one of its programs

  Over a 12-year period, private residential programs for youth in Montana accumulated 58 complaints without facing any significant sanctions from the state regulatory board. The oversight body, primarily composed of industry representatives, maintained closed records and dismissed complaints regarding uncertified staff, facility safety violations, and operational noncompliance.

• Allegations of Abuse in Residential Treatment Programs for Teens Dissident Voice | Apr 20, 2006 | expose About one of its programs

  The article reports allegations that several privately operated residential treatment programs for adolescents employ coercive discipline, physical and chemical restraints, and isolation, resulting in reported trauma among former participants. It also describes corporate ties, political contributions, and legal actions related to these facilities.

Lawsuits

• Newman v. Lichfield, et al. 2006 | Ruling | Supreme Court of Montana (appeal from the Twentieth Judicial District Court, Sanders County) | DA 10-0548

  Outcome: Newman settled with Spring Creek, Teen Help and National Contract in early 2010. A jury returned a defense verdict for Lichfield and WWASP on October 27, 2010. On March 6, 2012 the Montana Supreme Court affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded for a new trial, holding the trial court wrongly limited evidence on foreseeability.

  Judith Newman sued over the death of her daughter Karlye, who was found hanged at Spring Creek Lodge Academy in Thompson Falls, Montana on October 7, 2004 and died at age 16. She filed suit on October 23, 2006 against Spring Creek and its directors, later adding WWASP founder Robert Lichfield, WWASP, Teen Help, National Contract and Peacox, and alleged negligent care, wrongful death and deceptive marketing to parents of suicidal youth. She settled with Spring Creek, Teen Help and National Contract in 2010, and a jury found for Lichfield and WWASP in October 2010. On March 6, 2012 the Montana Supreme Court reversed in part and ordered a new trial. The documents do not show what happened after remand.

• Dungan, et al. v. The Academy at Ivy Ridge, et al. 2006 | Filed | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York

  Families of former students filed a class action complaint on July 25, 2006 in federal court in the Northern District of New York against The Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg, its owners, WWASP and Robert Lichfield, an accrediting body, and several referral companies. The complaint alleges the defendants falsely told parents and the public that Ivy Ridge was licensed and authorized by New York State to award high school credits and diplomas. It brings claims under RICO and New York law, including fraud, conspiracy, deceptive business practices and breach of contract. The document on file is the complaint and does not show how the case ended.

• State of Iowa v. Benjamin G. Trane Ruling | Iowa District Court for Lee (South) County; Iowa Supreme Court

  Outcome: Convicted December 22, 2017 of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist (pattern, practice or scheme), and child endangerment. Sentenced May 10, 2018 to 9 years in prison. Convictions affirmed by the Iowa Supreme Court (State v. Trane, 934 N.W.2d 447 (Iowa 2019); No. 21-1211, January 6, 2023). Trane reported to the Lee County jail to begin his sentence in March 2023. In postconviction proceedings the Iowa Supreme Court (No. 23-1928, January 31, 2025) reversed the grant of a new trial on the child endangerment count.

  Benjamin G. Trane opened Midwest Academy in Keokuk, Iowa in 2003 and ran it until it closed in 2016 after state and federal agents searched the school. In 2015 a female student reported that he sexually abused her, and two male students reported physical abuse; the State of Iowa charged Trane with third-degree sexual abuse, sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist, and child endangerment. At a jury trial in Keokuk in December 2017, a child protection worker testified that the Iowa Department of Human Services and the FBI had received a report in March 2015 that students were held in isolation rooms with human waste, and agents described searches of the school on January 28, February 1 and February 11, 2016. On December 22, 2017 the jury convicted Trane of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, a pattern, practice or scheme to engage in sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist, and child endangerment. He was sentenced on May 10, 2018 to nine years in prison, ten years of supervised release and sex offender registration. His appeals failed: the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the convictions in 2019 subject to a rape shield hearing, affirmed again on January 6, 2023, and on January 31, 2025 reversed a lower court's grant of a new trial on the child endangerment count.

• Wood, et al. v. World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, Inc., et al. Unknown | Fifth Judicial District Court, Washington County, Utah | 120500380

  William Chase Wood and several hundred other former students and their parents sued the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS), founder Robert Lichfield, his business partners and dozens of affiliated programs, marketing and billing companies in Utah's Fifth Judicial District Court in Washington County. The document on file is the plaintiffs' 228-page first amended complaint, submitted July 24, 2013, which refers to claim sheets filed in the case on December 17, 2012 in opposition to a WWASPS motion to dismiss. It alleges that students placed at WWASPS programs in Utah, other states, Mexico, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Samoa and the Czech Republic from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s were beaten, restrained, locked in isolation and small boxes or cages, denied food and medical care, sexually abused and forced to work without pay. It alleges the programs operated as a single enterprise that deceived parents and concealed the abuse, and brings negligence, fraud, contract, conspiracy and emotional distress claims. The document does not show how the case ended.

• Houlahan v. World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, et al. Appeal | U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia | 1:04-cv-01161

  Outcome: Clerk's Judgment was entered in favor of Defendants against Plaintiff, a motion for a new trial was denied, and the plaintiff filed a notice of appeal.

  Thomas G. Houlahan was the plaintiff in a federal case against the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP) and others in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The only document on file is the report of the plaintiff's expert witness, industry consultant Lon Woodbury, filed as an exhibit on February 1, 2006. Woodbury's report compares WWASP programs to industry standards, citing referral fees, commission-paid marketers, enrollments far over 200, open-ended phone blackouts, students used as junior staff to enforce discipline, and more abuse claims and closures than at other programs. The document does not state the plaintiff's claims or how the case ended.

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