The New Yorker: The Shadow Penal System for Struggling Kids
October 11, 2021 The New Yorker: The Shadow Penal System for Struggling Kids
Programs Mentioned: Lakeland Teen Challenge, Brooklyn Teen Challenge, Synanon, Teen Challenge in Lebanon IN, Teen Challenge in Disney OK, Teen Challenge in Kansas City, Teen Challenge in Seale AL
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Triggers: coerced adoption, reproductive coercion, foster care trauma, spiritual abuse, conversion therapy, child death
Staff Mentioned: Shane Thompson (transport agent, director Teen Challenge Men’s Center in Jacksonville, FL), Greg and Essie Del Valle (directors of Lakeland Teen Challenge), Izella Walls (staff Lakeland Teen Challenge), David Wilkerson (Teen Challenge founder), Henry Lozano (director Teen Challenge in CA, deputy assistant to President George W Bush), Molly Fitzpatrick (ex-staff Lakeland Teen Challenge), Katy Prince (ex-staff, Lakeland Teen Challenge), Jasmine Smith (ex-staff Lakeland Teen Challenge), Dan and Holly Williams (directors Lakeland Teen Challenge)
Survivor stories from Emma Burris, Brittany Hotte, Cambrie Elle Hall-Senn, McKaila Aguiar, Madison Koref, Megan*, Quade Pike, Shea Vassar, Deanna Doucette, Amber Foster, Samantha Oscar
Teen Challenge took over a building in 2001 that had previously been occupied by a home for unwed pregnant mothers called Help Unfortunate Girls Inc. (Lakeland, Florida)
Shane Thompson was retaliated against for filing grievances against Teen Challenge
A Teen Challenge of Oklahoma student named Amaya Rasheed filed a lawsuit for unlawful restraint
A mother sued Teen Challenge in Jacksonville FL for negligence
Parents sign a contract “waiving the right to file a lawsuit in any civil court” when they enroll kids in Teen Challenge
A student named Naomi Wood died at Lakeland Teen Challenge in 2020 due to medical neglect