PETITIONS
Sign a Petition to Support Survivor Causes
Shut down diamond ranch academy
"On December 20th, 2022 17-year-old Taylor Goodridge collapsed and passed away at Diamond Ranch Academy after being sick for some time, yet had not received the medical care she needed.
It has been reported that Taylor had been sick for MANY weeks and had even collapsed in her own vomit a week before her death, however she was never taken to a hospital and was told to "suck it up and "drink more water".
This marks the 4th death that has occurred at Diamond Ranch Academy (2 allegedly from medical neglect and 2 suicides) in its 20+ years of existence. Through survivor and staff testimonies, clear patterns of abuse and neglect have been reported including:
- Medical Neglect
- Physical and Sexual Assault
- Isolation and Seclusion
- Forced Labor
- Hiring of Child Sexual Predators
Taylor's family has filed a lawsuit against Diamond Ranch Academy, and will stop at nothing to make sure there is justice for Taylor. Please sign this petition to help us close Diamond Ranch Academy once and for all!"
Shut down abusive wilderness therapy camps
"As a victim of abuse in the troubled teen industry I want to use my voice to shut down wilderness camps in Utah.
If you believe that these wilderness therapy camps are abusive and unconstitutional, then please sign and share my petition. We need to call upon the federal government to shut these camps down so that way no other child has to go through this again."
End institutional child abuse
"Institutional camps/troubled teen industry (TTI) are sadly still active to this day. Thousands are located all around America and they need to be shut down.
Physical and mental abuse including sexual harassment occurs everyday at these camps. The young victims claim they are traumatized for life. Over 50,000 children are sent and incarcerated there every year.
The survivors of the torture houses are not being seen or heard. The industry’s around the world get billions of dollars every year which they do not deserve. Groups who can take power decide to ignore and push off this topic even though it is occurring this second.
“…privately-owned, powerfully punitive, and often wilderness-based therapy programs, residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, group homes, boot camps, and faith-based academies.”
Survivors and victims who are going through this right now need to be heard and need our help. More and more people will be put into these camps if we don’t help. The owners need punished and never seen again. We need to make a change and get these harmful camps shut down for good."
Demand Transparency to Community of Westbrook Maine
"It has been brought to the survivor community’s attention that Melissa (Missy) Esty, of Portland Maine, has been hired to join the Westbrook Police Department, working as one of the three new Opportunity Alliance positions, paid through a grant. This job requires Esty to be on-scene of behavioral health–related calls. These three salaried positions were created in response to a collective push for “increased transparency,” as well as to aid the department in outreach for civilian co-responders.
In light of Westbrook’s efforts for transparency, it has become prudent that another form of transparency comes forth.
Several concerned residents of Westbrook Maine found the Elan Survivor groups and reached out in horror after discovering Esty’s history of being a Director at “The Elan School” had not been disclosed to them. It is our moral duty as survivors of the Elan School, and as victims of Melissa Esty’s abuse to immediately demand transparency be given to the vulnerable community of Westbrook. This community has been left in the dark in the name of public safety about Esty’s prior history of employment, particularly her nearly three-decade-long career as a Director of the Elan School that, till this day, is still plagued with hundreds of allegations of abuse performed by Esty and other former staff. This includes the deaths of several students while she worked there.
Protect Youth from Institutional Child Abuse in Florida
"Every year, around 50,000 teenagers are forced into what is known as “The Troubled Teen Industry”. The Troubled Teen Industry is comprised of wilderness programs, boot camps, boarding schools, military schools, behavior modification programs, and residential treatment centers. They are all privately owned and for-profit companies, and most are owned by the same company; Universal Health Services.
Universal Health Services has a long-standing history of mistreatment and abuse. It is currently legal in many states for parents to sign over their parental rights to these programs and then staff can legally kidnap the child in the middle of the night and take them to some of these programs. The treatment the teens face in these facilities is abuse.
At the facility I was in, Sandy Pines Hospital in Tequesta, Florida, we were denied shampoo and body wash because it was a privilege and were forced to use a Dixie cup of orange Dial dish soap to wash our hair, clothes, and body. We had zero privacy at all times. Staff would watch us through the cameras in our rooms and even watch some patients use the restroom and shower. They even listened to our phone calls and read and took our mail. Punishments included being forced to sit on the wall in silence for hours to days on end. I witnessed multiple patients being restrained in unsafe ways and dragged into a room called “the back”. The majority of us were forced onto heavy doses of a tranquillizing antipsychotic known as Seroquel. If we refused our medication, we were punished. I witnessed my friend trying to kill herself without any care from the staff. A different friend swallowed a battery with another patient because of the neglect from staff.
In many programs, medical needs are denied with the claim that the child just wants to leave and is faking it. Some programs punish the kids by tying them to staff members, tying them to animals, striking them, denying them school, denying them food, and forcing them to do heavy manual labor. Hundreds of kids have died at the hands of the troubled teen industry and this needs to be stopped. This is an issue that has gotten worse over time and will continue to get worse if nothing is done about it.
Please sign my petition to support putting regulations in place at these programs in my home state of Florida. My goal is to reach 500 signatures and take this to the Florida Senate to show that change is needed. Many of these programs need to be shut down, and when they are, they just reopen with a new name. Laws and regulations need to be put in place to stop the institutional abuse and deaths of children."
Shut Down the Troubled Teen Industry!
"The “Troubled Teen” Industry is composed of various Congregate Care Facilities or Congregate Care Programs (CCFs/CCPs) that claim to provide housing and treatment for teens displaying “troubled” behaviors such as addiction, eating disorders, low self-esteem, general disobedience, and at times even targeting sexual orientation and gender identity. These facilities are often privately run by various companies, nonprofits as well as faith-based organizations. There are anywhere from 120,000–200,000 teens estimated to be currently enrolled in these CCF/CCPs. Despite the deceptively benign intentions behind the programs, the experiences of the youth forced into these programs are often anything but pleasant."
Ban "Gooning" To Troubled Teen Industry Facilities!
"When I came to Sen Gelser Blouin nobody had been tackling the teen transport issue. There were literally no rules. The industry was running in an environment similar to the Wild Wild West and ed consultants were working with transport agents to increase business for both. Ed consultants had even started asking for parents to refer other troubled teens that could be transported to programs. But we SHUT IT DOWN! We passed legislation to ban dangerous restraints like prone position and others that could kill a kid in transport or at a program. We banned gooning teens out of state to states with lax child abuse laws and less oversite of their teen rehab and troubled teen industry facilities. We made sure to put in place rules for ed consultants and anyone who wanted to transport kids within state. Rules that have basically ended the practice of gooning as we know it in Oregon. I'm very proud of the progress we have made over the last few years and I'd like to ask that you join us in banning this predatory, abusive, and dangerous industry!
Please share. Please consider donating $1-$5-$10, whatever you can as we will need a lot of reach on this and need this petition to really get out there so we can use it in state legislatures to convince lawmakers to take bold action against this very real and growing threat to our teens! Thank you all for your support! I will keep you updated on our efforts!"
Accountability for Troubled Teen Industries
"Wilderness therapy is part of the troubled teen industry. These programs take children and put them in the middle of nowhere to "teach" them life skills while also trying to "help" them with what they are struggling with (ie. drug addiction, depression, eating disorders, etc).
Many face abuse or neglect while in these programs, this could be having water or food withheld because they aren't doing what the guide asked, but most cases are of neglect. The government of Utah repealed a law that stated if any safety or wellness laws were broken organizations would lose their license. This would potentially put these children at greater risk of abuse. If Utah state code 501-8-23 doesn't get reinstated, these programs will continue to get away with the harm and neglect of these children.
This is urgent to protect the children of the future."
END TROUBLE TEEN INDUSTRY
"Numerous teens struggle with addiction,mental illness,etc. The troubled teen industry is supposed to help these numbers,although,many organizations made to help have turned into abusive, torturous, brainwashing hellholes. These organizations are known to add the trauma from the treatment onto the originating problem,other than helping the illness.
WILDERNESS THERAPY AND SOME BOARDING SCHOOLS/RESIDENTIAL ARE NOT THE ANSWER. SAVE TEENS DONT HURT THEM!!!!
I can confirm i have friends who have been to these places. I am going to a wilderness therapy treatment at 6am tomorrow. It is called Aspiro and it is in Utah. Make this change while I am gone. Save us from the trauma, abuse, or even death.
Share this on your Snapchat, Facebook, EVERYWHERE. No one knows the feeling until they know they are going to one of these places. Strange bodyguards kidnapping you from your homes. Going far away to a place you've never heard of with strangers. The torture and abuse alone is DISGUSTING. Imagining even leaving home for a new change is scary by itself. Don't put your kids through this. Don't do this to anyone without their consent, which you don't need from the kid going. The cruelness of these places is horrifying and unnoticed.
MAKE A CHANGE!"
Shut Down New Haven Residential Treatment Center
"In September of 2010, I was 17 years old. I suffered from Bipolar type I disorder and an eating disorder. I was hiding a sexual assault that occurred when I was 13 from seniors at my high school. I was a good kid. I was a kind kid with a big heart. After an attempt to take my own life that almost killed me, I was sent to New Haven Residential Treatment Center's North Campus in Saratoga Springs, Utah. My parents were told it was the only way to save my life. They loved me and wanted to help me. But they were lied to by deceptive marketing tactics and fear-mongering, when they were at their most vulnerable from my almost dying. The billion-dollar Troubled Teen Industry preyed on their yearning for my well-being and my safety.
I now work with Unsilenced to dismantle The Troubled Teen Industry and provide evidence-based, alternatives to sending children to Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) programs.
While I lead a happy life today, my childhood was robbed from me by New Haven Residential Treatment Center. I will never get that time of my life back. I may be healing, but the scars are still there. I lost my closest friends because of New Haven RTC. I never got to walk at graduation, despite graduating from my high school back home. I developed academic trauma and burnout from the stress of graduating my high school back home at New Haven RTC. My parents and I struggled with our family relationship for a long time after. I developed a mistrust of people and authority figures. I developed C-PTSD from New Haven RTC, and they made my eating disorder worse, while not properly treating my Bipolar Type I Disorder. Today, I am married to a wonderful man, we own a home, we have the sweetest dog, and I have repaired my relationship with my parents who love me very much and have done everything they can to help me. But this is not thanks to New Haven. This is despite New Haven. I am stronger than New Haven. I have a happy life despite the trauma of spending my senior year of high school at New Haven, being abused.
Sign this petition to show support for shutting down New Haven Residential Treatment Center. I survived. No other child should have to survive the torture and abuse I endured.
Shut down New Haven Residential Treatment Center. Protect kids from child abuse, disguised as treatment."
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