WWT 3rd Year Anniversary Letter: Call to Action to support #SICAA

Dear survivors, advocates and allies,

Cornelius “Corn” Frederick, a 16-year-old foster youth living at Lakeside Academy in Kalamazoo, Michigan, passed away on May 1, 2020, after being restrained by six staff members for throwing a sandwich. His last words were, “I Can’t Breathe.” Cornelius’ death brought on criminal charges filed against three staff members. 125 youths were removed and relocated out of the facility, and state officials terminated contracts with Lakeside. These events transpired against a national media frenzy: survivors claimed the facility was a “torture chamber”, the nation asked how this could have happened, what went wrong, and called for urgent federal action to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future. 

In the 2 ½ years before Cornelius’ death, Michigan DHSS had documented and substantiated 56 violations; however, department investigators allowed Lakeside to keep its operating license with the proviso that the facility submit an “Acceptable Action Plan”. Emergency services were called to Lakeside Academy 237 times in 18 months before the incident, and Cornelius was subjected to more than 10 physical restraints before his death. It is our position that if Lakeside Academy had been held accountable for its past violations, Cornelius Frederick would still be alive. 

On May 10, 2020, the We Warned Them Campaign released our first letter addressing the abhorrent abuse, neglect, exploitation and death in the “troubled” teen industry (TTI). 

Nine days later, seventeen-year-old Naomi Wood would die after being denied multiple requests for medical attention by Teen Challenge’s Lakeland Girls Academy (LGA).

Instead of honoring Naomi’s request to see a doctor when she was extremely sick, she was given pepto bismol 20 times and prayed over in the month leading up to her death, despite Teen Challenge’s “72 hour” policy that states if youth are sick more than 72 hours they will be taken to the ER or urgent care. Teen Challenge is a religious school exempt from state oversight, but claims oversight from a private company called FACCCA that has an infamous history of failing to protect youth from abuse, neglect, exploitation and death. An FL DCF report on Naomi’s death substantiated child abuse, medical neglect, and inadequate supervision of youth at Lakeland Girls Academy. Naomi Wood should still be alive. 

In March of 2022, we launched a campaign to shut down Agape Boarding school in Stockton, Missouri. Twenty human rights organizations and countless individuals added their signatures to the letter presented to lawmakers in Missouri outlining our concerns and requests for action. As a result, news outlets, celebrities, officials, and the general public took to social media platforms in droves, calling out the lack of progress to end the abuses against children at Agape. 

In January of 2023, Agape officially closed its doors, but the victory was short lived when we learned that former Agape staff members Jennifer and Jason Derksen filed the paperwork to establish Stone of Help (SOH), described as a ‘home for troubled youth’. This is a prime example of how TTI programs change entities to continue operating while dodging accountability. 

On February 11, 2023, at UHS headquarters in King of Prussia, PA, we organized a protest in honor of Monique Geneva Payne, who died from medical neglect at UHS-owned Westwood Lodge. United Health Services (UHS), one of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital companies, is shrouded in a slew of allegations, including but not limited to neglect, abuse, exploitation, improper restraint, and death. Monique Payne should still be alive. 

The over 350 deaths in residential facilities, combined with the daily physical and psychological abuses, is what drives The We Warned Them campaign’s call for legislation protecting youth from institutional abuse, including youth in ICE Detentions Centers and foster care. It is imperative to highlight these demographics because they are frequently trafficked into TTI programs. Lack of oversight of the child welfare system means facilities are not held accountable, and our most vulnerable populations remain collateral in this lucrative money-making enterprise.

In 2005, “End Institutional Abuse Against Children Act” was introduced by Congressman George Miller in 2005 – it did not pass. In 2007, the bill was renamed Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teen Act (SCARPTA) and introduced – it did not pass. SCARPTA was then reintroduced in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016 & 2017 but never passed.

In April 2023, The “Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act” was introduced. The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act (SICAA) addresses systemic problems within youth residential facilities nationwide by increasing oversight and data transparency of youth residential programs by implementing urgent recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). These include developing robust information sharing systems among states that also promote the dissemination of best practices for identifying and preventing institutional child abuse.

We hope you will join us in helping get this letter into as many elected officials’ hands as possible. 

In Solidarity, 

The We Warned Them Campaign

CALL TO ACTION

Step 1: Please fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1u6xmIb_v6a-kMTi4Fhk5KOa4z4TALV_75RNt7R4tCw4/edit 

Step 2:  Find your Reps by clicking the following link: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Step 3: Download or the letter and send it to your elected officials (Click on any of the visuals to be taken to the downloadable version.)

Step 4: After connecting with your elected officials, fill out the Rep Response form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1u6xmIb_v6a-kMTi4Fhk5KOa4z4TALV_75RNt7R4tCw4/edit

Learn about the bills

Both of these Bills are fairly short and digestible to read. Give it a try.

H.R.2955 – Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act

S.1351 – Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act

There are also downloadable images to share on social media breaking down the bill and more ways to support the campaign on the SICAA website.

https://www.stopinstitutionalchildabuse.com/

Thank you for your continued support.