Last month Jesus Land author Julia Scheeres, forwarded me a link from ProPublica with a headline that made of us both infuriated. There Were Warning Signs Of Sexual Abuse At a Youth Center. Indiana Kept Sending Boys and Money Anyway.
No one wants teenagers to be abused, especially at state-funded Christian facilities, but it was beyond maddening for Julia and me, because the organization running the school, Lasting Change, is the parent company of Lifeline Youth and Family Services, the entity which took over our old reform school, Escuela Caribe.
Escuela Caribe, known stateside as New Horizons Youth Ministries, first made waves when it was kicked out of Haiti back in 1974, when it was called Caribe Vista Youth Safari. Back then Caribe Vista was run by a former preacher known as Gordon Blossom, who was later called out for being a pedophile by his own daughter. 1974 was also noteworthy because that same year, the state of Michigan revoked the school’s licensure.
In 1979, Caribe Vista, along with Provo Canyon, the school Paris Hilton later attended, was publicly denounced following a congressional hearing on the abuse and neglect of children in institutions. Key moments from this report are documented here and here. The fallout led to Caribe Vista’s rebranding as Escuela Caribe.
In 2005 Julia Scheeres’s memoir, Jesus Land, inspired a wave of survivor activism, which eventually led to the closing of New Horizons Youth Ministries and to the documentary Kidnapped for Christ. At the time, we alumni celebrated…only to find out that New Horizons Youth Ministries was taken over by a company called Lifeline, and was renamed Crosswinds. At the time we alumni spoke out against Crosswinds— I naively posted about them here, appealing to their best interests. However, Lifeline wasn’t interested in reforming their programs to protect youth, furthermore, they were connected to Mike Pence, who was then the governor of Indiana.
Fast forward to November 2023, and the ProPublica report, which in addition to documenting horrific abuse, also follows the money. “Lifeline and Pierceton Woods have received about $250 million from DCS since fiscal year 2017, according to state spending records.”
The other bombshell— at the time that the abuse at Pierceton Woods was disclosed, Indiana lawmakers were on the verge of passing a law which would have granted immunity to certain state contractors from lawsuits filed by abuse victims and their families.
I’m glad that the abuse was disclosed, but I wish it would have led to a larger outcry against the abuse happening at reform schools. I’m tired of kids being abused, especially by faith based corporations. I’m glad I not just survived, but thrived, and that I am still able to raise hell, but I’m tired of documenting this story.