My dear Angel.......Some higher power put me in touch with your book on the Net!
Last year and early this year, my daughter and I were searching for a boarding school to put my granddaughter in for a year to catch up on all the school she has missed and get her away from the crowd she has been running with. At the moment, she has left her home and is seeing this boy who is from another planet! We are at our wit's end with this child. But I have to tell you, she is a very sweet girl ( when she chooses to be) but very manipulative.
My granddaughter has ADD and has been on Ritalin for the last year. She does fine as long as she stays on it but the moment she decides that she doesn't want or need it...she gets crazy!! Her mother has done everything possible for this child. Counseling, sports, you name it, she has done it. But my granddaughter is at that awful and wonderful 16 yr. old stage. One moment you love her to death and the next, you want to just nail her.
What a mouth! No one in our family uses the kind of language she uses.
Just recently, she has discovered the birth control center for teens! We know that she isn't going there to get her teeth checked! And the boy! God, give us strength! He is from the other side of the tracks, so to speak. Dare we say anything? No! because we know the more we say something, the more defensive she becomes. However, she knows that we don't approve.
We were all set to send her to a school in Utah and were still investigating the school when I started going through the articles on the net and downloaded your book.
I must tell you…, it changed our whole outlook. I sobbed throughout your whole book. As incredible as it all my seem, I don't doubt a word of it. The words of some fellow on the other end of the telephone line came rushing back! It scared the beejesus out of me. We would never have been able to live with ourselves had we even had the remotest idea what these schools where like!
You have saved my granddaughter from a fate worse than death. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to write of your family's experience. We are looking into a mentoring program as I write this letter to you.
May the good Lord bless you and little Katie.......I just hope she will be able to cope with life soon and that her mother finally sees the break of dawn. She must be suffering in her own private hell for unknowingly putting her daughter through this horrible nightmare. Don't look back. You have done a wonderful service to many, many people….Your family must also know the truth but just can't handle the guilt.
Walk in peace, dear one.
DEAR ALEXIA,
Dear Miss Alexia,
I know that you are basically against any type of boarding school for teens and to tell the truth I'm a little concerned about the no visit, no contact rule myself. I love my son dearly and I want only the best for him.
My son is a very angry and rebellious young man. He's also a very bright in tune young man but he's also 15 yrs. old and I have no control over him nor do I have any influence in his life or the decisions he makes. I'm worried sick about him. My son does exactly what he wants when he wants if he wants to. He was diagnosed when a learning disability ADHD
early on. He has had every special -ed opportunity there is. From regular class w/extra help in a regular class, special ed. class in regular school for part of the day, special education class in a regular school for the whole day, special ed public day school to a special-ed private day school. His pattern has always been he'll go for maybe a month
or two then he'll decide if he wants to go or not. If he decides he doesn't want to go he won't. I'm at my wits end!
What can I do? Who can I turn to for help! Knowing how you feel are, there any "residential schools" that you would recommend? I want to help my son, I'm trying to
save his life. . .A very sad yet desperate Single Mom,DEAR PARENT,
First, my praise for you for avoiding residential schools, and working to find the right solution for your son. There are other options!
It's also important to recognize that *residential schools* are now a multi-BILLION dollar industry and are VERY sophisticated at marketing to the fears of parents. They use
key words in their brochures that are market-tested and designed to encourage parents to send their children away from home and into their programs. Parents with children in these programs may also become part of a school's marketing outreach. When "program" parents refer others to a particular facility, they may gain financial benefit for this referral, either in cash, or in tuition waivers for their own child. Remember: they want your child, and your money. And your child will only be "fixed" when your money runs out, or they reach age 18, whichever comes first.Then too, ADHD, as the media and medical experts such as Dr. Mary Ann Block, author of No More Ritalin, Treating ADHD without Drugs (Kensington Publishing) are now beginning to report, is for the most part, an *invented* illness, as is ADD, by the pharmaceutical industry to sell mood altering drugs to kids, via medical and school facilities.
Part of your son's problem, in fact, may be that he has been placed in special ed. classes, itself. This has a HUGE negative impact on a child's self esteem. They are considered second-class citizens by other students. Disabled, etc. when, in fact, some of them are the best and brightest kids in the school and simply have a DIFFERENT learning strategy. The kids who typically get sent to special ed. and drugged, etc. are kinesthetic learners, that
is, they're hands-on learners. They have to move to learn.
Second, another HUGE part of the problem is that you're a single Mom. That means that your son probably went through the turmoil of a divorce. Kids go crazy when their parents
divorce. Typically, the boys get angry and defiant. The girls get weepy and withdrawn. This behavior gets kids in trouble, or drugged by well-meaning adults.
One recommendation is to try mentoring. Mentor your own child as a parent-mentor. The Education Exchange sells our 10 Golden Rules workbook on parent-mentoring for $25. To order it directly call (303) 443-3697 or print out the book order form on their website and fax it to (303) 443-0892..
A second recommendation is to only consider boarding schools if they allow children to come home for normal school holidays, and allow you the right to visit the school and your child whenever you want... from the first day to the last. Anything else is suspect!!!
Third, consider taking your son out of school completely. Read Jeffersonson's Children, by Leon Bolstein. He's president of Bard College and also Director of the Children's Summer Symphony in Aspen, Colorado. He recommends taking kids out of school after 9th grade and placing them in Vo-Tec, Apprenticeships, Computer-Science schools -- based on their special interests or skills -- or even in a local community college to take a few college classes while also finishing up a high school equivalency program or GED. Community colleges will permit high school students to do this.
Share good news!
Alexia Parks
DEAR ALEXIA,
Hi Alexia. 12/20/04. We are compiling a reader by and for teens on the systematic abuse of children in institutions such as those on your website. Could you please post the
following on your website:
Call to submissions for a new reader about abusive institutions for youth entitled Teenage Lobotomy: a Zine about the Institutionalization of Youth.
The reader will consist of:
-An introduction to the abuses that take place at therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment facilities, and wilderness programs
-Personal stories and interviews from students, parents, and ex-teachers
-Disscussion of alternative ways to help "troubled" teens, including art therapy, various forms of counseling (such as utilizing AA outpatient programs
or talking to mentors for help), and other programs that encourage healing in positive ways.
-Information about mental health, youth emancipation and "manuevering the system" (such as the prison system and juvenile detention centers)
We need your stories.
This may include:
-Where you (or your child, or your friend) were sent
-Specific disciplinairy techniques used
-Reasons for being sent away
-What the staff was like
-How the experience affected you (or your child, or your friend)
-Approximate relapse rate
-Legal actions taken against the institution (if there ever were any)
These are only guidelines. You may tell your story in words, pictures, or any form of communication that will bring your experience to life.
This reader is being compiled by two teenage artists and writers- Nick, who was locked up in the Family Foundation School in New York, Second Nature
Wilderness Program in Utah, and Saint Paul's Prep School in Arizona, and his close friend Sarah.
Contact us at:
Nick- mindweller@yahoo.com
Sarah- orangescum@yahoo.com
or write to
3706 72nd Street # 5H
Jackson Heights, New York 11372DEAR ALEXIA,
(Note to readers: Morava Academy was closed by the Czeck government, due to evidence of child abuse and child torture, shortly after I received this email.)
I AM WRITING TO YOU OUT OF CONCERN FOR MY DAUGHTER (name withheld), WHO WAS TAKEN FROM SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, BY HER MOTHER TO THE CZECH
REPUBLIC AND PUT INTO THE MORAVA ACADEMY. ALL THIS WAS DONE WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER KNOWLEDGE AT THE TIME SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING ON
VACATION TO AUSTRIA.
THIS HAPPENED ON MARCH 18, 1998, AND I WAS JUST INFORMED THROUGH A LETTER FROM MY EX-WIFE THAT THIS WAS THE BEST FOR OUR DAUGHTER (TROUBLED TEEN). SHE WENT ON SAY THAT THE PEOPLE AT MORAVA WERE WONDERFUL AND "D" WAS IN THE BEST CARE.
TO MAKE THE STORY SHORT, I WROTE MY EX-WIFE BACK AND TOLD HER THIS WAS A PRISONER OF WAR CAMP , THAT I HAD READ ABOUT [facility name withheld]
AND SAW THE TV SHOW ABOUT THIS "PRISON CAMP". I INFORMED MY EX-WIFE THAT I WOULD NOT CONTRIBUTE $1.00 TO THIS PROGRAM. I FURTHER ADVISED HER IT APPEARED THAT MORAVA AND [facility name withheld] WERE OWNED BY THE SAME COMPANY OR AFFILIATED. PRESENTLY I AM TALKING WITH AN ATTORNEY TO SEE IF THEY CAN GIVE ME SOME SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO GET MY DAUGHTER OUT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC.DEAR ALEXIA,
My 16 year old daughter's boyfriend was abducted on Labor Day from our house and was taken to [a facility] in Lucedale, Mississippi and I feel like it may be very much like the one that Matt Grise is at. ( He was smoking pot and not doing well in school, so his mother thought he was out of control). I have been worried sick, as he has no contact with the outside world, except his parents, and has not been able to receive letters. He was taken by a escort service and his parents and I can not find any information on this school.I love this boy. His name is C. [name withheld] and he is 16. I am so worried about him. Please let me know what I should do and if you have any reports about this place.
M. ----------------
Dear M., If you, or someone at your home, witnessed the abduction (KIDNAP) of C., please do the following:1. Write down exactly what you saw. Did you know the abductors? Do you remember what they looked like? How did they approach C.? How was he taken from your house? Did he say anything? What kind of a vehicle was he transported in? Was there any ASSAULT-- that is, was he threatened with bodily harm, mace / pepper spray, handcuffs, etc. if he didn't cooperate? Was there any BATTERY -- that is was he physically struck? Was he transported across state lines? Write down as many details as you can remember.
2. Take this information to the following agencies (A) the local District Attorney's office; (B) Child Protection Services; and (C) to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in your region (because C. was taken across state lines). Tell them that you believe that a kidnapping has taken place. Tell them, in person and in writing, what you know. Ask them in, person and in writing, to investigate. Then follow up. Ask them do their job.
Kidnapping is kidnapping. Assault is assault. Battery is battery. Child abuse is child abuse. They are required to protect citizens (including teenagers) when laws may have been violated. They need to investigate: has a law been broken? Ask them to do their job. Make them do their job.
They may tell you: (1) We have BIGGER problems to solve, and are already overworked; (2) We don't have enough staff to pursue every complaint; (3) We will get to it sometime in the future. Ask them to do their job. Make them do their job.
If necessary, if they ignore -- or postpone action on your request -- write a public letter to the editor of your local newspaper and complain. One of the most important things you can do -- as a caring parent -- is help break the TRANCE.
Agency staff and others are all too often held in a trance-state by words such as "escort," "intervention," "behavior modification," "school," "attitude adjustment," "emotional growth." These are trendy words that are being used to cover up criminal actions such as: kidnap, abduction, child abuse, and child torture. Ask them to do their job.
Follow up. Make them do their job. If they investigate and find that the abduction was kidnap, ask them to prosecute. One way to stop the abuse is to charge kidnapers with kidnap. This will have a chilling effect on the entire industry. Few people will want to risk spending up to 20-years in jail for kidnap.
Some facilities encourage parent-support groups. They will attempt to launch a protest rally, or jam the courtroom with program supporters. Some people have referred to this group-tactic as similar to that of a lynch-mob. It makes people fearful, and afraid to do their job.Tell the District Attorney to expect agitators. Ask the DA to remind the Judge that he or she can order the courtroom cleared of all visitors.
Kidnap is kidnap. What needs to be discovered is simply: Did a kidnap take place?
Please do what you can to protect this teen. And, please share good news when you have it.
--Alexia Parks
DEAR ALEXIA,
Firstly please let me apologize for this rather long e-mail, I know that
you must receive many, more urgent and important communications
every day. I am sorry if at times that it is rambling or perhaps
incoherent but I find this a deeply emotive subject.
I am, a resident of a small town near Edinburgh, Scotland. Some 13
days ago I read an article in one of our national newspapers "The
Scottish Daily Express" written by their New York correspondent.
The article began thus...
"Logan Doil was asleep when they stole him and he struggled hard
as his parents who had instigated the kidnapping of their troubled
child, sat silently in the next door living room"
As I quickly scanned that article over my breakfast table on that
Monday morning in June the words "typically American" entered my
head. And yet as I went to work as normal and as the day wore on
an increasing sense of unease crept over me.
Later I re-read the whole article, this time with great care and my
reaction was one of shock and a profound sadness, both for this
young man and his parents and for the other young people
mentioned.
The piece ended with the reporter describing his (Logan's) progress
in the (Name Withheld) after 18 months in Samoa - "He also seems
to be entering the world of the reasonable. He even understands the
need for the handcuffs".
This article seemed balanced and whilst highlighting the accusations
also found space for those who felt that the programme had saved
them from themselves.
A happy ending surely. So I thought - I went to bed having pity on
those poor young people and their parents having to endure such
ordeals and believed for me that this would be the end I and would
carry on as the day before, my knowledge of the world increased by
another sad story.
It wouldn't rest, I had an inner feeling that something was wrong and
this unsettled me more deeply as days went by. Late last week I
decided that it might help put my mind at ease If I were to look into
these things a little more and try to understand them.
I visited a few web sites for these programmes and they seemed
benign enough although it seemed that the same names kept
cropping up. But then I was led to other sites, Libertarian Rock and
Votelink among them.
As I read the posts and articles my initial shock and sadness was
reinforced and was joined by an increasing sense of horror,
revulsion and despair.
I can understand that there may be a need for some kind of 'drastic
intervention' to help save the lives of young people in trouble,
perhaps there is even a case to be made for incarceration, though
certainly not on the scale that is apparent and certainly not for
private profit, and certainly not without due legal process, diligence
and oversight by independent bodies.
Unfortunately that itself may not even be enough, over the last two
decades in my own country (I speak of the United Kingdom here
and not just Scotland) we have grown accustomed to horror stories
of systematic abuse and torture of young children in various homes,
mostly, I am sad to say run by local authorities. The children spoke
out one by one, little voices in the wilderness, in Middlesborough,
Stafford, North Wales and other places.
But of course none of it could possibly be true, they were in places
of safety cared for by deeply committed professional adults. They
were only children and simply didn't understand their situation or
they were devious and manipulative attention seeking little horrors
making malicious allegations to get their carers into trouble because
they couldn't get what they wanted.
For years, decades even, few would listen to those little terrorized
voices, but now we know better, we know that these things did go
on, that adults placed in a position of trust charged with caring for
the more vulnerable of society's most precious assets abused that
trust but worse, much worse endulged in systematic and
institutionalized abuse of the children. Many of these abusers have
been brought to justice, there have been a number of public
enquiries, new laws have been passed, tighter rules imposed.
The saddest thing of all is that for all the prosecutions and the new
laws we cannot truly heal the hurt of these young people, now often
adult.
And yet today when cases of abuse come to light, I am sadly no
longer so shocked - we have become hardened to it, until now. Now
I hear new voices in the wilderness, only today they are in a
faraway land - a land like mine of supposed civility and freedom -
telling of unspeakable terrors.
Much that I might wish to be able I cannot, however hard I might try
empathize with these young people or their parents for I could not
possibly imagine their desperation and fear nor plumb the depths of
their terrible despair.
I was brought up a Catholic, taught the love and power of god, I had
no choice, I was made to attend chapel and learn these things - at
least until I was a young teenager and was able to begin the journey
of thinking for myself and rebelled against it.
In most of my teenage years and all of my adult life I have only ever
prayed at times of great personal grief. This weekend, I think for
the very first time, I am praying to a god whose existence is for me
at best uncertain for the tortured souls of strange young people and
their parents.
I do not think of myself as an emotional man, though I like to feel
that I have a sense of natural justice and compassion, both are
being tested on this the Birthday of your nation.
I am not a 'campaigner' either, I have never written to my elected
representative on any issue, never marched in protest, hardly ever
even signed a petition in my local high street, I am one of the 'silent
majority'. I have never followed up any other cause in my life I have
always learned of sad stories and said well that is a pity, now I have
to get on with my life, but this is just too damn close to home for
comfort.
Yet what can I do, I am only one person thousands of miles away, a
cannot write my senator or congressman for I have none I am not a
citizen of your country.
This 4th of July you celebrate the birth of your great nation a little
over 200 years ago. On Thursday the 1st of July my small but great
nation at a new dawning celebrated the recall of its parliament after
300 years, at the opening ceremony young people were given a
prominent place, for they are our hope, our future.
I truly do not know what I can do, but what I will do is this, today I
will try to do the next best thing to writing a senator or congressman,
I will write the US Ambassador to my country, and I will write the
newly elected First Minister of our new parliament and ask him to
bring the subject up with the US Consul in Edinburgh and I will write
the Member of the UK Parliament for the constituency neighbouring
mine and ask him in his capacity of UK Foreign Minister to look at
this and hope, perhaps forlornly, that maybe a little bit of pressure or
at least attention can be brought to bear on the representatives of
your government, even though I am sure that great attention and
pressure is already applied by your campaign.
I honestly do not expect that this will really make a great deal of
difference, but If we do not try to get those people to listen to the
little voices in the wilderness then the suffering such that it may be
will go on unchecked and that would be a tragedy. It brings to mind
a quotation by whom I do not know, but remember it being made by
Our Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the outset of the Gulf War
and again by our current prime minister Tony Blair at the beginning
of the terrible Balkan crisis.
In paraphrase " it requires only that good men do nothing for evil to
prosper", so I will not do nothing I will try to do something however
small, however forlorn.
I will return now to finding out more about this issue, I will continue
to read the posts and articles on the websites and to shed a tear or
two. I feel as thought I am embarking on an odyssey of discovery,
perhaps what I discover will be deeply unpleasant, perhaps not,
perhaps I will find out more about myself, perhaps not but something
tells me this is something I should do.
I will close now with the following thoughts, I do not know the extent
of your work and campaign, I am now very keen to keep upto date
with its progress and the outcome of this whole sad affair - I will be
watching from afar with interest. It seems to me that you and your
colleagues / helpers / advocates can be thought of as brightly
shining beacons of hope in the wilderness, perhaps that is what all
of us who are free and normally untroubled can be.
Know this Alexia - for your cause and for these young people - a
new tiny little beacon of hope burns now in a faraway land and will
continue to burn until the wilderness is tamed and these young
people and their families are able to be free of their demons.
With a stranger's love and kind regards
John S.
DEAR ALEXIA,
Why my parents sent me to Mtn. Park--
I was in the gifted-talented program in public school at home, but I wasn't being challenged by school, so I was getting bored and stopped trying. My mother and step father were getting upset that my grades were "less than perfect" and grounded me for literally 2 years- it was an indefinite punishment when I was 12- for having a C in my Advanced English class in the 7th grade. I was allowed to go only to school and church, and I was not allowed to have friends over at all. I was allowed 2 calls per day, incoming only, and only from females, and each call was limited to only 5 minutes. When summertime came and I was at home all day, the doors were to remain locked at all times, with me inside, and my mother would take all phones to work. I was not allowed to go outside with my friends in the neighborhood, or even to speak to them. Most of my preteen and teen years I can only remember
the nights I spent locked in my bedroom trying to pretend I had a different family. When they realized it was the only punishment they had left, my mother would use making me leave my bedroom and spend an hour or more in the living room with them either watching TV or on her exercise bike as punishment for doing wrong when spanking didn't seem to fit.
My mother never wanted the responsibility of children, but since she felt stuck with me, she expected me to be the perfect daughter. When I wasn't, she decided I had to go.
My mom married her HS sweetheart in her Sr. year of High school. They were married roughly a year, when she found out she was pregnant. According to my mother, my father didn't want children- and I have a half-brother he has done the same thing to, so I tend to believe her. When my mother was 7 months pregnant, my father went AWOL from the US Army to leave us both in Waco, TX. My mother was devastated, and moved back to Oklahoma with her grandmother. She knew that she couldn't have an abortion and still face our family- and it was already too late for that anyway.
She has made no secret that she has blamed me my entire life for my father leaving her. She has made statements to that fact many times. One of the stories she has told that hurt the worst was in front of my grandfather and great grandmother when I was 17- just after I came out of MP. We were visiting with my grandfather when he was here on vacation, and talking about things we regretted doing as teenagers. Right before we left, she made the remark, "Well, I've only been drunk once in my
life, on my 19th birthday. Nine months later, THIS THING comes along, " and she points in my general direction. I was born almost 9 months to the day after her 19th birthday.
When I was 1, my mother remarried and he adopted me. They divorced when I was 6. My mother didn't marry for love, but for the money and power his family held in the small town where we lived. She took me and fled to California, where my grandfather lives, and wouldn't let my adopted father see me for quite a while. She used me as a tool to get child support from him. She then remarried when I was nine to a man fifteen-years her senior. He had 2 daughters from a previous marriage who were already out of the house and married before he married my mother. The oldest daughter was only 5 years younger than my mother and was very vocal in her protest to the marriage- still is 16 years later. The younger daughter was usually very sweet. He, on the other hand, didn't want another child, "to put up with," and only grudgingly accepted me as part of a package deal he couldn't leave out.
The abuse began when I was 12. My step-father realized that no matter what he did, my mother would idolize him and shut me out. So, he began abusing me when she wasn't around. It went from giving me more severe punishments when I had done something wrong- corporal punishments, including beating me with different objects, and mental cruelty- and followed up to sexual abuse. This man, in his mid 40's, would walk around the house completely naked in front of me and thought it was perfectly normal. His pass-time, when he wasn't out driving his semi-truck, was to sit at home completely nude in his recliner in the living room and watch TV while he played with himself. AND THIS WAS A GROWN MAN WITH TWO ADULT DAUGHTERS. I've spoken with one of them about it, and she said he never did that in front of her. He eventually began to use whatever opportunities he thought he could
get away with to try to touch me in various ways. I remember one time in particular I had come home from school and he was there. He told me I had done something wrong that day- although I'd been home for only 20 minutes and hadn't seen him- and needed to be spanked. He always had me remove my pants and underthings for spankings, even at 14. He told me to bend over the couch and got his belt. Instead of swatting me, he bent down and looked at me in this position, then he leaned forward and kissed my buttocks, trying to make a joke out of the situation. "Your ass has been kissed," he said. I felt sick.
When I finally began telling my mother about this, she didn't believe a word of it. "You just have to mess things up for me, don't you? Why can't you just be happy I'm finally in a relationship with someone I want?" She would say. He was a totally different person when she was around, and I honestly don't think she would care if he did hurt me. I finally got fed up with it all and realized I wouldn't get any help that summer- 1991. One night, after a particularly grueling argument with them, over why they would not let me take band anymore- my one extra-curricular activity (she claimed I only wanted to take band because I wanted boys, go figure, I majored in music in college) I ended up getting a beating for not agreeing with them and arguing back. I finally got tired of it. I went in my bedroom and pushed my daybed against the door. I packed a small bag and jumped out of my window.
My parents found me and beat me again, taking me to the local youth shelter and telling them I was an "uncontrollable runaway". I tried to tell my pastor and youth minister when they came to visit me what was going on. They didn't believe me. My parents decided they needed to "take care of the problem". They kept me there for 2 weeks while they made arrangements to take me to New Bethany in Louisiana. They didn't tell me where we were going, and just dropped me off there. When the place closed down after 6 months, they were referred to MP. I went in Jan. 5, 1992
The abuse didn't stop while I was away. On my only home visit during my time there, for Christmas of 1992, I wanted a pair of roller blades for Christmas. I didn't get them, but I got enough money to pay for half. I asked my mother if she would pay for the other half, and she said I would have to ask her husband. He said he'd think about letting me earn it, I said ok. On the day before I was to return, he was doing his usual naked TV routine, and I went into their bedroom to watch TV by myself, as my mother was at work. At one point, he came into the room and stood in the doorway, posing with his hand on his hip. He was non-chalant, "What are you doing?" he asked. I told him watching TV. He stood there for a few minutes, then squeezed between me and the TV- I was sitting on the edge of the bed, and there was only about 10 inches of room between the bed and the TV cabinet without someone there.
He laid down on the bed behind where I was sitting and proceeded to touch himself, and look at me. I kept my eyes focused on the TV as well as I could while scooting away. He finally looked up and said, "So you wanted those rollerblades, right?" I said, " yes." He asked, "Well, what were you planning on doing to earn that money?" I got up and left the room. I locked myself in my bedroom until my mother came home.
I tried to tell her what happened. Of course, "you're lying". Then I asked her not to send me back to MP. I didn't realize my step-thing was standing behind me until he pushed me forward, causing me to trip over the side of my daybed. He said, "We don't want you, I don't care if you don't like it. You're going back!" He went out in the garage and I continued to try to talk to my mother. He came back with a group of ropes that they used for water skiing- the really scratchy kind. they took off my skirt and top and tied me to the bed in my underwear- "so you can't runaway". I was in my room, and they were between me and the door. I wasn't trying to runaway. They called Mrs. Wills and told her I was trying to run, and then called my pastor and said I was possessed of demons- good 'ole Fundamental Baptists. My mother then sat on my chest while I screamed for help, and my step-thing sat on my legs and held me down. My mother would shove a stuffed-animal in my mouth to stop the screams and say, "It's not MY fault you're possessed."
My pastor arrived and talked to me. I tried to tell him what happened that day and he went to talk to my parents. He came back in and sat down, then asked in the sweet-preacher voice, "That didn't really happen, Angie, did it?" I knew there was no use. I pleaded with him, but he just called a deacon and loaned them his car to drive me straight back. I was put back on orientation and lost my privileges I had earned for being there over a year.
I knew I'd be there until I graduated, so I booked it on my schoolwork and did 2 years in one. I graduated at 17, in May of 1994. I knew if I went home before I started college I would be walking right back into the same thing, so I stayed to help for the summer. My parents had other plans. They had a meeting with the Wills, which I was not allowed into, and discussed the terms of my "employment". They agreed that I would stay for another year, and be paid $300 a month during that time- a sum I never saw. I was paid $150 for the month of June then taken off staff. I was still held against my will until my parents said I could come home, even though I had the money to buy a bus ticket. I was not allowed to call out, not allowed to write letters, simply held there and made to work in the school, as before, with no pay and no privileges. I was finally allowed to leave July 23, 1994.
I'm sorry this is such a long letter. I have never put all of this down in writing and it's taking a lot to write it. It feels good to finally get it out, and I hope my story might help someone else. I might try using part of my story here on my website, but feel free to use this at will. I don't care how many people pass my story on, so long as it can help others.
Sincerely,
Angela M Collier <AngelaCollier@sbcglobal.net>