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Susan
Oldham, Daughter at Carolina Springs, South Carolina (WWASP)
For profit teenage
treatment facilities have only come into my world in the last year.
I came upon Carolina Springs Academy on the internet. Kami
Farnsworth (child of the former president of WWASP) told me
wonderful things about the facility. Little did I know the shame,
humiliation, and fear for her own well being my daughter would soon
feel.
Shortly after my
ex-husband took my daughter to Carolina Springs Academy, I began to
receive disturbing letters from my child. Our “family rep” told they
were all lies. I began to have trepidations about her incarceration
there. My fears were met with “canned” responses repeated again and
again.
I decided that this
place was terrorizing my daughter This caused an avalanche of “well
wishing” program parents telling my ex- husband to keep her at
Carolina Springs Academy at all costs. I became scared. I knew that
they sent kids to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica.
I searched the
internet and discovered that the place was a “Devil’s Island” for
kids. I heard horror stories of children being sent to this place,
and others like it without the consent of the custodial parent. My
ex-husband told me not to go to Carolina Springs Academy without
letting him know. I knew I had to get my child out as soon as
possible.
The next phase of
this story begins in South Carolina. The directions on the internet
are false. When I called the facility, they refused to tell me how
to get there, and then blocked my calls. I finally found a sheriff
after 8 hours on the road, and 4 hours of searching for my daughter
in small towns and swamps. He then called a deputy.
The deputy refused
to take me to the facility. According to him, he liked the place and
it was too late in the evening. The deputy even stated that if I
went to Carolina Springs Academy, he would arrest me.
The Sheriff told me
I did not have custody of my daughter anymore. I showed him my court
ordered, notarized custody agreement and said “Why not?”
The Sheriff replied
that I had signed all of my rights over to Carolina Springs Academy.
I informed the Sheriff that not only had I NOT signed over my
rights, I had only agreed to a 3 month program and it had been 3 and
a half months.
He then asked me if
my daughter was a “crack head,” and told me how much he liked
the school. I was forced to stay the night in a hotel without my
child.
In the morning, I
went to the police again. After disappearing for ten minutes, a
different officer was willing to help me.
I truly believe
that if I had told the staff members at Carolina Springs Academy of
my plans to withdraw my child, she would have been sent to another
facility.
I will never forget
the look in my daughter’s eyes when I held her in my arms.
I had a cold soda
and some comfort food waiting in the car. She was drinking the soda
as her “family rep” came by. My daughter ducked down and hid, afraid
to be seen with a soda. I said, “Honey, you are with Mom now. It’s
alright.”
With fear in her
voice, my child said, “Mom, you don’t understand. I’m used to being
screamed at all day.”
By the way, Allison
says that the Governor visits on a monthly basis. He also has them
sing at his rallies. He provides scholarships to SCA “graduates. I
can only testify to what I have seen. My daughter has heard and seen
unspeakable atrocities. She still has nightmares. You will have to
hear about what she witnessed from her.
Post Script 12/28/04
NO CHILD
should be subjected to what my daughter went though. These FOR
PROFIT “treatment centers “ are nothing but legalized child
abuse centers.
Attested to on this
date: December 29, 2004
Susan Oldham
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