I sat down on my couch last week, digging through my DVR like any normal Thursday night, when I happened across a program I remembered seeing mentioned on my Facebook wall, prompting me to set it up to record.Â The title — KIDNAPPED FOR CHRIST.Â Â

As Jon and I sat down to watch this Showtime documentary, I admit, in my head, I had already made a pre-judgment about what the film would entail.Â We see daily in our newsfeed or in the media stories about conversion therapy or â€œgay reparative treatmentâ€. But what I found was more horrible than I ever imagined.

The documentary follows several young troubled teens who have been sent to Escuela Caribe, (photo left) a Christian â€œschoolâ€ in the Dominican Republic,Â specializing in â€œCulture Shock Therapyâ€ and behavior modification programs.

One of the children the story follows is 17 year old David. He recounts how he was awakened one day by his parents and told that he was being sent to a school in a foreign country.Â With much protest, David was eventually â€œdragged to his parentâ€™s car with a belt around his waistâ€ and sent off to the Dominican Republic.

In the beginning of the documentary, the school allows a camera crew to follow the daily activities and interview the students; even some staff were interviewed. As more and more of the story unfolded, I sat there feeling anger growing inside of me thinking, this isnâ€™t school, this is abuse. Child abuse!

These kids were being broken down by pastors and so called house fathers (older peers that help enforce punishment and oversee the dorms). The kids are encouraged by the house fathers:

â€œWe have great opportunity once again to see what God is about in our life.Â Are you willing to submit to Godâ€™s will in your life? Persevere through these failures that sent you down here?â€ Â

One house father, Brian Wall, was captured in an interview discussing the QR – Quiet Room – which could be compared to a prison solitary confinement:

â€œIâ€™m not going to say there was not any form of abuse, thereâ€™s no denying that whatsoeverâ€.

The kids’ daily routines consisted of, cooking, cleaning, manual labor and bible studies, with punishment for deviation. Routine inspections were also performed on their dorms, with what seemed like military or prison expectations. The beds were made in military fashion with special corners. If clothes werenâ€™t properly hung, they were ripped out of the closet and thrown on the floor and then the owners were punished.

The students were subjected to a range of abuse including intense forced labor, physical beatings (called “swats”), and various forms of emotional abuse. Student progress was recorded on point sheets.Â The higher you scored the higher the level you attained and the less abuse you were subjected to.Â The house fathers would coerce the students by bribing them with the point sheets. Students had to ask permission for everything. â€œMay I step in and eat?â€ was a question from Beth, one of the female students, at dinner time.Â When she didnâ€™t get an answer, she just shrugged her shoulders and said, â€œPatience is a virtue, I guess!â€

I have to tell you, I as watched this play out on my television screen, my anger turned to sorrow. I literally had tears running down my face.Â I felt for these kids who had no choice in their own daily life.Â Granted some of these children were troubled and even stated that this place saved their life, but for David and many others, they were dumbfounded by why they were there.Â David (right) could only guess that his parents were angry with him after revealing to them he was gay:

â€œThey sent me here to hide me. I donâ€™t trust my parents for sending me here. So I donâ€™t trust the program. Iâ€™m trying to find the trust because I want my parents back so bad.â€ David went on to say, â€œI feel like Iâ€™m going to lose my mind here, I feel like Iâ€™m going to crack.â€

The documentary team stated that the school didnâ€™t allow them to film confrontations between the staff and students.Â They ended up setting up equipment in secret to capture some of these moments.Â The school only wanted â€œprettyâ€ scenes. One of the students went on to say:

â€œIf you knew what really went on, you would be sad. Maybe it is abuse, maybe it is training. Iâ€™m supposed to be leaving in August but things change, they can always change your parentsâ€™ minds, for money.â€ Â

With a yearly tuition of $72,000, Escuela Caribe has a higher tuition than the average tuition at Harvard University – $38,000 to $60,000 a year.Â

This so called therapy is doing more harm than good.Â Parents are deplorable for sending their children out of the country and out of the federal government’s reach to Godâ€™s Boot Camp! I have to say that I was very grateful for the parents I was given in this life!

In the film it was coming up on Davidâ€™s eighteenthÂ birthday and he was sure that he would be able to leave then:

â€œThere has to be some king of law against holding you here past the age of eighteen. I know this is the Dominican Republic but this is a US establishment and Iâ€™m a US citizen. I should be free by my eighteenthÂ birthday.â€

But no! David was told by the staff and the pastor at the school that he didn’t have rights in the Dominican Republic.

Soon after the film crew was kicked out!

David’s friend Angie, heard about the place through a note David sent through the documentary crew. She began getting a group together to go down and get David out on his eighteenthÂ birthday.Â They tried to get Marc Ellis of the United States Consulate involved because David was an adult, but when they confronted Escuela CaribeÂ with paperwork, they were told David wasnâ€™t there and they were not able to see him. It became clear to Angie and the other would-be rescuers, that they were not going to gain access to David.Â

They returned to the United States empty handed.

Seven weeks later, a U.S. Judge ordered a writ of habeas corpus requiring David to be set free. Upon his release David was scared into not talking to anyone.Â Escuela CaribeÂ threatened to sue the documentary team. At first, for fear of getting anyone in trouble, David complied and wouldnâ€™t speak about his ordeal to Angie or the documentary team. But shortly thereafter, David reached out and explained that the staff had warned him that if he went further with the interviews, he would destroy any chance of having a relationship with his parents.

David met in Colorado with the crew and wanted his story told.

Towards the end of the film, the crew caught up with some of the children who had been released from Escuela Caribe earlierÂ and were now living their lives.

â€œThe Quiet Room was the worst thing down there.â€ – Former student. Â â€œI still get nightmares about the swats, (a running punishment- inaudible) until the point of coughing up blood â€“ I canâ€™t forget these things.â€ – Former student. â€œI try to think about the positive, I am angry at the staff members who watched the bad things that happened to students and did nothing.â€ â€“ Former employee. â€œItâ€™s crazy how they would twist the words of the bible just to make their actions and what they were doing seem legit.â€ â€“ Former student. â€œI did whatever they said I should do to get out.â€ â€“ Former student.

Facts from the Film that are shown on the films ending —

Â These schools exist because they are in places out of reach of the federal Government.Â None of these programs are subject to any federal regulation.Â Since the 1970â€™s, at least 157 American teenagers have died in behavior modification programs. According to Forbes magazine, programs like this are a 2 billion dollar industry.Â Most parents they say are tricked into sending their children to programs like this. Retiring Rep. George Miller from Ca, has tried bringing action in Congress 4 times, failing to ever have this matter voted on. In January 2012, New Horizons Youth Ministries and Escuela Caribe shut its doors. The property in the Dominican Republic was donated to Lifeline Youth and Family Services. They renamed it â€œCrosswindsâ€. Â They are currently enrolling teens in their behavior modification program.

For more information on how you can stop abuse in adolescent residential programs go to:

www.kidnappedforchrist.com

Watch the trailer:



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