I just found out a distant relative has just sent their 14 year old son there. It is a long sad story of a fanatical parent determined to straighten out a kid who doesn't want to go to church and who has been basically kicked out of his house.

Looking around the internet at this West Jordan UT school for troubled youth, the info I am finding is troubling....

Does anyone have experience with this place?

topping for input--anyone?

Did you do an Internet search yet? There have been all kinds of bad things relating to Mormon run boot camps, many in place just to make non-believing kids conform to Mormonism.

From Wiki:

West Ridge has been the subject of several lawsuits. On May 15, 2008, Tyler Elsey, a former student, filed a lawsuit against the school in Utah District court alleging negligence and sexual abuse. As of June 2009, the case was inactive (the status in the Utah court system is given as "notice of removal").[25]

On April 9, 2010 a lawsuit was filed against West Ridge Academy, its board of directors, and several employees alleging medical malpractice, lack of informed consent, negligence, negligent placement, breach of fiduciary duty, outrageous conduct inflicting emotional distress, fraud, negligent hiring/retention, and breach of warranty. That case is still ongoing.[26]

On January 2, 2009, Eric Norwood, a past student of the academy, published an article alleging abuses and controversial practices at the ranch.[27] On January 9, 2009, Salt Lake City radio station KRCL invited Buttars, current West Ridge staff, and Eric Norwood to the talk show RadioActive! to discuss the article, but Buttars and West Ridge staff declined the invitation.[28] On October 21, 2010 Norwood sued West Ridge Academy in California District court, alleging negligence, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. That case is still ongoing.[29]

The Academy professes to be nondenominational[3][5][30] and open to all regardless of religious affiliation. However, former students and staff at the academy say that there is a connection with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church).[31] The Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church, H. David Burton, said that the LDS Church "has been and continues to be a long-time supporter" of West Ridge Academy.[32]

The usual high-level lying in Mormon leadership:

"Lawyers Admit Mormon Church Operates West Ridge Academy / Utah Boys Ranch"


http://www.examiner.com/article/lawyers-admit-mormon-church-operates-west-ridge-academy-utah-boys-ranch

and
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/01/05/680293/-Trapped-in-a-Mormon-Gulag

Eric Norwood's blog seems to be missing. He may have taken it down for legal reasons.

Parents who send their kids to these hell holes . . . grrrrrr!

How could any responsible parent send a child of theirs to that place?

Chris Buttars used to be in charge. He is uneducated, and pure evil. Need I say more?

...this guy?............

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/southpark/images/6/62/Butters-SPG.png/revision/latest?cb=20120211215553

he's uneducated ? he definitely needs to spend some time at a remedial / reformitory institution.

I was sent there back in 2000-2001. It was bad. Work crew . . . . underwear in the snow, physical and mental abuse.

I still suffer PSTD from it and it irreparably harmed my realationship with my parents. I can only hope it's gotten better since then.

+1

This is terrible to hear such a place exists and that brainwashed parents send their kids there in order to brutalize them into conforming to a bogus and cruel religion against their will. How can this be legal? It seems like child abuse. I can’t say enough bad things about Mormonism. I’m so sorry your relative is going through this. In the long run, they will lose any relationship with their son over their foolish decision. I hope he makes it through with the least possible negative effects. This is sick stuff.

A bit of an update from when I first posed the question back last summer. He is now out of there and with loving relatives. Things are going to be better for him and I am so relieved he is finished with that place!

That's good news. So he's not with his folks anymore then? Is he still LDS? Thanks for the update, I didn't notice the date.

Just because I'm feeling like Don Quixote this week and trying to generate some bad online press, Do you know if him, or his parents or relatives would be willing to actually review the place? I know it's hard to talk about it, it took me 17 years to get past the mental blocks this place puts up about discussing what goes on there. The more alumni and former residents I can get to review this place, the less kids will be sent there.

Places like this can be unsafe and abusive. They better keep tabs on this kid and make sure he's ok. Don't let them ignore what he says about the school, if he's not treated with respect and decency.

To report and document what goes on there?

There must be a way to get such an awful place shut down.

After such appalling treatment, are these kids supposed to slobber all over themselves with gratitude and love for the LDS church??? Somehow, I don't quite see that happening.

Having retired from a child-placement unit, I was horrified to see the mormon foster parents. THE MOST EVIL OF THE LOT!!!

Had I been in charge, I would have shredded applications at the mere site of "LDS." That was when I was a TBM, and it was embarrassing as hell. I finally broke confidentiality and told various bishops about the abuses going on in families who would march in every Sunday with their strings of children and look oh-so-martyred-and-pious!

We hadn't contacted West Ridge, but I have no doubt that is was as sleazy and money-grabbing as the rest.

It's all for the cash!

Still ranting!

The abuses were so horrifying, that I won't even list them here!

One girl aged out, and I advised her to hire an attorney and name the county in a law suit before the records were destroyed after five years. One problem is that there is (was) a statute of limitations on child abuse, and these horrors are often discovered after those time periods are up.

I guess I was lucky, if you can call it that. My father sent me to a state run boy's ranch in Oregon. I imagine the Mormon institutions charge some hefty fees. Dad may have hated me, but he loved a good bargain. The state picked up the tab for his failure to parent.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2015 10:57AM by donbagley.

Well the other side of the coin is that troubled teenage boys are no picnic to deal with anyway. What sort of place does a good job with these hooligans? Should we just let these vagrants and creeps do whatever the H*** they want? Because we just luvv them sooo much and everyone is a victim, and noone is responsible for their actions because they are so sweeet, and poverty is soo hard to deal with. And they are minorities... booo hooo

Sorry if I don't fawn over all these sweet spirits... But It can be miserable to work in social work having been there myself and seeing so many good people who want to help, driven out and changing careers.

A modest proposal.

Yeah.

Their official website


West Ridge Academy

http://westridgeacademy.com/

So I'm actually a former inmate myself. M6my parents dropped me off at this place 2 weeks before my twelfth birthday. My clinician was MR. I was scared and angry and refuse to tell him my name when he asked. My parents had already left and I was in the room alone with him. After my refusal he wrestled me to the ground, placed 2 of the legs of a chair on my wrists and proceeded to sit on the chair and consistently add pressure until I complied. Abuse in that facility is part of how they operate. I have many many horror stories.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2015 08:30PM by Susan I/S.

I think there are places that do a good job with difficult kids.

But abuse will never change anyone for the better and cannot be excused EVER.

Evil, seriously messed up people are attracted to these institutions because they will be able to operate unchecked.

So I just wanted to poke this thread a little bit because of my personal crusade. I've been looking for survivors of this place or their families that would be willing to post online reviews. I figure that the more negative information that is out there the less likely parents are to send their kids here.

If you or someone you know has had any involvement here let's try and get them to help shut it down.

This tread is about to close, so I will give more of an update. He ran away twice from the relatives who turned out to be very "my way or the highway". He is now with another relative who got permanent guardianship. He will have no more contact with his parents. It is just a sad, messy mess.

That's what this place does, it makes bad situations worse. My heart goes out to you, him and all your relatives

Spent 11 months at west ridge in 2006 and 2007. I was on the girls side and the first (probably only) student to have a child. They were cruel and talked down to me because I was a mother. They have a mentality of completely destroying who you are in attempts to brain wash you into what they want. I know the perception to the parents seems like the perfect solution. One of the other girls went to her counselor for help with feeling suicidal. Their solution was work crew, where you walk with hands behind your back head looking at the gound, when stopped you put your nose to the wall. You do not speak for any reason unless spoke to and are not aloud to school or any other activites. You are sent to literally clean a whole gym floor with a TOOTHBRUSH! If you have family there get them out before you lose who that person was forever!!!

Man, I thought Odyssey House was bad... (another Utah Rehab, not mormon one though)

I met a couple of people who came from this place; it was either this or the Renaissance Ranch. From what I was told, they were pretty terrible.

When treatment centers aren't subject to regulatory policing or state compliance testing, or random inspections, they can get away with just about anything. For a good example, read about Scientology and the stories of people who have had to stay at places like the 'Gold base', and slept om cockroach filled cots, were subject to beatings, and placed in a circle where people screamed insults and berated them. This is only a few steps below the things that go on that their so-called narc-anon treatment centers. I could go on and on about this so I'll just stop their.

Not having to kowtow to government regulation can give you the freedom to do a lot of things and do things your way, but it also puts organizations in an ethical position to act humane, use established clinical treatment methods, and not simply be a revolving door to cash in on desperate people looking for help. Unfortunately, I've seen, experienced, and heard very few examples where this happens- Unless you're paying out the nose for a place like Passages, and then it's useless for a whole other list of reasons.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2015 06:49AM by midwestanon.