Former Resident Alleges Abuse, Forced Labor at Teen Challenge of Oklahoma
Program admits to monitoring calls and reviewing correspondence.
Plaintiff Brooke Parker alleged in a recent federal lawsuit that while she was a minor resident of a Teen Challenge boarding school in Oklahoma between fall 2014 and spring 2016, she suffered “systemic abuse, neglect, exploitation, and forced labor.”
New Lifehouse Academy campus in Oklahoma / Photo via Google Maps/Photos
New Lifehouse Girls Academy is a Teen Challenge and therapeutic program for troubled teens. Parker said New Lifehouse promised families like hers that she would receive “safe and therapeutic care in a structured and nurturing environment.”
Instead, Parker claimed she was abused, neglected, humiliated, assaulted, spiritually coerced, isolated, and forced to perform unpaid labor.
Much of the control, Parker said, was accomplished through “inescapable surveillance” as a tool of coercion and intimidation.
When Parker entered the program, she was struggling with an eating disorder, the lawsuit alleged. Immediately, Parker said she was stripped of any method of communicating with her family and of her personal belongings. She was allowed to “earn” back those belongings as part of the disciplinary process at the school.
Parker said when she was allowed to call her family, her calls were limited to two per week, each lasting no more than 10 minutes. She said all calls were recorded and that the staff listened in on them.
At one point, Parker claimed she tried to inform her family about her broken foot during a call, but the call was immediately ended by the staff.
Despite her eating disorder, Parker claimed she was subject to strict food rations along with all of the other residents, and sometimes was forced to eat expired food. She was also allegedly forced to “confess” her sins in front of the other residents and participate in a public humiliation.
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She said she was forced to work in various roles for no compensation, including 12-hour shifts at a nearby fireworks stand, often when she should have been participating in her academic instruction.
By performing her various roles, Parker believes the Teen Challenge of Oklahoma program was enriched because it avoided costs of hiring paid staff.
Parker is seeking damages for many alleged injuries, such as psychological distress, delayed academic progress, lost wages and economic exploitation, physical injuries, and loss of trust. She is also seeking recovery of costs and $150,000 per violation based on 18 U.S. Code Section 2255, a federal statute covering personal injury and abuse of minors. The code does not have a statute of limitation.
In its answer, Teen Challenge admitted that Parker was a resident at the New Lifehouse Girls Academy and that they work with “troubled” teen girls in a “safe and therapeutic” environment.
It denied that Parker was subjected to abuse, neglect, coercion, and other similar allegations.
Teen Challenge admitted that it encouraged residents to share personal testimonials in front of others, but were never forced to do so nor to disclose intimate or sensitive details of their alleged “sins.”
It also admitted that incoming and outgoing correspondence was reviewed by staff and that calls between residents and their parents were monitored.
About the forced labor accusations, Teen Challenge admitted that residents participated in “community service, volunteer activities, and fundraising events at churches and other community organizations, which could include cleaning, landscaping, maintenance, and similar tasks” and were not paid as “no payment or wage compensation” was warranted.
Teen Challenge asserted Parker’s claims are barred by the First Amendment and by statutes of limitations. They also argue she failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
In April, nine young women filed a federal lawsuit claiming they were victims of “systemic abuse, neglect, trafficking, exploitation, and forced labor,” by Central Indiana Teen Challenge, now operating as the Refuge Girls Academy.
Like Parker, they are suing for claims of multiple violations of federal anti-trafficking laws.
Teen Challenge of Oklahoma and Central Indiana Teen Challenge are both affiliated with the Adult and Teen Challenge USA network started by Assemblies of God Pastor David Wilkerson.
In the MinistryWatch 1000 database, Teen Challenge USA has one out of five stars for financial efficiency, has a C Transparency Grade, and a Donor Confidence Score of 69 out of 100, which means donors can “Give With Confidence.”
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