Thank you for your expression of concern regarding the People article titled ?School of Last Resort.? Let me begin by expressing our disappointment with People Magazine. While Heartland normally does not respond to half-truths and lies, in this case, the public interest does require a formal response.
Real Love, Real Results
HOW A COMMUNITY IN NORTHEAST MISSOURI IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE BY REACHING OUT TO TROUBLED YOUTH & ADULTS
The following is a response by the Heartland community to a People Magazine article titled ?School of Last Resort.? Prior to the publication of this article we thought People was a legitimate magazine, rather than a National Enquirer-style tabloid. We were regrettably mistaken. Because of this mistaken belief, Heartland granted People unprecedented access to the Heartland Christian Academy and Heartland Academy Community Church. The alleged reporter, Maria Eftimiades, assured staff members that she was ?savvy? and could distinguish between truth and adolescent fantasy. Both the tenor and content of her article reveal that Ms. Eftimiades chose not to distinguish truth from falsehoods.
Parents make an informed choice when they bring their children to Heartland. This is an ?intentional community? built to provide guidance to wayward youth. Nearly all of the ?program kids? placed at Heartland are there because other placements have failed them. Simply put, Heartland is a place of last resort for parents who can no longer handle their kids. If not for Heartland, for most students, the next stop would be prison. The youth arrive with problems such as violent behavior, drug and alcohol addictions, multiple pregnancies and other life controlling behaviors. Traditional placements have not helped them.
Sadly, when teens arrive at Heartland, they have not been referred there because of a reputation for truth-telling. Simply put, many of the youth placed at Heartland are ?master manipulators? who will try any fabrication?any lie?in order to return to the life-style which placed them at Heartland in the first place. Is it possible for abuse or neglect to occur in a facility? Of course. For that reason, in 2001, Heartland established an Ombudsman position. Any student can file a complaint, verbally or in writing, by name or anonymously. Each complaint is investigated. Any serious injury is reported to the Division of Children?s Services. Heartland also has a physician, nurse and Ombudsman all on campus. Each is a mandated reporter in any case of abuse or neglect.
For most institutions the solution to the problem of youth violence is simple: expel them. Make them someone else?s problem. Heartland doesn?t do that. As a federal judge noted in a reported opinion, ?The kids at Heartland are loved at all costs.? At 79 years of age, Pastor Charles Sharpe has 13 wayward youth living in his personal residence. His wife, Laurie, refers to them as her kids. Let us be clear: this is a 24/7 proposition. Staff members live with these kids. It is not a matter of ?hiring the job done.?
Heartland uses a ?tough love? approach to reach these troubled youth. This includes a structured environment with real consequences for destructive behavior. When necessary, to protect the youth or others, an out-of-control teen may be physically restrained. Heartland staff members have been trained and certified in the same techniques used by Missouri Highway Patrol and juvenile authorities to control violent teens. Even with the utmost care, injuries can occur when teens turn violent.
Pastor Sharpe has not asked for a dime of public or private funds, and has spent nearly $100,000,000 of his own personal wealth to build and maintain a sprawling campus: a Church, farm and community. Pastor Sharpe, a devout Evangelical Christian and firm believer in tough love, states, ?This story is clearly the act of a biased liberal agenda to discredit me and the entire Christian community. It is sad that the truth was purposefully concealed. This is the last stop for troubled kids. Most of them have been in and out of juvenile facilities, were runaways, or have been addicted to drugs and alcohol. Of course, some of the young adults do not want to be here. They are used to running rampant and being unruly. It is our mission, through the power of Christ, to help them find their way and turn their lives around.?
During the initial interview and visit to Heartland, People?s Maria Eftimiades was asked to leave the campus for making jokes about the Pastor molesting children and for disrupting the community. After several apologies, she was then allowed to return to finish the story in August.
As you can see, the truth cannot be told in individual ?sound bites? or ?tag lines.? People forgot that. Mark Twain once remarked, ?A lie can go half-way around the world before the truth can get its shoes on.? While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no one is entitled to their own facts. It is a fair discussion whether corporal discipline (?swats?) should be used. Heartland believes that choice is properly left to parents, who are then able to delegate that responsibility to a school or person in authority. Regrettably, People didn?t engage this issue. People constructed a grotesque caricature when they knew the truth to be otherwise.
In the People story, readers are exposed to several blatant and misleading inaccuracies. We will address the more salacious statements.
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People: People reported about student Matt Smith that ?a staffer broke his arm by twisting it behind the 14-year old?s back.? People reported Matt was swatted 300 times in 19 months.
TRUTH: Matt Smith, owner of a juvenile record, was disciplined on 75 occasions in 19 months. People failed to mention that he committed over 500 violations during that same time period, including assaulting other students. Matt was injured while being restrained. Heartland called for the Division of Children?s Services to immediately investigate whether any wrongdoing had occurred. After investigating, the Division responded on September 2, 2005, stating ?[t]here was no evidence found to indicate [the staff member] used excessive force while restraining Matt Smith. Therefore, the allegations are unsubstantiated.?
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People: Missouri ?permits such faith-based facilities to go unregulated.?
TRUTH: The Division of Children?s Services regularly investigates any allegation of abuse or neglect at any facility in the State of Missouri.
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People: Heartland and similar ?programs create in parents a sense of crisis. If you don?t act, your child will end up in jail or dead on the streets...?
TRUTH: None of the ?mainstream child-development experts? cited in the article have ever visited Heartland or received the requisite information which any competent expert would need to evaluate such a program. Except under extraordinary circumstances, Heartland will not accept youth who are in acute need of care. Heartland exists to serve those families with youth who are chronically troubled by life controlling behaviors. The intake procedure normally takes over one month from initial contact to admission. Prior to admission, parents must visit the campus, read and understand the policies and procedures of the facility and attend the worship service at Heartland Academy Community Church in order to give full consent before their child is enrolled.
Board certified child psychiatrists and mental health experts who are actually familiar with the Heartland project have reached entirely different conclusions from those found in People. Heartland has undergone an extensive multi-year Behavioral Conditions Audit conducted by Children?s Psychological Health Center, Inc., an independent nonprofit children?s agency based in San Francisco. That audit produced no findings of child abuse and indicated substantial clinical progress being made by most of the over 85 children intensively interviewed over the course of the study.
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People: ?Heartland, in particular, has been accused of taking discipline too far. After multiple reports of abuse, including a student whose eardrum was punctured during an altercation with a junior staffer, a dozen deputy sheriffs and juvenile officers raided the campus in 2001, removing 115 students.?
TRUTH: Heartland went to federal court in 2004 and was fully vindicated. After a trial, which lasted nearly a month, the United States District Court determined that local officials had violated Heartland?s rights and engaged in a conspiracy to violate the rights of Heartland and its students. One official was noted to have committed perjury and to have secured the removal orders by giving false and misleading evidence. The State paid Heartland in excess of $700,000 as a result of this case.
As to the student who suffered a ruptured eardrum during a physical altercation with a junior staff member, the youth indicated that the injury he suffered resulted from his own out of control behavior and that the injury was accidental and not intentionally inflicted by staff. After a thorough review by authorities it was determined that there was no evidence to support a claim of abuse or neglect.
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People: Lewis County prosecutor Jules Victor DeCoster speaking about Pastor Sharpe, states, ?He?s not an educator, not a child expert, not even an ordained minister...?
TRUTH: Charles N. Sharpe was originally ordained as a minister of the Gospel by the Assemblies of God denomination in 1953, although he did not maintain his affiliation with them. More recently, Pastor Sharpe was ordained by Independent Assemblies of Ada, Oklahoma.
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People: Pastor Sharpe founded Heartland because his wife started suffering from anxiety attacks.
TRUTH: Pastor Sharpe founded Heartland because, while walking in a cornfield near his childhood home, he heard the word of God, and was asked to change his life, build Heartland and save children.
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People: Punished young adults were forced to eat ?Heartland Stew? described as ?a mixture of table scraps and leftovers.?
TRUTH: ?Heartland Stew? was a combination of salmon and beans which was substituted for one meal. It has not been served for several years. Children who are being reprimanded now eat peanut butter sandwiches rather than the more desirable fare served.
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People: ?During the 2001 raid, investigators learned student Josh O?Rourke, then 16, was paddled more than 50 times the previous year and forced to sit in a metal chair overnight. His father, Jim, who lived at Heartland and participated in the beating, had accused his son of stealing $100. (Jim O?Rourke ultimately pleaded guilty to child abuse.)?
TRUTH: Jim O?Rourke was a farm hand who brought his son over to the boys? dormitory because he couldn?t control him. Josh O?Rourke was not in the residential program at that time, but simply attended school at Heartland Christian Academy. One evening, Heartland staff helped Jim O?Rourke discipline his son after the young man physically assaulted his father. Josh spent the night at the boys? dorm in a bed provided for him. Responding to an anonymous complaint, the Division of Family Services conducted an investigation within 48 hours of the incident and spoke to those involved. The authorities concluded that no abuse had occurred. Jim O?Rourke pled guilty to these charges with the promise of no jail time. In exchange, he was required to testify against Heartland staff members and complete anger and alcohol management courses. He was also promised a job by the Lewis County Sheriff?s office in exchange for his plea. Ultimately, the charges against Heartland staff members were withdrawn after Josh O?Rourke?s credibility was further undermined by his third felony conviction for drug dealing.
Lewis County prosecutor, Jules V. DeCoster, who, in 2001, filed 64 felony counts against Heartland staff members, filed the O?Rourke charges in September 2001, more than one month before the October 30, 2001 raid. (All of Mr. DeCoster?s charges were either dismissed or resulted in acquittals.)
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People: ?At the same time, five staffers were arrested for forcing 11 teenagers to wade into concrete-lined pits of manure up to chest height.?
TRUTH: In 2001, several students were required to shovel manure after they refused to attend classes. The practice, which occurred for approximately one week, was referred to as ?School Appreciation Days.? No student ever stated that they were in ?chest high? manure and, though frequently repeated, this allegation is simply false. All of the criminal charges filed in this matter were ultimately dismissed or resulted in jury verdicts of acquittal. One jury returned its verdict within 18 minutes. Jurors indicated that the state failed to provide credible witnesses and that the prosecution?s case sank as key state witnesses admitted that they lied so they could get out of Heartland. Juror Lauren Boner, of St. Robert, MO, stated, ?I didn?t think there was any evidence whatsoever of abuse, and they would have saved taxpayers money by just dropping it.? Referring to Heartland, the juror also said, ?I plan to write them a letter encouraging them to keep up the good work.? Juror Carol Thompson, of Devils Elbow, MO, said that the decision whether additional prosecutions should proceed wouldn?t be a tough call for her. ?It?s time for them to quit wasting everyone?s time,? she said.
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People: ?Although no charges are currently pending against Heartland, a registered sex offender?one of seven who work at the facility?pleaded guilty four months ago to charges of making lewd comments to a 14-year-old girl.?
TRUTH: No registered sex offenders work ?at the facility.? The individual involved was a man in the adult substance abuse program based 10 miles from the Academy. He was turned in to authorities by Pastor Sharpe himself after he was made aware of the situation.
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People: Mark Stajduhar claims that he was sexually assaulted by a male student supervisor in 1999 and there is an ongoing criminal investigation.
TRUTH: No Heartland staff or administration have been contacted or advised that any criminal investigation is underway. These allegations of sexual abuse only surfaced this year after Mark Stajduhar filed a lawsuit seeking money damages against Heartland and the case was facing a motion to dismiss. To date, no complaint has ever been registered with Heartland or the Division of Children?s Services related to this matter. Heartland looks forward to the opportunity to investigate this matter further.
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People: ?If you don?t pray you get swats,? (quoting an anonymous sophomore at Heartland).
TRUTH: No one at Heartland is forced to pray.
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Pastor Sharpe noted, ?People?s Maria Eftimiades spoke with over 100 young adults and adults who praised the Heartland experience, how they turned their lives around, and how they welcomed the Lord into their hearts. She chose not to mention a single positive fact in her story.? Sharpe added, ?Yes, we believe in a disciplined life and swat them when it is warranted. We are strict, but I ask, which is better, a paddling once in a while or jail?? Pastor Sharpe believes that, in today?s society, many parents have completely lost control over their children. He believes that part of this has been caused by government agencies and civil liberties groups terrorizing parents with threats of abuse charges. Parents are so afraid of such charges that they have stopped disciplining their children altogether.
In conclusion, the numerous and blatant falsehoods in this ?investigative story? are clearly part of the reporter?s own personal witch hunt to slander an organization which is an effective alternative to the State?s non-rehabilitative juvenile justice and prison system. We deeply regret the concern this article has caused, and the time required by so many people to set the record straight. It is time better spent caring for troubled youth.
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Following the release of the People article, Heartland received many expressions of support from people who have gone through the Program, or whose families have been changed because of it. Excerpts of those comments follow:
?I entered the young men?s program and it was a literal life change. Through the program I learned how to experience God and how to have a relationship with Him but it also taught me the discipline, respect and perseverance that a young man should have?the fundamentals of life. I have seen many broken people come through Heartland in the last eight years, but I also have seen a multitude of them rise up and become awesome people... People that just cannot make it on their own become succesful here. This is a place of second chances,? says Ovi, who now works as a private pilot.
Janet, who has two children in the youth program, writes, ?I am disappointed in the misleading coverage of Heartland Christian Academy. Heartland is hardly a bootcamp situation, and to throw it in as if it were, is misleading. They go to school, church, summer camp, bake cookies, fish, chores, and other family type activities. They also have rules, consequences, and make choices. The children who end up at Heartland have to experience limits to grow and make good choices and to eventually exhibit self control. Our prisons, juvenile facilities, psychiatric wards, and gangs, are full of those who refused to follow rules. They must learn how to follow the seemingly minor rules, so they can follow the larger rules of society.?
Phil and Gaye had their family restored at Heartland. Gaye states, ?Heartland is about healing, love, compassion, and forgiveness. All of the things that connect us to Jesus. My family has been a part of this ministry for over six years. And we were saddened by how People portrayed Heartland.? Their daughter Sarah, who has married and moved to a nearby town, says, ?The family that I made there will be a part of me for the rest of my life.?
Chelsea, a graduate of the youth program, personally found that ?Heartland is a haven for the burdened, the broken and the beat down, for those who cannot see any hope. This is a church where people are made whole in Christ.? Chelsea has chosen to remain at Heartland and is working with youth to help them find the same hope for a bright future she now has.
