Author Topic: Whitmore Academy in Utah?  (Read 92650 times)

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Offline schacherer

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Whitmore Academy in Utah?
« Reply #330 on: January 28, 2005, 12:43:00 AM »
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On 2005-01-21 17:40:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Chris, why do YOU think the Sudweeks volunteered to give up their license to have any type of treatment facility at the Whitmore?  That is what they have always said they are all about!  You were there.   You know that therapy a big part of the program.  What can be done there without therapy to help those kids now? They need more than just school classes.  And, Cheryl is not qualified, or even allowed now, to hold her little  group therapy sessions. Looks like you got out of there in the nick of time. Get on with your life, and leave the Sudweeks to their attorneys. Hopefully your conscience will kick in and your support will swing over to your fellow student that you saw abused there."

hi i used to go to the whitmore and i recently spoke the samantha hayes, the reporter for channel5 with the report on the whitmore, i told her my story and she told me that the Sudweeks didnt voulentarily give up their license, it was taken away from them.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #331 on: January 28, 2005, 11:16:00 AM »
Thank you for explaining about "the clothes." And THAT was the way Mrs. Cheryl Sudweeks made this girl dress until she wrote what  was considered the "proper letter home to her mother" as punishment for talking about her old school and old friends back on on the telephone to her Mom. How disgusting and humiliating!
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #332 on: January 28, 2005, 11:33:00 AM »
Anon: no one is blaming Mark and Cheryl Sudweeks for the problems our kids had, or for the reasons they were placed in a private treatment school to begin with. But, we are saying not one parent EVER believed we were sending a child to the Whitmore to be physically abused, to have their communication with their parents withheld or monitored, or to be publicly humiliated in any fashion,to be sleep deprived on a continual basis, to sleep on beds without any linens, to have their showers timed to two short minutes, to have their private journal entries read aloud in group sessions, to be denied the PROMISED academic education taught by qualified teachers, to have privated and group theapy from a licensed, professional therapist, NOT some raving unqualifed, self-assigned woman, Cheryl Sudweeks.  Parents were promised and paid for professional therapists, certified teachers, clean quarters, adequate and wholesome food---and a safe, caring, atmosphere for our kids. And our kids DERSERVED it.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #333 on: January 28, 2005, 03:32:00 PM »
Can the parents take any legal action against the Sudweeks? It almost seems like it could be a class action suit. That is , if you could get many parents to go for it. Are any parents considering taking them to court? I'm not sure it would be worth it. Any thoughts?
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Offline Gmom

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« Reply #334 on: January 28, 2005, 05:24:00 PM »
This is something that has been on my mind for several months.  There are numerous reasons, mainly, 75% of the things that were supposed to take place did not.  For example, weekly counseling, spending a few months in Canada and a few months in Mexico -- never happened -- just for starters.  Anyone interested in pursuing a Class Action suit sign in please.  If there is enough response, I will contact an attorney.  By the way, my granddaughter spent 15 months at the Whitmore.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #335 on: January 28, 2005, 08:33:00 PM »
leah is right about the clothes. they were pretty bad. a few kids had to wear them.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #336 on: January 28, 2005, 09:09:00 PM »
My son also wore the clothes for weeks after attempting to run away.  He called his father from the dentist's office sobbing and pleading for us to come and get him.  He tried to tell us the things that were happening.  Shocked and concerned his Dad called the Whitmore to get answers.  He was assured everything was fine and it was our son's attempt to "manipulate us into bringing him home."  We were told they weren't pink clothes but might have pink flowers on them.  They were like scrubs.  The kids who posed the threat of running away were made to wear them so they would be recognized in the community easily and returned to the Whitmore.  We accepted the explanation and moved on.  Now that our son is home we know a lot more about the "pink" clothes.  They also had their shoes taken away so they wouldn't run.  That didn't stop our son, he ran in sock feet in December in the freezing cold and snow!  He was also taken to the Provo mall in the "pink" clothes and humiliated by Cheryl in the middle of the mall when she announced loudly "isn't he cute in his PINK clothes?"  Sounds like a very theraputic way of helping my son, don't you think?!  Worth several hundreds of dollars per month for the so called "therapy."
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Offline Gmom

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« Reply #337 on: January 28, 2005, 09:22:00 PM »
I was at the Whitmore last summer and saw two boys being punished by being made to wear what appeared to be some sort of girl's night clothes while they worked outside not only the mansion, but also the boy's house. I observed this on two consecutive days.  I really question what lesson this teaches.  In my book, humilating teenagers does nothing but cause resentment and low self-esteem, exactly the reason probably most of the kids are there.  Again, what is to be accomplished by making the problem worse?????  From my observation on more than one occasion, Cheryl's control over the kids is gained by giving them the love they feel they are missing, befriending them and them cutting them to the quick by words and actions when they do something against "the rules."  She just yanks the rug out from under them.  The kids are there to learn trust, not to manipulate and to feel good about themselves so they make good choices in life.  Some of the methods used by the Sudwicks seems very contrary to that goal.  I think Cheryl turns the table on the kids by manipulating them to suit her own purose.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #338 on: January 28, 2005, 09:33:00 PM »
Gmom,
Please check your private messages.
Thanks
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Offline mom2three

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« Reply #339 on: January 28, 2005, 10:23:00 PM »
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" From my observation on more than one occasion, Cheryl's control over the kids is gained by giving them the love they feel they are missing, befriending them and them cutting them to the quick by words and actions when they do something against "the rules."  She just yanks the rug out from under them.  The kids are there to learn trust, not to manipulate and to feel good about themselves so they make good choices in life.  Some of the methods used by the Sudwicks seems very contrary to that goal."


That is a very important observation. It is my humble opinion that this is less about the money for them than you might think. It is about how it makes them feel, their standing, their egos. Yes the money is important to them, but they are getting more out of it than just money. As Ginger had posted one time, it takes a "special kind" of person to get into thought control.

I am about to tip my hand here as to why I hang out here. I see these brave kids posting and I was feeling guilty about what I wasnt saying.

I had an experience with the Sudweeks some 20 years ago. I worked for them and it was a nightmare. They hooked me by doing exactly what you said in your post. They were kind and loving and they filled a gap in my life. Once they had me isolated they were able to get me to the point where I was completly trusting. Then that proverbial rug was whipped out from under my feet.

I soon found I could not do anything right, I was always wrong, and each time it was twisted so that somehow I was hurting them and I was so messed up in the head by that point that I didnt know what to think.

The smallest of things was good for a manipulation. It alternated between me being the good dutiful daughter and the lowest scum on earth. Cheryl would freak out yelling and screaming, Mark would "save me" then lay guilt trips on me. I was afraid of Cheryl, and Mark, well that was probably worse because I looked to him as a father figure and his  "disappointment" would cut me to the bone. I loved them both, they were not just employers, they told me I was like family, and I believed them.

It was so completely bizarre! In the end they betrayed me in a way that so completely broke my heart that it left me with emotional scars that to this day affect me in ways I cannot even articulate.

I was not a bad kid. I was not in trouble. I was just gullible and deeply in need of a father and mother figure. Sound familiar? For a long time I thought I was just a lousy employee and it was all my fault but years down the road and many accomplishments later I can see that it is not the case at all.  I am probably but one of many former employees who got the treatment and live with the scars. By the way, I am not a "disgruntled employee" they will probably make it out as. I kept silent for 20 years. Few people know of my experience because I was so mortified by it I never put their employement on a single resume, never spoke of it except to family.

Please, continue to speak up. I spent a number of years trying to sort it out in my head as to what was them and what was my responsability. I had a difficult time getting to the point where I could say without reservation that these things were not my fault but rather the result of a psychological manipulation that was played out with cunning and purpose.

I hope for those of you dealing with this that you can sort it out by talking about it now so it doesnt take 20 years to acknowledge that you were not to blame. Trust in people is a hard thing to relearn when it has been so completely destroyed as it has been for most of you.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #340 on: January 29, 2005, 10:35:00 AM »
Thank you for sharing.  It is not the amount of time it takes to tell your story, but the amount of bravery you show by telling.  Bless you for your courage.  The most haunting thought comes to my mind:  If they were this good at manipulation and mental abuse 20 years ago, imagine how practiced and perfected they must be in 2005, worst of all how many hundreds of broken souls are out there today?

Your story has knocked me off the fence on my waivering stance.  This must stop. You have helped to change lives.  I hope there is some comfort in that.  Again, thank you!
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #341 on: January 29, 2005, 08:37:00 PM »
To the former employee: Thank you so much for sharing, and I am so sorry for your pain.  Read the case sited about Mark Sudweeks in the animal abuse case in Canada.  THOSE TWO will turn on their own foster children, and their OWN biological children to save thier own skin.  They do not know what the work love, or committment means.  Manipulation of people, and the legal system is all they know or care about.

What was your job with the Sudweeks?  I do believe that they lie and were not running schools that far back.  What type of business were they in 20 years ago.  I read the Canada transcript; and realize they took in foster kids for money, but it doesn't look like they were actually running a "SCHOOL."

Do you know anything about what the Sudweeks were doing down in Mexico?  On the Who Am I Discovery website, they sucked all us parents in telling us they had all these "SCHOOLS" open to take our kids to visit.  Well, these schools are not open at all.  That was just glossy brochures to impress us that they have schools all over the place.  The only school they have is the Whitmore.

My child, like you was totally confused too.  It was "sometimes Cheryl loved me. But she would get so mad, and then stop loving me."  That woman does not know what love is.  She knows what control is.  She knows what manipulation is. She know what she considers to be Power is. Her own kids don't even call her "Mom" they call her "Cheryl."  Now, what is that about? I do pity that young son of their's.  Who's around to "take him home?"
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Offline mom2three

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« Reply #342 on: January 29, 2005, 10:46:00 PM »
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On 2005-01-29 07:35:00, Anonymous wrote:

The most haunting thought comes to my mind:  If they were this good at manipulation and mental abuse 20 years ago, imagine how practiced and perfected they must be in 2005, worst of all how many hundreds of broken souls are out there today?


That is exactly what I keep wondering about.

When things were good with them, it was so very good. Lots of laughs and good times. If they had only stuck with that, they could have made such a difference for people. I would have followed them anywhere.
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Offline mom2three

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« Reply #343 on: January 30, 2005, 01:42:00 AM »
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On 2005-01-29 17:37:00, Anonymous wrote:

" Read the case sited about Mark Sudweeks in the animal abuse case in Canada.  THOSE TWO will turn on their own foster children, and their OWN biological children to save thier own skin.

Yah that kind of blew me away too. Mark would probably say that this was because he was being persicuted and that they would go easier on his children than they would on him. I cannot imagine doing that, putting your kids into a situation where they could face criminal records just to save your own bacon, but I am not Mark Sudweeks.

Quote
What was your job with the Sudweeks?  I do believe that they lie and were not running schools that far back."


When I worked for them, there wasnt a teen program. I believe Mark worked with some programs in Wenatchee Washington.  I believe they may have been through a municipality program however, I am not sure. I really got the feeling the programs were recreational and they had some kids there for "internships".

They were not running residential programs when I was with them, they were just talking about it. If there was something before that, I am not aware of it.

As to foster kids, there wernt any when I was there.

I am pretty sure they can safely say their experience with kids goes back pretty far, although I think to call what they did programs is stetching it. As to the school, I think  the earliest a formal program could have been there was probably 1989. They should actually be able to prove a formal program if there indeed was one with business liscences etc. Something to find out isnt it? There has to be records. Perhaps there are other lurking former employees who could flesh this out?

Quote
Do you know anything about what the Sudweeks were doing down in Mexico?


I have no idea sorry. I didnt really keep tabs on them after I left. I became interested again only when the court case with the animals happened and it was brought to my attention by my mother. When I read they were running teen programs knowing what my experience was, I became concerned.

I just want to make sure I also say that I am so sorry about your son, I hope he comes through this ok. Maybe with more people talking about it he will see it wasnt just him and he can put the responsability where it belongs.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #344 on: January 30, 2005, 01:16:00 PM »
Mom2three

Can you please expand more on what your "job" was with the Sudweeks?  Also, if you feel comfortable, a little more detail on the final and last betrayal that broke your heart.

This could give very helpful insight to those of us searching for answers.  I spent many hours on the phone yesterday personally hearing stories from peoople off this site.  Your future, as well as many children and parents could be altered by what you have to say.  

You made reference to my last posting and my haunting thoughts.  Keep thinking of how many children, young and grown, that are keeping secrets.  Let that give you courage.  You have our support and most of all you are not alone!

This goes for anyone else out there still suffering in silence.  I spoke with a young lady yesterday that hadn't spoken of this to anyone except on this site.  I also spoke with a mother who was relieved to have a live person to confide in.  My heart is breaking, but as a mother I am on a mission to get answers!  

I have to ask you Mother2three, what would you do if this had happened to one of your children?  
Thank you again for joining in.
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