Hi, I'm on the other yahoo site also.
I'm the chick with the bunnies, cats and chickens.
Oh, I am also posting my statement where ever I can, so here's more to read:
Victory christian academy
In jay, florida
SURVIVOR STATEMENT
BY K. of California (contact through
heal@heal-online.org)
Following please find my statement concerning Victory Christian Academy:
Everything I am submitting to HEAL is true to the best of my experience and knowledge. I give permission to HEAL to use this statement.
My parents sent me to Victory Christian Academy in Jay, FL in the summer of 1993. Although I was told it was a one-year program, there were many girls who were there much longer. We were threatened with being there until we turned 18 if we didn?t turn into good little christian girls. I was not allowed to have any privileges as a new girl in the school until I made a profession of faith ("got Saved") and I was kept on buddy (level) for over a month until I broke down and went along with it. My personal memories of the school are terrible. There were so many rules, all unwritten, that we just had to know and follow. As new girls we had 2 weeks to learn them before we were accountable to follow them. The program is set up in a way that makes most girls try to catch other girls breaking rules or exhibiting behavior that could result in a new rule being made. We had Rap sessions every Sunday night where girls would have a free-for-all with the staff leading the charge. New rules were being made all the time. I believe that Victory is probably much worse today than when I was there 10 years ago because the program rules are always growing. For instance, when I was a new girl, if you said "Oops" during Quiet Time you would get a demerit and have 24 hours to write 100 lines, something like "I will not talk during Quiet Time." When I left VCA in 1995 the rule had become 1000 lines for breaking Quiet Time. We were not allowed access to news, music, radio, tv. We were not allowed to talk about anything but our parents, no discussion of favorite movies, singers, nothing. We were not allowed to talk about the past. There were no counselors or therapists, only the regular (unqualified) staff. We couldn't even sing, for instance an Elvis song or anything other than the hymns in our hymnbook and a few other songs by Christian artists. There are too many other instances to record for the sake of brevity.
After reading Warning Signs of a Potentially Abusive Behavioral Treatment Center as provided by ISAC, I will list what I observed first-hand at VCA.
1. Verbal and/or written communication between the client and family members is prohibited, restricted or monitored. All my mail was read, incoming and outgoing. Only mail from parents is allowed. Letters I sent home at the beginning had had my complaints blacked out before VCA mailed them.
3. The program requests/demands legal custody of juvenile clients. Lock-down facility. No exceptions.
4. The program houses clients in foster homes or host homes instead of allowing them to reside with their parents. Dorms, sometimes supervised by staff, but usually just older clients.
5. The client or parents are forbidden from discussing the daily happenings at the facility. Often this policy is called "confidentiality." We were told it was idle talk and we were punished by writing lines if we were caught saying anything.
6. The client is denied access to a telephone. No access at all for first three months. After 3 months, phone calls are once per month for 30 minutes maximum and parents are required to call in. I had no way to make a telephone call.
8. The program uses confrontational therapy.
9. The staff includes former clients of the program.
10. Clients are restrained or otherwise physically prevented from leaving the facility.
12. Parents are not allowed to stay with their child during the entire intake/entry process.
13. The program inflicts physical punishments on clients such as exercising, running, food restrictions, and cleaning.
14. Reading materials are prohibited or restricted. I was only allowed the King James Bible for much of the time.
15. The facility does not have a clearly visible sign outside the building stating the name of the program
.
17. The program is run and staffed by persons who lack adequate experience or credentials.
19. A medical doctor (MD) is not present at any time during normal operating hours.
20. Clients of the program conduct, participate in and supervise the intake/entry process.
22. Clients are observed on any level of the program, while bathing, dressing or using the toilet.
23. The purpose of the program is to treat drug abuse, but the program does not conduct a drug screen prior to entry.
24. The program requires clients to be strip-searched.
25. The program does not allow clients to follow their religion of choice. The only form of religion allowed is Victory?s unaffiliated Southern Baptist-based church. They also forced vegetarians to eat meat. Even girls whose parents were Seventh-Day Adventist and had never eaten meat.
26. Staff members must approve friends, siblings, family visits, or employment. No contact whatsoever with friends. No employment is allowed. Family visits are only allowed once every three months, girls are not allowed off-campus on a visit unless they?ve been there for at least six months, they are not supposed to return home for visits until they?ve been at VCA for at least one year.
27. Juvenile clients are not afforded an education in accordance with state requirements. VCA was not accredited by any institution or government while I was there. Our curriculum was workbook/quiz based with no lab time or supplemental materials.
30. Clients escort/supervise other clients.
32. Clients have to "earn" the right to speak during group sessions
.
33. Clients are denied outside activities on any level/phase.
34. Staff must approve the withdrawal of clients from treatment.
35. The program expects total and unquestioned support of parents.
36. Clients on any phase/level are forbidden to speak to other clients. We are also forbidden to keep in contact with one another after we leave the program. When a girl leaves, staff members and senior clients go through her belongings to check for addresses, phone numbers, etc. before she can leave.
While I was at Victory, a new girl from Texas who was almost 18 had concealed a lighter from the girls who checked her in. Less than two weeks later she decided to torch a closet full of dresses in dorm 3. Fortunately for us, this was around 10:30 AM when we were all outside doing PE exercises so no one was hurt. We thought the smoke alarms were a fire drill at first. I consider myself lucky because I had no way to be able to call 911 & if the fire had happened in the middle of the night, who knows? The fire raged and burned so hot that almost everything was destroyed in Dorm 3, and Dorms 1 & 2 had extensive smoke and water damage that took months to repair. We slept on the floor in the Multi purpose room that also served as our church, our chapel, our school, and our cafeteria. Brother Palmer continued to take in new girls during this time. We were smashed together like sardines for months, meanwhile our parents were sending money for our treatment that just went towards the building of another larger-capacity dorm that had already been in construction before the fire broke out. This was actually the first of two fires at the school while I was there. The circumstances for the second fire were never fully explained.
Victory Christian Academy is not a healthy place for teen girls to be in. If your daughter or someone you know is in Victory Christian Academy, please seriously consider taking them out and looking into a REAL treatment facility. You know, the kind with doctors and trained therapists who can help girls understand why their behavior needs to be modified and give them the necessary support to do so.
I have listed 27 out of 36 Warning Signs that I know from my own personal experience to be true. It is very possible that other survivors have witnessed other Warning Signs and I encourage them to spread the word about the potential for abuse at Victory Christian Academy.
