Costa Rica Intervenes at Troubled U.S.-Owned Academy

By Tim Weiner
New York Times
 

The Costa Rican authorities moved today to seize an American-owned behavior-modification academy for children after hearing allegations of physical and emotional abuse, officials said.

Parents and program officials described a chaotic scene at the site, the Academy at Dundee Ranch, where about 200 children, ages 11 to 17, almost all of them Americans, live in a former hotel under a strict regimen.

They said 30 to 50 children had fled on foot or into the custody of Costa Rican officials, after the officials told them they could not be held at the academy against their will. One parent, who was present, described the situation as pandemonium.

Government officials said the program had been ordered by a local prosecutor to comply immediately with all Costa Rican laws. A parent at the academy, Jan Bezuidenhout, said the order "means that the program as it exists now will cease to function."

The Costa Rican authorities claimed that the academy's punishments included physical and emotional abuse, isolation and physical restraints; that its physical plant was inadequate; that it lacked trained personnel, that 100 of the 193 American children at the school had expired tourist visas; and that the school was overcrowded, forcing some children to sleep on the floor.

The Academy at Dundee Ranch is one of four foreign-based programs under the banner of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, or Wwasps. The association, based in Utah, has 11 affiliated programs with about 2,200 children, roughly half of whom are in Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica, and the rest in Utah, Montana, South Carolina and New York.

The organization is trying to transfer many of the children from Dundee Ranch to its site in Jamaica, called Tranquillity Bay, Costa Rican officials said. One boy begged his parents by telephone to let him return home, but they refused. It is likely that he will be sent to Tranquillity Bay, along with at least 30 other children, the officials said.

Other children sought refuge today with Costa Rica's child-welfare agency. Still others are being retrieved by their parents.

"I'm trying to get her out of there as soon as possible," said Laurie Ely, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., referring to her daughter, Emily, 13.

"I feel like I've been duped," Ms. Ely said by telephone. "I'm sick to my stomach. I'm one of those parents who was not aware of any of the history at Wwasps. I was oblivious to it."

The highly profitable Wwasps programs, aimed at troubled teenagers and their parents, have faced licensing and legal challenges in the United States and abroad. Though many children and parents praise the programs for instilling discipline, others have complained of abusive treatment and deceptive business practices.

Dundee Ranch, which charges more than $30,000 a year, is owned by Narvin Lichfield, a brother of Robert Lichfield, a founder of Wwasps and its main marketing arm, Teen Help.

The Costa Rican child-welfare agency, known by its initials in Spanish as PANI, was granted the authority to take control of Dundee Ranch today by a local prosecutor, officials said. United States Embassy officials issued a statement saying they were "working closely with PANI officials to look at the welfare and the safety of the children at Dundee."

The president of Wwasps, Ken Kay, said in an e-mail message to parents that PANI's actions were the result of "overzealousness and bizarre interpretation" of the laws.

Several children who attended Dundee Ranch confirmed most of the Costa Rican allegations in telephone interviews today.

"It was really terrible," said Kristen Whitchurch, 15, of Minneapolis, who attended Dundee Ranch from January to December 2002. "Not being able to talk to anyone, friends or parents. The staff didn't speak any English. There were terrible conditions. We were all cramped into small spaces. This is an old hotel, and you had nine girls in one hotel room. There were no teachers, no administrators. They had students running the school."

Over the past seven years, local governments and State Department officials have investigated accusations of abuses at Wwasps-affiliated programs in Mexico, the Czech Republic and Samoa. The Mexican program, in Cancún, and the Czech program closed. The Samoan program cut its affiliation with Wwasps.

State officials in Utah and South Carolina have cited at least four Wwasps programs for improper or nonexistent licenses.