Iowa officials, guardian seek return of teen at Jamaica boarding school accused of abuse

A 17-year-old eastern Iowa girl housed at a controversial Christian boarding school in Jamaica is at the center of an international tug of war involving two guardians, the island's child protection agency, a California company for troubled teens, the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Iowa's Department of Health and Human Services and members of Iowa’s congressional delegation.

Tina Rice, a social worker from Epworth, in Dubuque County, was appointed the girl's temporary guardian in June, according to a court document. Rice said Tuesday that she has been in Jamaica since last week, fighting to have the teen released from Youth of Vision Academy, or YOVA.

Heather Cunard, who was awarded custody of the girl from the state of Tennessee, also flew to Jamaica Wednesday, to try to check on the wellbeing of the girl, who has lived at the complex since May of 2023.

Formed in 2018 in Chula Vista, California, YOVA built the large complex for youth in St. Mary, a parish in northeastern Jamaica. The program advertises in promotional materials online that it offers “educational, therapeutic and behavioral services to children and young adolescents in a safe and nurturing environment.”

But Dawn Post, a New York child welfare lawyer who traveled to Jamaica last week to try to help Rice bring the teen back to Iowa, said Wednesday she’s talked to more than 10 people, former students at the school ages 13 to 22, who say they were physically and sexually abused there in recent years.

Post said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking into the allegations against Youth of Vision Academy and provided Watchdog correspondence related to that probe.

Noel Reid, president of YOVA in Jamaica, did not return phone calls this week seeking comment. But he told Loop News in Jamaica this week that he denies claims of child abuse at the boarding school and denies the girl is being held there against her will.

Ashle Martin, an attorney representing YOVA, did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.

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Jamie Splinter, an attorney for Cunard in Dubuque, said Iowa's Department of Health and Human Services also obtained a court order to remove the child from YOVA's care.

Splinter said Post's allegations about the facility brought Cunard to tears and she's taking them seriously, but she is also concerned they could be false and wants the embassy's help.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson R-Iowa, said Hinson is working with Iowa officials and the State Department to help bring the teen home.

"Rep. Hinson would support U.S. authorities investigating this school and others like it due to numerous and disturbing allegations of child abuse," the spokeswoman wrote in a statement from Hinson's office.

Michael Lavallee, a spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, said Tuesday in a statement: “The U.S. Department of State and our embassies and consulates overseas have no higher priority than the safety and welfare of minor U.S. citizens abroad and provides all consular services as needed.  In addition, Embassy Kingston’s Consular Section works closely with the Jamaican CPFSA ( Child Protection and Family Services Agency) and other relevant Jamaican authorities to monitor facilities that fall under Jamaican jurisdiction. Due to privacy considerations, we are not in the position to comment further on this matter.”

Other troubled teens sent to Jamaica alleged severe abuse

As homes for troubled teens have closed across the U.S. over the past decade amid allegations of abuse and lawsuits that have mushroomed across the country, new programs have opened outside the U.S. in places such as Jamaica, Mexico and St. Lucia. They market services online to the parents of American children with behavior issues.

Often, however, many of those programs do not have any accreditation to work with children with mental illness or severe behavior problems.

Taking a child outside the U.S., Post said, "is a whole new level of escaping oversight." She noted that children often do not speak honestly about abuse until they are removed from an unsafe facility.

This spring, Post went to Jamaica on behalf of eight U.S. boys to help get them in protective custody amid allegations of starvation and abuse at another for-profit American-run facility called Atlantis Leadership Academy, near Treasure Beach, a seaside community on St. Elizabeth’s south coast in Jamaica. The boys' removal followed an unannounced visit in February by Jamaica's Child Protection and Family Services Agency, as well as representatives from the U.S. Embassy.

Paris Hilton, who has been using her celebrity status the past several years to help draw attention to abuse in the multibillion-dollar troubled teen industry, also traveled to Jamaica to bring attention to the case.

Five employees at that school have since been charged with child cruelty and assault amid allegations that children were beaten with pipes, whipped, starved and abused, NBC News has reported. Boys who lived at the academy later told NBC that youths also were forced to exercise until they vomited and placed in stress positions for hours at a time.

Rice said employees of the U.S. Embassy in Kingston aided Post in her previous attempt to retrieve those youths from the academy, but they declined to accompany her and the lawyer on June 19, when they went to YOVA to try with a court order from Iowa to get the teen.

She said Reid met them at the gate and would not release the girl. “He said he can’t honor an order without the U.S. Embassy being present or (Jamaica’s) Child Protection and Family Services Agency,” she said in a phone interview from Jamaica. She said police were called but they never came.

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Online, YOVA advertises that it houses about 100 children, but Post said YOVA may have as many as 150 to 170 residents, based on its public tax forms and her conversation with Reid.

Rice described the facility as prison-like and said it charges about $20,000 a year to house mostly American children. She contended Reid, who is Jamaican-born, is bringing lots of money into an impoverished area of Jamaica, and local authorities have been slow to assist in investigating the care of children there. As of Wednesday, no one had done an in-person welfare check on the Iowa teen, she said.

Two guardians have been at odds over teen's care

Rice said the girl was born in Tennessee and bounced around as a child from an aunt and uncle to a residential facility and foster homes. The state of Tennessee eventually terminated her parents’ parental rights, she said.

One factor complicating the case is that Rice and Cunard have been at odds over the girl's care.

Splinter, Cunard's attorney, said Rice did not give Cunard notice when she sought temporary custody of the girl in Iowa in June.

According to Rice, the girl came to spend more and more time at Rice’s house because she had clashed frequently with Cunard.

Rice said the girl moved in with her in October 2022 with DHHS's permission.

Rice said the situation was supposed to be temporary, and she and Cunard stayed in communication, but she eventually wanted to take in the girl permanently. Cunard, she said, signed over custody at one point but didn't file the court papers with juvenile court. Rice said she asked Cunard to hold onto them because the girl's behavior worsened.

Cunard said she wanted to take the girl to the Jamaica boarding school, understanding it had expertise in reactive attachment disorder, a mental illness that can affect children abused or neglected as infants.

Splinter said that care can be tremendously expensive in the United States, and Cunard, who had video conferences with the girl at YOVA, had been happy with the girl's progress there.

Cunard said before leaving for Jamaica that she and her lawyer also are contacting former students to ask about their experience at the school, and she has hired a therapist to talk to the teen over Zoom.

"I am going to personally meet with (the teen) outside YOVA to assess any possibility of abuse," Cunard said.

Rice said the girl did have considerable behavior issues and acknowleged she had difficulty with her right as the guardianship was supposed to be transferred, but she objected to sending the teen to Jamaica.

She said she knew Cunard wanted to take the girl to YOVA. But on Mother’s Day weekend 2023, Rice said, Cunard picked up the girl from Rice’s home in Epworth, saying she was going to take her away for two weeks to family in northwest Iowa after school had let out. Rice said she didn't have contact with the girl during that time and Cunard didn't respond when she texted asking how the girl was. She said Cunard took the girl to the Jamaican facility without telling her.

Cunard insists Rice did support the girl going to Jamaica and had helped Cunard get the girl's passport.

Rice later obtained the emergency court order in June in Dubuque County to become temporary guardian. The two will have a court hearing soon to decide who will be the girl's longer-term guardian.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Abuse alleged at Jamaican boarding school housing Iowa teen