KINGSTON, Jamaica--Youth of Vision Academy (YOVA), an American-based facility that describes itself as a Christian boarding school, has vehemently denied allegations of impropriety at its location in Port Maria, St. Mary.
The woman making the allegations, American attorney Dawn Post, has also been harshly critical of Jamaica’s Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), accusing the State agency and YOVA of “kidnapping and false imprisonment” for what she said were their refusal of a guardian’s request to release a female ward from the facility.
There was no reply to e-mailed questions sent to the CPFSA up to press time on Monday but according to a “Jamaica Observer” source, a meeting was scheduled to discuss the issue that day.
In an interview with the “Observer” on Monday, Post – who said she played an active role in helping teens who had been housed at Atlantis Leadership Academy in St. Elizabeth return to the United States earlier this year – claimed that there is an ongoing probe of YOVA’s Port Maria operations.
“There are youths who have reported extreme acts of violence, food deprivation, sexual abuse, and there is a Homeland Security investigation in conjunction with Jamaican authorities with respect to sex and labour trafficking,” she claimed.
“These youths, over 10, are being interviewed and are providing very graphic details of physical and sexual abuse and isolation that they endured while at YOVA,” Post added. “I can give quotes from the youths that there were girls that were pregnant by male staff members, that there was videoing of the girls and boys performing sexual acts, and the list goes on and on.”
The “Observer” was unable to confirm these allegations.
Post also claimed that some children at the facility, who have been abandoned by their families and are unable pay for their flight home, are being forced to work to pay for their passage. She said YOVA has withheld their passports until payment is in hand.
Post said she decided to go public after YOVA refused to comply with a court order from a judge in Iowa to release a 17-year-old girl into the care of her guardian who had travelled to Jamaica.
“Child Protection and Family Services Agency, the US Embassy and Homeland Security were aware since June 3, that this was taking place and that she has an order from the court to come and pick up her ward because she is the legal guardian,” said Post.
“[YOVA Co-founder – Ed.] Noel Reid laughed at her, threw the orders back, and said he does not respect US court orders and refused access to her and refused to turn the child over,” she claimed.
When contacted, Reid dismissed Post as a vindictive attorney who is simply trying to find clients for a class action suit.
“Before the hostility, I invited her to do a tour. But because we never sided with them to give testimony in the case in St. Elizabeth she got hostile with us,” Reid told the Observer.
“I could show you the e-mails they sent to us wanting to come here to get our side of the story, so I have all my receipts,” he continued.
He insisted that Post is merely looking out for her interests.
“She is a part of a conglomerate of lawyers that go around and do class action lawsuits against schools.
“By the way, the last kid that Dawn [Post] pulled out of the programme in a manner like this, after several investigations by top psychologists in the US, [they said] there is no abuse here and they sent the kid back here,” he added.
Reid also rejected claims that the one-year-old Port Maria facility is dilapidated and the wards are living in horrible conditions.
“The building is brand new, we spent JMD $1.5 billion to build this facility,” he said, adding that they had injected another JMD $4 billion into the Jamaican economy through their operation.
Reid also maintained that the Port Maria facility had been accredited and routinely inspected by Jamaica’s education ministry.
Responding directly to the allegation of kidnapping, he insisted that YOVA has done nothing illegal.
“The lady that showed up, of course, yes, she has a court order from Iowa. I told her, ‘Hey, Iowa don’t run Jamaica – a judge somewhere in a corner in Iowa or anywhere in the United States as a matter of fact… that document only makes sense when Jamaican authorities validate that and act on that,” Reid said.
“If the CPFSA or the US Embassy or whosoever decides that this warrants something, we cooperate. But nobody is going to turn up at my campus and think they can exploit us. I’m not about this; that’s not the life I live,” he said.
He also responded to Post’s allegations that he had been involved in the operation of Miracle Meadows, a now-shuttered Christian boarding school that once housed teens in West Virginia, USA. Operators have so far spent more than US $150 million to settle lawsuits that alleged that children there were abused and victimised. Reid said he had left Miracle Meadows before these incidents and was serving in the US Military at the time. He said he he had received clearance at several levels in the US, proof that he is not a criminal.
~ Jamaica Observer ~
