An estimated 120,000-200,000 of our nation’s most vulnerable youth are pipelined into youth residential programs (colloquially referred to as the Troubled Teen Industry) each year by state child welfare and juvenile justice systems, mental health providers, federal agencies, school districts’ individualized education programs, and by parents.

These programs, including but not limited to boot camps, wilderness programs, therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment facilities, or group homes, cause harm at a higher rate to youth who are Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+ youth, and youth with disabilities. 

The Troubled Teen Industry receives an estimated $23 billion dollars of public funds annually to purportedly “treat” the behavioral and psychological needs of vulnerable youth yet there are systemic reports of youth experiencing physical, emotional and sexual abuse including but not limited to prolonged solitary confinement, physical, chemical, and mechanical restraints, food and sleep deprivation, lack of access to the restroom or personal hygiene, “attack therapy,” forced labor, medical neglect, and being denied a free and public education. Public records and news reports have documented more than 350 preventable child deaths in these programs. 

Want to learn more? Watch YouTube Original’s This is Paris and Netflix’s The Program: Con, Cults, and Kidnapping.