| Revision as of 23:10, 28 September 2008 edit200.245.14.251 (talk) →External links← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 00:25, 25 December 2024 edit undo99.242.221.138 (talk) →Controversies: Removed sentence with severe NPOV violations (loaded language: "indoctrinated"). I kept the loaded "forced" paraphrasing, although added "allegedly" per Wiki policy to at least make it somewhat more NPOV.Tags: references removed Visual edit | ||
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| {{Short description|Christian organization for teenagers struggling with addiction}} | |||
| '''Teen Challenge''' is an ] recovery program and a network of Christian social and evangelizing work centers. It is a 12-18 month program that serves ], ], ], ] and people with life-controlling problems. | |||
| {{npov|date=March 2023}}{{Infobox organization | |||
| ⚫ | | name = Global Teen Challenge | ||
| | image = Teen_Challenge.png| | |||
| | founded_date = 1960 | |||
| | tax_id = | |||
| | registration_id = | |||
| | founder = ] | |||
| | location = ], ] | |||
| | coordinates = | |||
| | origins = | |||
| | key_people = Dr. Jerry Nance | |||
| | area_served = 129 countries | |||
| | product = | |||
| | mission = | |||
| | focus = | |||
| | method = | |||
| | revenue = | |||
| | endowment = | |||
| | num_volunteers = | |||
| | num_employees = | |||
| | num_members = | |||
| | subsid = | |||
| | owner = | |||
| | non-profit_slogan = | |||
| | former name = | |||
| | homepage = | |||
| | dissolved = | |||
| | footnotes = | |||
| }} | |||
| '''Global Teen Challenge''' is a network of ] faith-based corporations intended to provide ] to people struggling with ]. It was founded by ] in 1960. The global headquarters is in ], ]. | |||
| ⚫ | == |
||
| Teen Challenge was established in 1958 by ] ], who worked among ] and socially-marginalized people in ]. Teen Challenge was launched from a small office on ]. In 1960, the Teen Challenge headquarters relocated to a large historical house in ]. Currently Teen Challenge USA is headquartered in Springfield, MO <ref Name="natoffice">{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Teen challenge USA- National Office| work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.teenchallengeusa.com/nationaloffice.php| format = | doi = | accessdate =2008-06-12}}</ref> and Global Teen Challenge is headquartered in Columbus, GA <ref Name="global">{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Global Teen Challenge| work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.globaltc.org/pages/contact/contact.htm| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-12}}</ref>. | |||
| There is little ] of what goes on in Teen Challenge facilities.<ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine|date=2021-10-09|title=The Shadow Penal System for Struggling Kids|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/the-shadow-penal-system-for-struggling-kids|access-date=2021-11-07|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US}}</ref> Questions have been raised about whether the practices of the organization are abusive and ].<ref name=":2" /> In the United States, there are no federal laws or agencies that regulate organizations like Teen Challenge.<ref name=":2" /> | |||
| By 2004, Teen Challenge had grown to include 173 residential programs and numerous evangelical outreach centers in the United States, as well as 241 centers in 77 other countries. Teen Challenge centers are either organized as a network of cooperating centers with one central governing board or as stand alone autonomous centers. <ref Name="aboutus">{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Teen Challenge USA- About Us| work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://teenchallengeusa.com/about.php | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-12}}</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | ==History== | ||
| Teen Challenge USA functions as a division of the U.S. Missions department of the ], but maintains a governing board separate from the denomination. Local Teen Challenge centers have an affiliation agreement with Teen Challenge USA, which serves as a US accrediting organization. <ref Name="AOG">{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Assemblies of God, U.S. Missions| work = | publisher = | date = | url = http://usmissions.ag.org/| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-12}}</ref> | |||
| Teen Challenge was founded in 1961 by ], an Assemblies of God pastor who left a rural Pennsylvania church to work on the street among teenage gang members and socially marginalized people in ] and who, perhaps, is best known for later authoring '']'' and founding ].<ref>Randall Herbert Balmer, ''Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism'', Westminster John Knox Press, USA, 2002, page 677</ref><ref>Christopher D. Ringwald, ''Principles of Addiction: Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders, Volume 1'', Academic Press, USA, 2013, page 289</ref><ref>Elizabeth M. Dowling, W. George Scarlett, ''Encyclopedia of Religious and Spiritual Development'', SAGE Publications, USA, 2006, p. 444</ref> Teen Challenge started its first residential program in December 1962, in a house in ], New York. | |||
| In 1973, 12 years after the ministry began, Teen Challenge established a national headquarters.<ref name="teenchallengeusa.org"/> In 1995, Global Teen Challenge was founded to assist the growing number of Teen Challenges starting up outside the US, but struggling to acquire the necessary resources and training.<ref name="teenchallengeusa.org">{{cite web|url=https://teenchallengeusa.org/about/history|title=Our History Adult & Teen Challenge USA|website=Adult & Teen Challenge USA|date=6 December 2018 |access-date=26 May 2019}}</ref> In 2022, Global Teen Challenge had more than 1,400 accommodation centers in 129 countries around the world.<ref name="GTC">Teen Challenge, , globaltc.org, USA, retrieved November 5, 2022</ref> | |||
| Global Teen Challenge maintains its own board and has no official relationship with the World Missions Department of the Assemblies of God, but serves as the accrediting organization for centers located outside of the United States. <ref Name="global"/> Some U.S. and foreign Teen Challenge missionaries are recognized by the General Council of the Assemblies of God. | |||
| ==Programs== | |||
| == Studies of Teen Challenge Effectiveness == | |||
| The organization offers rehabilitation programs of a general duration of 12 months to help young people to get out of addictions of all kinds (], ], ], ], etc.).<ref>Teen Challenge, , globaltc.org, USA, retrieved September 19, 2020</ref><ref>Christopher D. Ringwald, ''The Soul of Recovery: Uncovering the Spiritual Dimension in the Treatment of Addictions'', Oxford University Press, UK, 2002, p. 138</ref> In the past it forced participants to sign ‘civil rights waivers’ under duress, and to this day requires parents/guardians to sign waivers giving over unconditional control of their child, and stating they will not “interfere with the custody and management of said minor in any way.”<ref name="newyorker.com">{{Cite magazine|date=2021-10-09|title=The Shadow Penal System for Struggling Kids|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/the-shadow-penal-system-for-struggling-kids|access-date=2021-10-16|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US}}</ref> The centres use practices such as enforced silence and banning communication (verbal and visual) between participants for perceived infractions, or on suspicion that the participant is gay - sometimes for months; monitoring and censoring all phone conversations with people outside of the programme (eg parents).<ref name="newyorker.com"/> | |||
| === Comparative studies === | |||
| ⚫ | In 1973, Archie Johnston compared results of Teen Challenge with that of a ] approach at a Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution therapeutic community, and with a third group who received no treatment. While the numbers of subjects was small (17 in each group), he found evidence to support his recommendation that, while Teen Challenge was an "effective" treatment (with a drug recidivism rate after 29 months of 32%), Transactional Analysis was a "very effective" treatment (with a comparable 16% rate), suggesting that perhaps the lower recidivism rates were a result of TA changing the addiction concept of the self-image more thoroughly and at a slower pace. He hoped that Teen Challenge would incorporate some psychotherapy into their treatment model. |
||
| | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Heroin Addiction: Teen Challenge vs. Transactional Analysis: A Statistical Study| work = | publisher = Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation| date = September 1973| url = http://www.asa3.org/aSA/PSCF/1973/JASA9-73Johnson.html | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-04-01}}</ref> | |||
| == Studies of program effectiveness == | |||
| ⚫ | Aaron Bicknese tracked down 59 former Teen Challenge students in 1995, in order to compare them with a similar group of addicts who had spent one or two months in a hospital rehabilitation program. His results, part of his PhD dissertation, were published in "The Teen Challenge Drug Treatment Program in Comparative Perspective" |
||
| ⚫ | In 1973, Archie Johnston compared results of Teen Challenge with that of a ] approach at a Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution therapeutic community, and with a third group who received no treatment.<ref Name="TA">{{cite web| last = Johnston| first = Archie| title = Heroin Addiction: Teen Challenge vs. Transactional Analysis: A Statistical Study| publisher = Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation| date = September 1973| url = http://www.asa3.org/aSA/PSCF/1973/JASA9-73Johnston.html| access-date = 2008-04-01| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150908073156/http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1973/JASA9-73Johnston.html| archive-date = 2015-09-08| url-status = dead}}</ref> While the numbers of subjects was small (17 in each group), he found evidence to support his recommendation that, while Teen Challenge was an "effective" treatment (with a drug recidivism rate after 29 months of 32%), Transactional Analysis was a "very effective" treatment (with a comparable 16% rate), suggesting that perhaps the lower recidivism rates were a result of TA changing the addiction concept of the self-image more thoroughly and at a slower pace. He hoped that Teen Challenge would incorporate some psychotherapy into their treatment model. | ||
| A Wilder Research study of 141 former residents who graduated Minnesota Teen Challenge between 2007 and 2009 reported that 74 percent of adult program graduates (10 percent of respondents were teenagers) reported no use in the previous six months, 58 percent had attended school since graduating, 74 percent were employed, and 53 percent rated the overall quality of Minnesota Teen Challenge as “outstanding”.<ref name="Wilder">{{cite web |url=https://www.wilder.org/sites/default/files/imports/MN_TeenChallengeFollow-up_Sum2-pg_1-11.pdf |title=Following up with graduates of Minnesota Teen Challenge |last1=Hardeman |first1=Rachel |author-link1=Rachel Hardeman |last2=Gerrard |first2=Michelle Decker |last3=Owen |first3=Greg |date=2011 |publisher=Wilder Research |access-date=2019-07-18}}</ref> When asked to name what helped most, the faith-based aspects and the staff were mentioned most frequently. | |||
| His results also showed that Teen Challenge graduates were far more likely to be employed, with 18 of the 59 working at Teen Challenge itself, which relies on former clients to run the program. | |||
| ⚫ | Aaron Bicknese tracked down 59 former Teen Challenge students in 1995, in order to compare them with a similar group of addicts who had spent one or two months in a hospital rehabilitation program. His results, part of his PhD dissertation, were published in "The Teen Challenge Drug Treatment Program in Comparative Perspective".<ref Name="Bicknese">{{cite book | last = Bicknese| first = Aaron | title = The Teen Challenge Drug Treatment Program in Comparative Perspective| publisher = Northwestern University| year = 1999| location = Illinois}}</ref> Bicknese found that Teen Challenge graduates reported less drug-use recidivism than the hospital-program graduates, but not less than those who continued attending ] after the hospital program. His results also showed that Teen Challenge graduates were much more likely to be employed, with 18 of the 59 working at Teen Challenge itself, which utilizes graduates in its operations.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web | last = Goodstein| first = Laurie| title = Church-Based Projects Lack Data on Results| work = New York Times| date = 2001-04-24| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03EED61F30F937A15757C0A9679C8B63| access-date = 2008-06-12}}</ref> | ||
| Much of these results were to Teen Challenge's benefit, and the high success rates (up to 86%) he found have been quoted in numerous Teen Challenge and Christian Counseling websites. | |||
| Much of these results were to Teen Challenge's benefit, and the high success rates (up to 86%) he found have been quoted in numerous Teen Challenge and Christian Counseling websites.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acadc.citymax.com/page/page/2495014.htm|title=Significant research that everybody should know|access-date=2009-01-10|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221065833/http://www.acadc.citymax.com/page/page/2495014.htm|archive-date=2009-02-21}}</ref> According to a 2001 ''New York Times'' item, some social scientists complain that the 86 percent success rate of Teen Challenge disregards those who dropped out of the program, and that like many private and religious organizations, Teen Challenge selects its clients. Teen Challenge reports that 25 to 30 percent typically drop out in the program's first four-month phase, and 10 percent more in the next eight months.<ref name="NYT"/> In their testimony before the ], ] Education Fund, have claimed that the much-quoted success rates "dramatically distort the truth", due to the lack of reference to the drop-out rate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://waysandmeans.house.gov/legacy/humres/107cong/6-14-01/6-14smoo.htm|title=Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Human Resources and Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures of the House Committee on Ways and Means|date=2001-06-14|publisher=House Committee on Ways and Means|access-date=2009-01-10|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112035516/http://waysandmeans.house.gov/legacy/humres/107cong/6-14-01/6-14smoo.htm|archive-date=2009-01-12}}</ref> Doug Wever, author of "The Teen Challenge Therapeutic Model", stated, "I would respectfully suggest that the Texas Freedom Network's position here is overstated in that it's not unusual at all for the research design of effectiveness studies to look only at graduates; therefore the outcomes of these independent studies do provide a legitimate and dramatic basis for comparison given the results. At the same time, Teen Challenge must be careful to communicate what has actually been measured."<ref>Doug Wever of Alabama Teen Challenge and Global Teen Challenge in an interview, June 2009, Seale, AL</ref> | |||
| According to a 2001 New York Times item <ref Name="NYT">{{cite web | last = Goodstein| first = Laurie| authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Church-Based Projects Lack Data on Results| work = | publisher = New York Times| date = 2001-04-24| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03EED61F30F937A15757C0A9679C8B63| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-12}}</ref>, social scientists state the 86 percent success rate of Teen Challenge is misleading, as it does not count the people who dropped out during the program, and that, like many voluntary NGO's, Teen Challenge picks its clients. The item quotes the Rev. John D. Castellani, president of Teen Challenge International U.S.A., as saying that most of the addicts have already been through detoxification programs, before they are admitted. In the program's first four-month phase, Mr. Castellani said, 25 to 30 percent drop out, and in the next eight months, 10 percent more leave. | |||
| ==Public policy effects== | ==Public policy effects== | ||
| In 1995, auditors from the Texas Commission for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA) demanded that Teen Challenge obtain state licensing and employ state-licensed counselors. As a result, then-Governor ] publicly defended Teen Challenge and pursued alternative licensing procedures for faith-based organizations. "Teen Challenge should view itself as a pioneer in how Texas approaches faith-based programs. I'll call together people, ask them to make recommendations... licensing standards have to be different from what they are today," Bush said.<ref Name="World">{{cite web | last = Maynard| first = Roy |author2=Marvin Olasky | date= 8 May 1995 | title = Governor Bush backs Teen Challenge | publisher = World Magazine |url=http://www.worldmag.com/articles/11016}}</ref> | |||
| Teen Challenge has been cited in US public policy debates as an example of why such programs merit the federal funding of faith-based organizations. Its documented success rates played a role in the establishment of the ] in 2001. | |||
| ==Controversies== | |||
| Conversely, such funding has come under attack through comments by John Castellani, the former President of Teen Challenge USA, during a House Government Reform subcommittee, examining the efficacy of religious social service providers. During the hearing, Castellani said Teen Challenge does not hire non-Christians as employees and, when asked if the group takes non-Christians as clients, he said yes, and boasted that some Jews who finish his Teen Challenge program become "completed Jews." Critics of faith-based funding cite this as an example of how religious intolerance could be publicly funded. (The "completed Jews" phrase is often used by Christians and Messianic Jews to refer to Jewish people who become believers in Yeshua (Jesus). The phrase is considered offensive to many Jewish groups because it suggests Jews are "incomplete" unless they believe in the divinity of Jesus.) <ref Name="AU">{{cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Faith-Based Group Draws Criticism for Telling House Congressional Committee about "Completed Jews"| work = | publisher = Americans United for Separation of Church and State| date = ]| url = http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6061&abbr=pr&security=1002&news_iv_ctrl=1379| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-04-01}}</ref> | |||
| The organization has faced accusations regarding severe abuse and ill treatment at its rehabilitation camps throughout the early 2000s and on.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|url=https://healthland.time.com/2012/11/13/investigative-report-reveals-some-religious-reform-schools-are-havens-for-child-abuse/|title=Investigative Report Reveals Some Religious Reform Schools Are Havens for Child Abuse|last=Szalavitz|first=Maia|magazine=Time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710134221/http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/13/investigative-report-reveals-some-religious-reform-schools-are-havens-for-child-abuse/|url-status=live|access-date=2019-07-10|archive-date=2019-07-10}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/religious-exemption-at-some-florida-childrens-homes-shields-prying-eyes/1258390|title=Tampa Bay Times|last=Zayas|first=Alexandra|date=2012-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710134352/https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/religious-exemption-at-some-florida-childrens-homes-shields-prying-eyes/1258390|url-status=dead|access-date=2019-07-10|archive-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> The organization allegedly encompasses certain unlicensed religious homes that may operate outside child protection laws due to religious exemptions in the state of Florida. They have also been linked to the controversial practice of ]. The organization has allegedly contributed to the near-death of Samson Lehman, who was 15 years old at the time. Authorities in Florida have responded to at least 165 allegations of abuse and neglect by the organization from the period of the 2000s-2012 for situations including sex abuse and physical injury. The organization has been involved in at least two lawsuits alleging abuse and neglect by parents of minors involved with the organization.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> | |||
| {{Sectstub|date=May 2008}} | |||
| In 2001, John Castellani, the former President of Teen Challenge USA, before a House Government Reform subcommittee examining the efficacy of religious social service providers, said that Teen Challenge does not hire non-Christians as employees. When asked if the group takes non-Christians as clients, he said yes, and boasted that some Jews who finish his Teen Challenge program become "completed Jews."<ref name="AU">{{cite web| title =Faith-Based Group Draws Criticism for Telling House Congressional Committee about "Completed Jews"| publisher =Americans United for Separation of Church and State| date =2001-05-24| url =http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6061&abbr=pr&security=1002&news_iv_ctrl=1379| access-date =2008-04-01| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080513090856/http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6061&abbr=pr&security=1002&news_iv_ctrl=1379| archive-date =2008-05-13| url-status =dead}}</ref><ref name ="NYT2">{{cite web| last = Goodstein| first = Laurie| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01EED71E3DF936A15756C0A9679C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/J/Jews%20and%20Judaism | title = A Reference to Jews Heats Up Aid Debate |work= New York Times | date =2001-05-25 |page= A19}}</ref> The "completed Jews" phrase has been used by some Christians and Messianic Jews to refer to people who previously followed Judaism and have become believers in Yeshua (Jesus);<ref name="AU"/><ref name ="NYT2"/> many Jewish groups consider it offensive because of the implication that those who don't believe in Jesus are "incomplete".<ref name="AU"/><ref name ="NYT2"/> Critics of faith-based funding cite this as an example of how religious intolerance could be publicly funded.<ref name ="NYT2"/> | |||
| ⚫ | ==References== | ||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| In October 2021, an article in '']'' described how 15-year-old Emma Burris was allegedly forced into Teen Challenge and to surrender her baby for adoption.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Lost Youth |author=Rachel Aviv |magazine=The New Yorker |date=October 18, 2021 |page=30 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/18/the-shadow-penal-system-for-struggling-kids |accessdate=October 18, 2021}}</ref> | |||
| In the United States, there are no federal laws or agencies that regulate organizations like Teen Challenge.<ref name=":2" /> When a Texas regulatory agency threatened to shut down a Teen Challenge program in San Antonio in the 1990s due to treatments that did not comply with the state’s licensing and training requirements, Texas Governor George W. Bush created an exemption for faith-based programs.<ref name=":2" /> | |||
| == See also == | |||
| * ]: GTC radio station in American Samoa | |||
| ⚫ | == References == | ||
| {{Reflist}} | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| * | * | ||
| * | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| {{Portal|Evangelical Christianity|}} | |||
| ] | |||
| {{Authority control}} | |||
| ] | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Global Teen Challenge}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
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Latest revision as of 00:25, 25 December 2024
Christian organization for teenagers struggling with addiction | The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (March 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Founded | 1960 |
|---|---|
| Founder | David Wilkerson |
| Location | |
| Area served | 129 countries |
| Key people | Dr. Jerry Nance |
| Website | globaltc.org |
Global Teen Challenge is a network of Christian faith-based corporations intended to provide rehabilitation services to people struggling with addiction. It was founded by David Wilkerson in 1960. The global headquarters is in Columbus, Georgia, United States.
There is little public record of what goes on in Teen Challenge facilities. Questions have been raised about whether the practices of the organization are abusive and cult-like. In the United States, there are no federal laws or agencies that regulate organizations like Teen Challenge.
History
Teen Challenge was founded in 1961 by David Wilkerson, an Assemblies of God pastor who left a rural Pennsylvania church to work on the street among teenage gang members and socially marginalized people in New York City and who, perhaps, is best known for later authoring The Cross and the Switchblade and founding Times Square Church. Teen Challenge started its first residential program in December 1962, in a house in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1973, 12 years after the ministry began, Teen Challenge established a national headquarters. In 1995, Global Teen Challenge was founded to assist the growing number of Teen Challenges starting up outside the US, but struggling to acquire the necessary resources and training. In 2022, Global Teen Challenge had more than 1,400 accommodation centers in 129 countries around the world.
Programs
The organization offers rehabilitation programs of a general duration of 12 months to help young people to get out of addictions of all kinds (alcoholism, drugs, crime, prostitution, etc.). In the past it forced participants to sign ‘civil rights waivers’ under duress, and to this day requires parents/guardians to sign waivers giving over unconditional control of their child, and stating they will not “interfere with the custody and management of said minor in any way.” The centres use practices such as enforced silence and banning communication (verbal and visual) between participants for perceived infractions, or on suspicion that the participant is gay - sometimes for months; monitoring and censoring all phone conversations with people outside of the programme (eg parents).
Studies of program effectiveness
In 1973, Archie Johnston compared results of Teen Challenge with that of a transactional analysis approach at a Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution therapeutic community, and with a third group who received no treatment. While the numbers of subjects was small (17 in each group), he found evidence to support his recommendation that, while Teen Challenge was an "effective" treatment (with a drug recidivism rate after 29 months of 32%), Transactional Analysis was a "very effective" treatment (with a comparable 16% rate), suggesting that perhaps the lower recidivism rates were a result of TA changing the addiction concept of the self-image more thoroughly and at a slower pace. He hoped that Teen Challenge would incorporate some psychotherapy into their treatment model.
A Wilder Research study of 141 former residents who graduated Minnesota Teen Challenge between 2007 and 2009 reported that 74 percent of adult program graduates (10 percent of respondents were teenagers) reported no use in the previous six months, 58 percent had attended school since graduating, 74 percent were employed, and 53 percent rated the overall quality of Minnesota Teen Challenge as “outstanding”. When asked to name what helped most, the faith-based aspects and the staff were mentioned most frequently.
Aaron Bicknese tracked down 59 former Teen Challenge students in 1995, in order to compare them with a similar group of addicts who had spent one or two months in a hospital rehabilitation program. His results, part of his PhD dissertation, were published in "The Teen Challenge Drug Treatment Program in Comparative Perspective". Bicknese found that Teen Challenge graduates reported less drug-use recidivism than the hospital-program graduates, but not less than those who continued attending Alcoholics Anonymous after the hospital program. His results also showed that Teen Challenge graduates were much more likely to be employed, with 18 of the 59 working at Teen Challenge itself, which utilizes graduates in its operations.
Much of these results were to Teen Challenge's benefit, and the high success rates (up to 86%) he found have been quoted in numerous Teen Challenge and Christian Counseling websites. According to a 2001 New York Times item, some social scientists complain that the 86 percent success rate of Teen Challenge disregards those who dropped out of the program, and that like many private and religious organizations, Teen Challenge selects its clients. Teen Challenge reports that 25 to 30 percent typically drop out in the program's first four-month phase, and 10 percent more in the next eight months. In their testimony before the United States House Committee on Ways and Means, Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, have claimed that the much-quoted success rates "dramatically distort the truth", due to the lack of reference to the drop-out rate. Doug Wever, author of "The Teen Challenge Therapeutic Model", stated, "I would respectfully suggest that the Texas Freedom Network's position here is overstated in that it's not unusual at all for the research design of effectiveness studies to look only at graduates; therefore the outcomes of these independent studies do provide a legitimate and dramatic basis for comparison given the results. At the same time, Teen Challenge must be careful to communicate what has actually been measured."
Public policy effects
In 1995, auditors from the Texas Commission for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA) demanded that Teen Challenge obtain state licensing and employ state-licensed counselors. As a result, then-Governor George W. Bush publicly defended Teen Challenge and pursued alternative licensing procedures for faith-based organizations. "Teen Challenge should view itself as a pioneer in how Texas approaches faith-based programs. I'll call together people, ask them to make recommendations... licensing standards have to be different from what they are today," Bush said.
Controversies
The organization has faced accusations regarding severe abuse and ill treatment at its rehabilitation camps throughout the early 2000s and on. The organization allegedly encompasses certain unlicensed religious homes that may operate outside child protection laws due to religious exemptions in the state of Florida. They have also been linked to the controversial practice of conversion therapy. The organization has allegedly contributed to the near-death of Samson Lehman, who was 15 years old at the time. Authorities in Florida have responded to at least 165 allegations of abuse and neglect by the organization from the period of the 2000s-2012 for situations including sex abuse and physical injury. The organization has been involved in at least two lawsuits alleging abuse and neglect by parents of minors involved with the organization.
In 2001, John Castellani, the former President of Teen Challenge USA, before a House Government Reform subcommittee examining the efficacy of religious social service providers, said that Teen Challenge does not hire non-Christians as employees. When asked if the group takes non-Christians as clients, he said yes, and boasted that some Jews who finish his Teen Challenge program become "completed Jews." The "completed Jews" phrase has been used by some Christians and Messianic Jews to refer to people who previously followed Judaism and have become believers in Yeshua (Jesus); many Jewish groups consider it offensive because of the implication that those who don't believe in Jesus are "incomplete". Critics of faith-based funding cite this as an example of how religious intolerance could be publicly funded.
In October 2021, an article in The New Yorker described how 15-year-old Emma Burris was allegedly forced into Teen Challenge and to surrender her baby for adoption.
In the United States, there are no federal laws or agencies that regulate organizations like Teen Challenge. When a Texas regulatory agency threatened to shut down a Teen Challenge program in San Antonio in the 1990s due to treatments that did not comply with the state’s licensing and training requirements, Texas Governor George W. Bush created an exemption for faith-based programs.
See also
- KMOA: GTC radio station in American Samoa
References
- ^ "The Shadow Penal System for Struggling Kids". The New Yorker. 2021-10-09. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
- Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, Westminster John Knox Press, USA, 2002, page 677
- Christopher D. Ringwald, Principles of Addiction: Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders, Volume 1, Academic Press, USA, 2013, page 289
- Elizabeth M. Dowling, W. George Scarlett, Encyclopedia of Religious and Spiritual Development, SAGE Publications, USA, 2006, p. 444
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