In the latest scandal to hit the so-called “residential therapy for teens” industry, a judge in Wyoming has allowed claims of forced labor against a religious facility disguised as a therapy center to proceed. An article by the Courthouse News Service reveals a human trafficking scheme in which parents were tricked into sending their children into forced labor instead of therapy.

Plausible claims

The case first began in 2020, when four plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Trinity Teen Solutions, a Wyoming-based company claiming to offer recreational therapies through a Christian faith-based approach. The company had dismissed the claims on the base “the teens had not stated a plausible claim for relief.” However, the teens were forced to write positive testimonials about their experience so that Trinity Teen Solutions could use them as “proof” in the event a teenager attempted to speak out on the abuse they suffered.

“[We] were lashed together or to farm animals, forced to carry around a folding chair 24 hours a day for months and ordered to run up and down a massive hill covered in ragged stones and rattlesnakes.” – Female plaintiffs.

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