Teen escort company

Teen escort companies regularly employ the practice of gooning, a form of legal kidnapping occurring predominantly in the United States, in which parents hire rehabilitation organizations to seize children they perceive as troubled and transport them to boot camps, behavior modification facilities, residential treatment centers, substance abuse treatment facilities, wilderness therapy, or therapeutic boarding school. In most cases, the organizations send a group of people to show up by surprise and force the teenager into a vehicle. Children to be transported are often picked up during the middle of the night to take advantage of their initial disorientation and to minimize confrontation and flight risk. Aggressive tactics, such as being assaulted, restrained with handcuffs, or hogtied with cable wires, are common. Children are sometimes picked up at school, with the school staff unaware of the escort company's employees' true intentions. Children who resist are frequently threatened, restrained with handcuffs or zip ties, blindfolded, or hooded. == United States ==

As a transport option, parents in the United States are able to hire teen escort companies to transport their children from their homes to residential treatment centers (RTCs) and other facilities in the troubled teen industry. These facilities go by many names, and include private religious re-education facilities, teen residential programs, wilderness therapy programs, therapeutic boarding schools, boot camps, or behavior modification programs. In 2004, it was estimated that there were more than twenty teen escort companies operating in the United States. Parents may use this type of service when they believe their child needs treatment outside the home, but are unable or unwilling to travel there. The service can cost $5,000 to $8,000 U.S. dollars (up to $ in ). and because they are associated with treatment services which are themselves controversial. For teenagers seized in the middle of the night by strangers, being abducted by a teen escort company may result in permanent trauma. == In popular culture ==

Films and television • Boot Camp (2008), depicting elements associated with teen escort companies, notably when a character is taken from a house party, sedated, and awakens on a remote island near Fiji where a troubled teen program has established. • Coldwater (2013) • Self Medicated (2005) • Wayward (miniseries) (2025), depicting a teen escort company which takes a character by force, hooding and handcuffing her. ==References==