World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools

Founding and early structure The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS or WWASP) is an organization based in Utah, in the United States. WWASPS, founded by Robert Lichfield and incorporated in 1998, stated that it was an umbrella organization of the troubled teen industry. Expanasion In 2005, Robert Lichfield and the Utah-based holding company, Golden Pond Investments Ltd., made an offer to buy the campus of the Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, to open a new school for adolescents needing help with discipline, responsibility and leadership skills. It was announced that the school would be directed by former WWASP staff member Randall Hinton and his brother Russell Hinton. The Hintons told Boonville officials that the proposed school would not be a part of WWASP. The Boonville City Council rejected the proposal. Decline and closure In July 2007, World Wide's president, Ken Kay, told the Salt Lake Tribune that only two schools remained in the WWASPS network, and that one, Majestic Ranch Academy in Utah, was likely to sever its ties with the organization. In a December 2010 newspaper article, Kay was reported to have said that the organization was no longer in business, but because of ongoing litigation, it had not been dissolved. ==Programs and Operations==

Organizational structure WWASPS operated through a network of affiliated schools and companies, many of which were incorporated as separate legal entities. According to reporting by The New York Times and other publications, the organization provided centralized marketing, admissions, training, and administrative services to affiliated programs. Affiliated companies Associated companies provided services including student recruitment, transportation, tuition billing, and parent seminars for families enrolled in WWASPS-affiliated programs. Schools and international facilities WWASPS-affiliated programs operated in several countries, including the United States, Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica, Samoa, and the Czech Republic. ==Related and spinoff programs and projects==

Some former WWASP personnel have gone on to establish or work at other similar institutions: Ken Kay was superintendent of Browning Distance Learning Academy, a provider of homeschooling curriculum. Its materials were used by Mentor School in Costa Rica. As of 2022 no other school or homeschooling group has used Browning Distance Learning Academy, and it is assumed the company went bankrupt after Mentor's closure. Browning Distance Learning Academy does not seem to be up and running at this time. ==Controversy==

WWASPS and its associated institutions have been the target of criticism over their treatment methods, including allegations of severe abuse and torture by staff at programs supported by WWASPS. The programs have been the subject of legal investigations by several U.S. states. A 2006 WebWire report summarizing allegations in a lawsuit stated that children in WWASPS programs were denied adequate food, subjected to physical restraints including being chained in dog cages, forced to eat their own vomit, and experienced emotional and sexual abuse. Numerous former students or their parents have filed lawsuits against WWASPS, its personnel, or individual schools. Most have been settled out of court or dismissed for procedural reasons. For example, a 2005 lawsuit filed in California on behalf of more than 20 plaintiffs was dismissed because the judge found that California lacked jurisdiction. In June 2007, Utah attorney Thomas M. Burton told a reporter that six suits he had filed against WWASPS on behalf of his clients had been dismissed on procedural grounds. WWASPS president Ken Kay told an interviewer that lawsuits against WWASPS are ploys to get money, brought by people who "are never going to be happy." On several occasions, WWASPS and its principals have responded to criticism by suing their critics. Robert Lichfield sued two individuals associated with the International Survivors Action Committee (ISAC) for defamation, invasion of his privacy, and causing "intentional interference with 'prospective economic advantage'." In 2010, animals were removed from Carolina Springs Academy due to neglect and malnourishment. There were also several animal corpses found on the property. == Legal ==

Multiple news outlets reported that Morava Academy was closed by authorities in the Czech Republic, and that its American managers, Glenda and Steven Roach of Utah, were arrested and charged with offenses including human rights violations, torture, and false imprisonment of students In 2003 Deseret News reported that US State Department had sent investigators to Paradise Cove program located in Wester Samoa. they were investigating allegations of Solitary Confinement, Withholding of rations and that by end of 1998 the program had closed down. In 2004 the Mexican government performed a raid on Casa by the sea and shut down the program. Hinton was sentenced to 25 days in jail followed by one year on probation. In May 2013, a lawsuit involving a company associated with World Wide was settled for $3 million without an admission of liability. The case stemmed from the 20004 death of a 16-year-old girl at Spring Creek Lodge Academy in Montana, a facility that has since closed. According to depositions from staff and owners, the girl had been subjected to disciplinary measures prior to her death. In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation performed a raid on Midwest Academy in Keokuk, Iowa after allegations of sexual abuse and fraud. Benjamin Trane who owned Midwest Academy was convicted of sexual abusing and physical abuse In 2018. == Media coverage and legacy ==

The World Wide Association of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools has been the subject of extensive media coverage. Contemporary reporting including investigative journalism by outlets such as Dateline NBC and many major newspapers such as The Independent, The New York Times and The Guardian, examining allegations of abuse during the organization’s operation. The bbc aired a program called locked in paradise about the organistation and their Tranquility Bay program. PBS also released a documentary titled whose watching the kids. In later years, World Wide Association of World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools was the subject of a Netflix miniseries documentary called The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping. ==See also==