Iowa AG's office seeks US help for 4 children at center of child abuse probe in Jamaica

Iowa child protective workers continue to investigate child abuse allegations made against a Christian boarding school for youth in Jamaica, where four Iowa youth are housed.

The fate of one of the youths — a 17-year-old from Dubuque County whose case triggered action by the Iowa Attorney General's Office — is still unclear.

Iowa's assistant attorney general for health and human services wrote to Iowa's four U.S. representatives and two U.S. senators on June 28, the same day Watchdog first reported on a guardian's concerns about the Iowa teen . The letter, released Friday, sought the federal lawmakers' help in also protecting three other Iowa youths placed by caregivers at Youth of Vision Academy, or YOVA, in St. Mary, a parish in northeastern Jamaica.

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Formed as a nonprofit in 2018 in Chula Vista, California, YOVA advertises online that it offers “educational, therapeutic and behavioral services to children and young adolescents in a safe and nurturing environment.” It was founded by Jennifer Alexis-Codner, a native of the Caribbean who also opened a since-shuttered school for troubled girls, Ebenezer Home, on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. With co-founder Noel Reed, Alexis-Codner opened the Jamaican compound, which has catered to troubled youth from the U.S.

Ed Bull, the assistant attorney general and former longtime Marion County attorney, said in the letter that if reports by residents of abuse are accurate, the nonprofit is using tax-deductible donations to mistreat children.

"Given the alarming testimony and ongoing investigation by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, I urgently request your intervention," Bull wrote to the federal lawmakers. "The safety and well-being of these children are at serious risk, and I implore you to take any action within your power to address this situation."

A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, whose office has been involved in the case of the girl, a resident of her district, did not respond to an email Monday seeking comment.

YOVA's Houston-based lawyer, Ashlee Martin, said she just returned from a visit to YOVA and denied any abuse was taking place.

"It's a very impressive place," she said. "All of the kids are being well cared for, and it should be commended, not persecuted."

Martin also said the facility was not impacted by Hurricane Beryl, which struck Jamaica last week.

But Bull's letter said Iowa DHHS has been investigating the allegations of abuse, and the Iowa teen, who lived in Dubuque and Epworth prior to being taken to the facility last May, lost 30 pounds at the boarding school and for two weeks had an illness with a high fever for which she got no medical attention.

"The (Iowa) child has described disturbing practices at the facility, including severe restrictions on food, rigorous and excessive physical exercises, and a lack of medical care. She is forced to adhere to strict bathroom protocols and often hears the screams of other children subjected to restraints and isolation," Bull's letter said.

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Bull said former residents also have described emotional and physical abuse at the facility.

"One former resident described inappropriate and invasive practices by staff, including forced undressing, extensive physical labor as punishment, and degrading verbal abuse. That former resident also witnessed what he described as torture of younger children through prolonged restraints and physical harm. Another former resident corroborated those accounts, detailing inadequate medical care, severe dietary restrictions, and harsh physical exercises. She also reported inappropriate monitoring and punishment, such as being forced to show proof of bowel movements and enduring isolation."

Bull's letter said Iowa DHHS had been stymied in getting the teen home. "The governor’s office has been in contact with the State Department and would appreciate the delegation's support and ongoing engagement with the State Department and Jamaican Embassy in Washington D.C.," the letter said.

It said the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica visited the four Iowa children June 27 to conduct a welfare and whereabouts check, but its capacity to act was limited due to Jamaican sovereignty. It did not provide any information about the three other Iowa youth.

Iowa DHHS does not contract with private boarding schools or send children to foreign countries for placement, according to Alex Murphy, a spokesperson for the department. So the Iowa children placed at YOVA would have been sent there voluntarily by parents or guardians.

Guardians disagree over potential danger posed by Jamaican school

Tina Rice, a temporary guardian of the Dubuque County girl, was the first to raise concerns about the Jamaican home.

Rice told Watchdog last month the girl bounced around as a child from an aunt and uncle in Morristown, Tennessee, a residential facility and foster homes and that the state eventually terminated her parents’ parental rights. The state of Tennessee gave guardianship of the girl in 2022 to Heather Cunard, also of Dubuque County. But the girl came to spend more and more time at Rice’s house, Rice said, because she had behavior issues and clashed with Cunard.

Cunard told Watchdog she wanted to send the teen to YOVA because it had expertise with reactive attachment disorder, a rare but serious condition that often can be caused by lack of bonding or trauma in early childhood. In May 2023, Cunard picked up the girl from Rice’s home in Epworth and took her to the Jamaican facility, setting off a clash between the two women.

Late last month, both women traveled separately to Jamaica to check on the Dubuque teen's welfare. Rice obtained a temporary guardianship and removal order from an Iowa judge prior to her trip after enlisting the help of a New York child advocacy lawyer, Dawn Post.

Post said she has interviewed at least 15 former residents of YOVA who have described a mix of abuse at the facility and that Iowa child protective officials have been interviewing those residents.

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Post previously went to Jamaica this spring on behalf of eight U.S. boys to help get them in protective custody amid allegations of starvation and abuse at another American-run facility in Jamaica called Atlantis Leadership Academy on St. Elizabeth’s south coast. The boys' removal followed an unannounced visit in February by Jamaica's Child Protection and Family Services Agency, as well as representatives of the U.S. Embassy.

Five employees at that school were charged with child cruelty and assault amid allegations that children had been beaten with pipes, whipped, starved and abused, NBC News has reported . Boys who lived at the academy later told NBC that youths also were forced to exercise until they vomited and placed in stress positions for hours at a time.

But Rice, accompanied by Post for part of her Jamaica trip, was unsuccessful in bringing the 17-year-old Iowa girl home. Her temporary custody of the child ended last week.

In an interview Monday, Cunard said she spent several hours with the teen on and off campus over 2½ days in late June and found no evidence of abuse. She also said a U.S. embassy official visited while she was there, interviewed children outside the presence of staff and found no problems.

She said the unhappy teen whom she left at YOVA more than a year ago is now amazing, thriving and happy, catching up on her education, taking life skills classes and talking of potentially going into the military.

"I have never seen a better-run organization as far as troubled kids," Cunard said of the facility.

Cunard said she believes parents should take abuse claims by children seriously, but she has a hard time believing YOVA could mask abuse of children with parents and others often visiting the facility. She said teens with behavior problems like reactive attachment disorder also lie and exaggerate for a mix of reasons.

"There is more of a context to this situation ... these are kids who have serious issues," she said. "It is reasonable to believe that kids who didn't make it through the program or who didn't get that whole healing would lie."

In the meantime, Cunard still faces a child abuse investigation for leaving the teen in Jamaica amid the claims of abuse. She said she should learn as soon as next week what DHHS will decide.

She has said she wants to keep the teen in the program until she finishes. The girl turns 18 in November.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com , at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog .

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa AG's office seeks US help for 4 children at center of child abuse probe in Jamaica