Former Gov. Bevin’s son is back in U.S., says Hilton foundation, but his family is not involved

By Deborah Yetter
Kentucky Lantern

The adopted son of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin is back in the United States — after he was removed earlier this year from an allegedly abusive Jamaican youth facility and left in care of that country’s child welfare system.

The boy, 17, is in a placement worked out with help of Jamaican children’s authorities after his adoptive parents, Matt and Glenna Bevin, did not immediately respond to inquiries about his situation, said advocates working behalf of him and seven other boys removed from the facility in February.

“He is safe,” said Rebecca Growne, a representative of a child advocacy foundation created by hotel heiress Paris Hilton, who has used her celebrity to shed light on conditions in so-called “troubled teen” facilities.

“He is in an appropriate placement.”

The Bevins, Growne said, are not involved in the matter.

Hilton’s foundation, 11:11 Media Impact, is a non-profit organization which advocates on behalf of children in allegedly abusive residential settings.

Hilton herself traveled to Jamaica in April to meet the boys and offer her organization’s support, a visit she mentioned in June testimony before Congress over her concerns about such residential programs.

Hilton said she, as a teenager, was placed involuntarily in several such facilities she said were highly abusive.

The Bevins did not respond to repeated queries about their son as officials and advocates sought to find a custodian for him, according to advocates with the Hilton foundation. As a result, he was placed in custody of the Jamaican child welfare system.

“They were not communicating with us,” said Chelsea Maldonado, also with the Paris Hilton foundation, who went to Jamaica to assist in the case. “Everyone has tried. No one has had success.”

Neither Matt Bevin, who served as Kentucky governor from 2015 through 2019, nor his lawyer responded to a request for comment.

Glenna Bevin, who is seeking a divorce from her husband, did not respond to a request for comment through her lawyer.

Matt Bevin, a conservative Christian, ran a campaign based in part on improving adoption services in Kentucky and reducing the number of children in foster care. In a 2017 interview on KET he called his desire to reform the system “the driving reason I made the decision to run.”

The Bevins are the parents of five biological children and four children they adopted from Ethiopia in 2012, including the youth who was sent to the Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica last year.

Matt Bevin often cited the adoption in his political campaign and after he was elected in calling on members of Kentucky’s faith community to provide adoptive homes for children in need.

‘The perfect location for healing’

On its website, the Atlantis Leadership Academy describes itself as a “the perfect location for healing,” and an ideal place for youths who have cycled though other treatment programs without success.

But on Feb. 8, officials with the Jamaican Child Protection and Family Services Agency found otherwise when they conducted an unannounced welfare check on the eight teenage boys, ages 14-18, all U.S. citizens, according to a press release from the agency.

“During this visit, signs of abuse and neglect were observed, leading to the immediate removal of the teens from the facility for their safety,” it said.

The U.S. Embassy, in a statement, said it takes the welfare of U.S. children abroad “very seriously” and works closely with Jamaican child protection officials in such matters.

The Jamaican children’s agency did not elaborate on the abuse it observed at the academy but a lengthy story July 13 in the Sunday Times of London said the teens removed from the academy described beatings, violent treatment, isolation, lack of food, filthy, unsanitary conditions and cruel punishments such as being forced to lie face down on the floor for hours.

“I’d rather die than go back,” one boy said, according to the Sunday Times .

The case was also referred to criminal authorities which resulted in charges of assault and child cruelty against five former staffers.

‘He was just so dejected’

The removal of the teens from the academy set off a flurry of activity to identify the boys and find their families.

Dawn J. Post, a New York lawyer who specializes in family law and failed adoptions, was among lawyers who traveled to Jamaica to volunteer their help with the boys’ cases.

The U.S. embassy and child welfare officials were able to confirm the identity of the youths and begin searching for relatives who might take custody of those under 18, she said. Representatives of Hilton’s foundation joined the effort.

The 18-year-old, no longer in the family court’s jurisdiction, was returned to the United States in coordination with the U.S. Embassy and the youth’s family, the children’s agency press release said.

Custody arrangements were made for four more.

Ultimately, three boys ended up in the custody of Jamaica child welfare when no relatives stepped forward, Post said.

Post said she was able to meet and speak with the boys, who signed agreements to accept her voluntary legal services — including the Bevins’ son.

“This young man was the one I was most worried about,” she said. “He seemed the most dejected, with very little belief that anyone was coming for him or even knew he was missing. He was just so dejected and depressed after everything he had gone through.”

Post said she was able to make telephone contact with Glenna Bevin once, who said she needed to consult with her husband before discussing her son’s care. Post said Glenna Bevin cut off contact after that. The Bevins’ son returned to the U.S. in May.

One of the eight boys remains in Jamaica as officials and advocates try to work out arrangements for his return to the United States, Growne said.

The Atlantis Leadership Academy was closed in March by officials, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy. It was not licensed as a school and had moved locations several times, finally to a small, two-bedroom cottage, the Sunday Times story said.

Most youths got classes online, intermittently, Maldonado said.

Families paid $8,000 to $10,000 a month in fees, she said.

‘Terrifying, clickbait headlines’

Atlantis Leadership Academy has not responded to requests for comment through its webstie and a toll-free line it lists is not accepting calls.

The Sunday Times story said its founder and director, an American named Randall Cook, did not appear at court hearings over the facility and is believed to have returned to the United States.

Meanwhile, the academy, though closed, appears to be pushing back on some of the allegations.

On its website, under the heading Media and FAQ, it accuses some outlets of “terrifying clickbait headlines” with “horrific, pre-determined narrative attacks.”

Its comments do not directly address the allegations but rather, question the media outlets that reported them.

“Do you feel as though what you receive from the media is a narrative or genuine, honest reporting?” it asks. “It is no surprise that as a direct result of lazy reporting, half-truths and craving for sensationalism above dignity and the public common good, most media houses have continued losing massive amounts of trust among their consumers.”

It also defends parents who place their children in facilities that purport to help difficult youths, saying they in most cases are well-meaning individuals, desperate for help.

“Parents are in a place of devastation,” the academy website said. “…There is virtually no compassion for a parent that is experiencing this situational trauma in their home and lives.”

Going forward, Growne said Hilton and the foundation remain focused on advocacy meant to bring awareness of the proliferation of such facilities, both in the United States and abroad. Their foundation currently is looking into conditions at another facility in Jamaica that houses more than 150 youths.

It also is looking for stronger federal and state laws regulating such facilities and more resources to help children in the community, rather than institutions.

Children’s residential facilities, including those promising help for troubled teens, have become a multibillion-dollar industry, often with little oversight, Growne said.

Marketing often is aimed at parents of adopted children and may paint a glowing picture of substandard facilities that some parents send children to sight unseen, Growne said. Some parents use “transport teams,” hired workers, to collect their children and take them to a facility, she said.

“I think it needs to be well-known that these facilities are out there,” she said. “The marketing does not live up to the reality.”

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