Teen escort company

Methodology

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. Children who have been gooned frequently report post traumatic stress disorder, problems sleeping at night, and recurring nightmares into adulthood. Paris Hilton's documentary This Is Paris details her experience at age 17 with gooning, culminating in her transport to Provo Canyon School where she was abused.

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 ). Many teen escort companies do not have any training or background requirements for prospective employees.

The use of such services is controversial, because the services are subject to little or no government regulation 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.

Supporters—including many clinicians and parent advocates—argue that when lower-intensity services have failed and risk of harm or elopement is high, planned professional transport to a licensed residential program can be the least-risky way to complete admission.{{cite web |title=Policy Statement on Youth Access to Residential Treatment Facilities |url=https://www.aacap.org/aacap/policy_statements/2025/Youth_Access_Residential_Treatment_Facilities.aspx

In popular culture

Films and television

• Boot Camp (2008)
• Coldwater (2013)
• Self Medicated (2005)
• Wayward (miniseries) (2025)

References

References

1. Telep, Trisha. (April 22, 2014). "The man who takes troubled youths to therapy camp". [[BBC News]].
2. (March 8, 2022). "'Blindfolds, hoods and handcuffs': How some teenagers come to Utah youth treatment programs". [[Salt Lake Tribune]].
3. Evans, Rachelle. (13 March 2024). "Gooning is clearly the wrong choice for our children". The Michigan Daily.
4. Solomon, Serena. (November 30, 2016). "The Legal Industry for Kidnapping Teens".
5. Anderson, Sulome. (August 12, 2014). "When Wilderness Boot Camps Take Tough Love Too Far".
6. "The Troubled Teen Industry's Troubling Lack of Oversight".
7. Salter, Jim. (September 27, 2022). "Rules sought for 'gooning,' taking troubled kids to care".
8. (September 5, 2022). "'Literally kidnapping': Teens taken against their will to boarding schools across US".
9. Ortiz, Michelle Ray. (June 13, 1999). "'Escort Service' or Legalized Abduction?".
10. Robbins, Ira P.. (14 June 2014). "Kidnapping Incorporated: The Unregulated Youth-Transportation Industry and the Potential for Abuse". American Criminal Law Review.
11. Goldsmith, Annie. (August 24, 2020). "Paris Hilton Opens Up About Physical and Emotional Abuse at Boarding School".
12. Hilton, Paris. (August 14, 2023). "Paris Hilton: my boarding school hell and how I survived". [[The Times]].
13. Okoren, Nicolle. (November 14, 2022). "The wilderness 'therapy' that teens say feels like abuse: 'You are on guard at all times'". The Guardian.
14. Ingram, Sarah. (March 26, 2023). "Kidnapped and taken into the woods: 'Why I had my teen gooned'". Metro.
15. "Dangers of Teen Escort Transportation Services".
16. Touretzky, Dave. (Jan 23, 2016). "The Lisa McPherson Clause".
17. (September 28, 2005). "The Exploitation of Youth and Families in the Name of "Specialty Schooling:" What Counts as Sufficient Data? What are Psychologists to Do?". [[American Psychological Association]].
18. (July 2008). "Residential Treatment Programs for Teens Consumer Information".
19. Stein, Samantha. (April 8, 2019). "Why I Kidnapped My Daughter".
20. Labi, Nadya. "Want your kid to disappear?".
21. "Journalism Center Awards: Nadya Labi".