World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools

The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS or WWASP) was 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. Many outside observers believe, however, that the WWASPS-affiliated institutions were actually owned through limited partnerships, many of which have used the same street addresses used by WWASPS, its principal officials or their close relatives.

WWASPS is connected to several affiliated for-profit companies. These include Teen Help LLC, the marketing arm of WWASPS and the entity that processes admissions paperwork; Teen Escort Service, a teen escort company that transports teenagers to WWASPS facilities; R&B Billing, which does tuition billing and payment processing; and Premier Educational Systems, LLC (also called Premier Educational Seminars), which conducts orientation and training workshops for parents whose children are in WWASPS facilities. WWASPS claims to have helped over 10,000 students with issues related to personal behavior.

Some participants and parents gave positive reports of their experiences, but others say that WWASPS programs were abusive. WWASPS has faced widespread allegations of physical and psychological abuse of the teenagers sent into its programs, resulting in a lawsuit filed against the organization in 2006. WWASPS officials report that the organization is no longer in business, and the facilities originally under it no longer associate with the name, but because of ongoing litigation, it has not been dissolved.

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.^[1][2]

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.^[3][4] The Boonville City Council rejected the proposal.^[5]

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.^[6] 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.^[7]

WWASPS operated, or was associated with, several facilities in the United States and in other countries. In 2003, there were 2,300 students enrolled in its facilities and programs.^[8] At one time, WWASPS facilities had tuition income of more than $90 million per year (equivalent to $133 million in 2025).^[7]

The organization’s marketing network included entities that presented themselves as independent referral services. For example, Adolescent Services was described as a resource for parents of “teens in crisis,” but was founded by Narvin Lichfield, who had previously served as managing director of Teen Help, the marketing arm of WWASP.^[1] Many of Robert Lichfield other family members worked at the programs.^[9]

The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools operated through a network of affiliated companies and independently run programs, often organized as separate legal entities. This structure meant that individual facilities and service providers—such as marketing, transport, billing, semiar companies—were formally distinct from the central organization.^{[10][11][12][13][14][1][15]}

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.^[7] Its materials were used by Mentor School in Costa Rica.^[16] 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.

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.^[17] The programs have been the subject of legal investigations by several U.S. states.^[5] In 2003, a reporter for The New York Times interviewed 60 current and former program participants and parents; some gave positive reports of their experiences, while other participants and parents said that WWASPS programs were abusive.^[8]

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.^[18]

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."^[19] A lawsuit filed in 2007 against WWASPS and its founder, Robert Lichfield, on behalf of 133 plaintiffs alleging physical and sexual abuse and fraudulent concealment of abuse brought negative publicity to Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, because Lichfield was one of six co-chairs of the Utah state fundraising committee for Romney's campaign.^[19][20][21]

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'."^[5] In May 2005 a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed (on jurisdictional grounds) a defamation lawsuit brought by WWASPS against a United Press International reporter who had done research for a news story about alleged abuse at several WWASPS schools. The reporter was accused of having made defamatory statements about WWASPS to "potential students, former students, parents of potential and former students, an employee of a state agency responsible for licensing a member school, and a Utah attorney who had filed numerous suits against [WWASPS]."^[22]

In 2010, animals were removed from Carolina Springs Academy due to neglect and malnourishment. There were also several animal corpses found on the property.^[23]

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^[24][25][26] According to reporting, Glenda Roach later left the country on a medical waiver, while Steven Roach failed to appear for further proceedings.^[26]

The New York Times reported that at least three programs—Cross Creek Manor, Majestic Ranch, and Carolina Springs Academy—had operated without required licenses; the latter was fined $5,000 by the state of South Carolina for unlicensed operation. ^[27]

On August 31, 2007, Randall Hinton was convicted of one count each of third degree assault and false imprisonment, for mistreating students at the WWASP-affiliated Royal Gorge Academy, of which he was manager and co-founder. However, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty for four other counts of third-degree assault and one other count of false imprisonment.^[28] Hinton was sentenced to 25 days in jail followed by one year on probation.^[29]

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.^[30]

In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation performed a raid on Midwest Academy in Keokuk, Iowaafter allegations of sexual abuse and fraud.^[31] It has been the subject of 80 calls to law enforcement over the course of three years and the subject of 19 founded child abuse claims..^[32] Benjamin Trane who owned Midwest Academy was convicted of sexual abusing and pyschical abuse In 2018.^[33]

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.^[34]

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.

• Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids
• The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping

• Art, Cindy (2012). Trapped in Paradise: A Memoir. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1475192278.
• Fontaine, Claire; Fontaine, Mia (2021). Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-079216-9.
• Scribner, Campbell F.; Warnick, Bryan R. (2021). Spare the rod : punishment and the moral community of schools. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-78567-7. OCLC 1199329371.