Anonymous’ Testimony – Pinehaven Christian Children’s Ranch

Kids suffer from extreme abuse, me included. I was verbally, physically, and mentally abused here for almost 5 years. I was sexually assaulted multiple times by a boy and nobody helped me, in fact they didn’t believe me when I told them. The kids are used as free labor and is too much for children to do. I am borderline disabled due to the extreme labor I was forced to do here.

All mail is opened and read before kids are allowed to read it. My own sisters would send me mail and I never got to see it. They allow 15 minute calls once a week ONLY if you’re ungrounded. If a conversation with a parent is going a way they don’t approve of, they’ll hang up the call and then listen to future calls on another line.

The punishments were cruel and unusual. I have been tackled by grown men, held down against my will by both male and female staff, and publicly humiliated in front of the other kids. I have been diagnosed with C-PTSD due the severe abuse I endured while a student here.

There are only maybe 2-3 staff members that actually care about the kids and the rest are just getting off from the power and control they get over the kids. I was once thrown to the ground and restrained by way of sitting on top of me by a man that was 4x my size. I recall praying for my soul to enter heaven bc I didn’t have the fight to keep breathing. Another instance I was working with a female staff member when I needed to walk away to cool down. She perceived that as me running away, before I got too far, a 7ft tall man tan and tackled me to the ground and shoved my face into the gravel road.

I was sexually assaulted and abused by a former resident, both while he was a student and while he was an intern. I was too afraid to speak up due the extreme purity culture and fear that I would be humiliated in front of the other students. I once worked 36 hours straight hauling large rocks from one side of the ranch to the other. I was only allowed five minute breaks every two hours when I was finally done with my punishment I have to go to school that day with only three hours of sleep. So much more views happening within the 4 1/2 years I attended to school but unfortunately due to a recent brain injury I cannot recall everything that happened