By Ryan Duffy
First Coast News
July 8, 2008
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=113250&catid=
BAKER COUNTY, FL -- As a state investigation into Camp Tracey continues, more former campers are talking about their time there.
The Department of Children and Families is looking into the camp after allegations of physical and sexual abuse.
First Coast News talked to one former camper named Amanda who says kids at the camp were told not to tell their parents what went on at the camp.
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| Camp Tracey |
And she says parents were told not to believe what their "troubled teens" might describe.
"I just told my mom all of this the other day, just gave her a brief testimony and she was absolutely shocked," said Amanda. "She said, 'I had no idea why didn't you tell me.'"
"I said I couldn't if I would have told you I would have been in a lot more trouble. And there was an 80 percent chance you wouldn't of believed me at that time."
Amanda was at the camp for a year starting in 2001.
She says she was routinely physically abused by camp staff, hit with a board, thrown into walls and pinned on the grown.
But she says the staff told kids not to tell their parents anything.
"If they find out you tell your parents something that has happened within your first month, then you're going to get repercussions, you're going to pay," says Amanda.
Child advocacy attorney Helen Spohrer says if communication is closed off to parents that is a serious red flag.
"The parents are told if you do hear from your child you will hear terrible things about this facility, don't believe them, well that should make something register in the back of your mind," says Spohrer.
And Camp Tracey's application for parents claims to help kids overcome everything from rebellion to prostitution and criminal activity.
Spohrer says if all those kids are mixing together it would be a safety problem. Amanda says she felt guilty leaving her friends behind when she left the camp.
She says her short time there changed her life forever.
"It makes you feel like you got something taken from you and psychologically it beats you up, I came out with no self esteem, before I was a happy go lucky kid."
The camp is run by Harvest Baptist Church in Jacksonville.
Last month, a camp staffer was arrested for child abuse and an 18-year-old camper was arrested for sexual activity involving 7 other kids at the camp.
The Department of Children and Families is investigating the camp.
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