Pastor Claims "Outrageous Lies" Prompted Abuse Inquiry at Youth Residential Facilities in Mobile

By Theresa Seiger
AL.com
March 20, 2015

http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2015/03/pastor_claims_outrageous_lies.html

Will.jpg Will Knott, director of the boys program, walks through the empty boys dorm at Solid Rock Ministries youth residential facility on Spring Hill Avenue near Ann Street on Wednesday March 11, 2015 in Mobile, Ala. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com)

Law enforcement officials have said little in the two weeks since investigators with the Department of Human Resources and Mobile Police Department removed nearly 40 children from a pair of youth residential facilities. In the meantime, the pastor at the center of the controversy has spoken out about what he characterized as a targeted attack at his organization.

The Rev. John Young, pastor at Solid Rock Ministries on Springhill Avenue, said an accusation of child abuse levied against his Saving Youth Foundation amounted to nothing more than "outrageous lies."

"When DHR, the (Mobile County District Attorney's) Office (and) the Department of Health all came in, I'm sure it was their intent to shut us down," he said. "I don't feel like there's anything to hide."

On March 5 authorities removed 15 children from a girls residential facility on Sullivan Avenue after receiving a complaint from a mother, according to police. While investigating, the health department noted numerous code violations, including a sewage leak near the home's kitchen and expired food.

Later that day 21 boys were removed from the SYF's boys facility, housed next to Young's ministry. The partially boarded up building -- which was boarded to keep the children safe in their inner-city location, Young said -- previously served as a clothing store.

Police have declined to share additional details on their investigation because of its on-going nature.

SYF linked to defunct controversial youth facility in Prichard

It isn't the first time Young has fought off accusations against one of his facilities. Previously he ran the Restoration Youth Academy in Prichard's gritty Alabama Village neighborhood. RYA's compound was surrounded by razor wire and fences -- to ensure the safety of children and keep them from escaping, RYA said in 2012.

Young provided a pair of documents from DHR showing that facility was investigated and cleared twice of abuse or neglect allegations.

In 2012, the Press-Register found multiple RYA employees had criminal records. William Knott, a former RYA manager who most recently served as the director of the SYF's boys' dorms, previously worked at a similar facility in Mississippi that was nearly shut down by accusations of abuse.

Around the same time, Prichard officials voted to allow RYA to stay in its compound on the condition they pay $27,000 in back rent. Many parents who spoke with the Press-Register expressed support for the organization, with some notable exceptions, but Young said his experience with Prichard police prompted him to vacate the compound.

After his run-in with authorities in Prichard, Young said he had little desire to open a new facility. He was eventually swayed by encouragement from parents.

"The need is great and I had parents who begged me not to shut down," he said.

'Sometimes you just need a safe haven,' says parent of SYF resident

SYF is a residential facility for troubled children ages 12 and up whose parents have found little support in their efforts to temper their children. Young said the youngest child he's worked with was 10 years old.

Most of the kids he's seen have struggled with aggression issues.

Over the last five or six years, Young estimates he's seen more than 500 children go through his facilities. Sometimes parents brought their children to SYF or RYA and other times he drove to pick them up. He said he's traveled as far west as Seattle and as far east as Portland, Maine, to bring children to the facilities.

One mother, who sent her daughter to live at SYF in December 2013 and spoke to the Press-Register and AL.com on the condition of anonymity to protect her family, said she tried calling her local DHR representative for help. She said the representative told her that her child had not committed a crime, and so DHR could not intervene.

"I feared for my daughter's life and had no one to assist me," she said. Her 15-year-old daughter was "very aggressive" with at least two runaway attempts under her belt. According to her mother she made numerous threats against teachers, parents and other students and battled with self-mutilation.

"I was not able to get piece of mind," her mother said. "They got my child off the streets and into a safe haven. What else could I have done?"

She had nothing but positive things to say about SYF and the people who cared for her daughter.

"The place always had a clean, safe appearance," she said. "They made me feel comfortable... They had resources that I wasn't able to provide for my child."

She's seen a remarkable difference in her daughter since her time in Mobile.

"She came home and she wants to cook, she keeps her room clean, she cleaned all her clothes, the tub -- basically everything," she said. "She said 'I realize what I missed -- I missed out on life.'"

She questioned the abuse allegation against SYF and said her daughter had never spoken of or indicated that any abuse had taken place at the girls facility.

"If something like that was going on -- they have visits to the outside," she said while pointing out that the children could have spoken up during their trips to watch the Mardi Gras parades or go out to eat. "They don't say 'oh no, you can't come and get your child.'"

Since news of her daughter's removal from SYF came out her family has been trying to figure out where to take their next step.

"To me, personally, DHR takes these kids from that place and is putting them back to where they were," she said. "What happens when they get back out there? Sometimes you just need a safe haven."

The investigation into SYF is ongoing.

tseiger@al.com