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Abuse of Power or Authority / Child Abuse / Child Endangerment / Child Molestation / Child Rape / Coercion / Custodial Negligence / Organizational Cover-Up / Rape / Sexual Assault / Sexual Battery / Sexual Harassment / Sexual Misconduct / Sexual Torture

1146: Miracle Meadows

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Miracle Meadows

Miracle Meadows was a boarding school for troubled youth in Salem, West Virginia. It was under the aegis of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Founded in 1988, it operated until it was closed down in 2014.

A desperate student drank a cleaning product, was taken to the hospital where she begged for help. An investigation into the school began and the school’s education status was revoked.

The school has settled multiple lawsuits and face more since the Stage has increased the Statute of Limitations. The abuses alleged include isolation, sexual abuse, shackling, filth, and more abuses. Some children acquired STDs from being abused. Two children fell pregnant and had abortions arranged by the school.

Susan Gayle Clark was sentenced to six months in prison and five years probation for neglect and failure to report.

The school settled for $52 million in 2020 in a lawsuit filed by 29 students. Another lawsuit was settled in August, 2023, for $50 million, filed by older students who were able to file when the stature of limitations was raised to 36.

Miracle Meadows abuse settlements reach $100M August 30, 2023 | Coal Valley News (Madison, WV) Author/Byline: Roger Adkins radkins@hdmediallc.com | Section: News 704 Words | Readability: Lexile: 1520, grade level(s): >12 Read News Document Years after being starved, beaten and subjected to various forms of torture as children, former students of the now-defunct Miracle Meadows School in Salem will receive a total of $100 million in civil lawsuit settlements. The amount includes settlements from two consolidated cases brought by dozens of former students and their families. A 2017 filing against the former nonprofit Seventh Day Adventist boarding school in Harrison County was resolved in 2020 for $52 million. Another consolidated case resolved this month increased the total amount to approximately $100 million. The settlements are believed to be a record for such cases in the state, according to attorneys representing the students and their families. The former students were represented by attorneys Guy D'Andrea of Laffey Bucci & Kent, Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices, and Scott Long of Hendrickson & Long. According to the lawsuits, the students suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of staff and administrators while the school was in operation between 1987 and 2014. Children were shackled, confined in isolation rooms for months and forced to live in degrading conditions. They were also starved, beaten and deprived of medical care, the attorneys said. "Every penny of this settlement symbolizes the stolen innocence, the muted screams, and the countless tears that every one of our clients experienced at such a young age," D'Angela said. "Our children deserved better, and today, they reclaim a piece of their dignity." D'Angela added, "Even as a former homicide prosecutor, I found these atrocities to be beyond anything imaginable. These children suffered through abuses that no person should ever encounter."
August 30, 2023 | Coal Valley News (Madison, WV)
Author/Byline: Roger Adkins
The school was raided by authorities and closed in 2014 after a student poisoned themselves with a cleaning agent and the school was forced to take them for medical help. According to attorneys, the student was alone with medical staff long enough to beg for help, prompting a report to authorities and an investigation that began to uncover the abuses. Forbes said the details of the case "wouldn't be believed in a Stephen King novel." "To know that they actually happened in the West Virginia hills is absolutely devastating," he said. "Children deserve to be loved, nurtured, and treated with care, not handcuffed, abused, and thrown in isolation cells with a coffee can for a bathroom. To do this once is beyond shocking but to do it to hundreds of children for decades is truly unfathomable." The school, founded in 1987 by Susan Gayle Clark, promised to provide a Christian boarding school environment for troubled youth 6 to 17 years of age. Clark, who was also the school's director, was convicted of child neglect and failing to report. She received six months for misdemeanor child neglect creating risk of injury and 30 days for a misdemeanor charge of failure to report, along with five years of probation and community service. Law enforcement tried to investigate the school for years, the attorneys said, but many of the alleged perpetrators were from other countries and were brought to the school on work visas. As a result, the attorneys said, administrators could simply send them back to their home countries to evade accountability. "This is really a victory not only for these children but also for our society as a whole," Long said. "What we hope this does is continue to carry the message that our society will not allow actions such as these to go unchecked."
The case could result in a financial shortfall for the state-run Board of Risk Insurance Management, according to testimony given in legislative committee meetings earlier this year. BRIM provided insurance to the school and was responsible for paying $27 million of the first settlement. In 2020, the Legislature approved House Bill 4559, which increased the civil statute of limitations for child abuse cases from 22 years to 36. During a meeting of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in April, BRIM Director Melody Duke said the change allowed the children to file lawsuits years later, but BRIM wasn't able to collect premiums from Miracle Meadows after 2014. Duke told lawmakers BRIM would likely need help paying the settlements. "I'm going to need some funding to be able to pay those settlements," Duke said. "We'll be looking to the Legislature to hopefully maybe get an appropriation to be able to fund those losses." Copyright (c) 2023 H-D Media Company, LLC

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