- Image by abundantlifeacademy via Flickr
- Craig & Wendy Rogers started Abundant Life Academy in December 2000. Abundant Life Academy is a Christian boarding school for troubled boys and girls, located in Southern Utah near Zion National Park. In the 1990′s Craig & Wendy Rogers worked with Koinonia Foster Homes of California and Nevada, where they trained and raised up foster parents for a therapeutic foster care (troubled children) program. Additionally, Craig & Wendy helped Koinonia develop the very best therapeutic group homes designed for severely troubled children. The Rogers moved on from Koinonia to help start up a therapeutic boarding school known as Positive Impact (1998). Positive Impact blended positive peer culture with a powerful therapeutic base. Prior to Positive Impact Craig worked with Rite of Passage (ROP), a boarding school for adjudicated kids (court ordered due to criminal convictions). At that time ROP was the very best boarding school for troubled teens in the country, bar none. In December 2000 the Rogers stepped out and started Abundant Life Academy to present the very best parts of ROP, Koinonia, and Positive Impact in a Christ-centered format.
Parents of troubled teens need help
In the “rocky” economy parents think that they have less opportunities and less options as they look for help for their troubled teenager. First, their own financial position might be in doubt, and they are very worried about spending the money for “out-of-home” placements (boarding schools for troubled teens, boot camps for troubled teenagers, wilderness therapy programs, residential treatment centers, group homes for troubled teens, Military boarding schools, adolescent substance abuse treatment centers). Second, parents have tried everything including Counseling Centers for troubled adolescents, Christian counselors for troubled boys/girls, Adolescent Therapists, etc., and nothing has worked. Therefore, parents feel as though they have run the gambit, and they are stumped. They have no idea that there are schools and programs out there serving troubled teens and parents.
In reality, both boys and girls programs for troubled teens are providing more effective/successful programs and services now than ever before. The economy problems have created the very best opportunities in 10 years. For parents looking for “out-of-home-placements” (Christian boarding schools, boarding schools, military boarding schools, wilderness therapy programs and camps, boot camps, counseling centers, therapeutic boarding schools, etc.) find that the tuition cost has gone down considerably, and the services offered have increased. There are fewer parents of troubled kids looking for boarding schools, so the competition in the troubled teen industry has become stiff. Schools, programs, and services for troubled teens have lowered their prices and increased their services in order to compete. Those schools and programs that have not made the adjustments have closed their doors.
There are few outstanding programs, schools, camps, and services throughout the nation, including Arizona, California, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Wisconsin, Indiana, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Florida. Most Californians, Texans, and Floridians send their troubled teenagers to the State of Utah. Utah has the more programs and schools than any other state in the US. The reason Utah leads the nation in boarding schools and programs for troubled teens is the fact that Utah is a “family rights” State, where parents have not been stripped of their parental rights. The States that have the greatest volume of troubled teens happen to be the States that have the most “child rights”. Liberal States have given children rights that have been extremely detrimental to the children, and they have completely stripped parents of their authority of “parents”. The combination has been disastrous. Like all liberal-driven governments they refuse to take responsibility of their retarded policies, and unfortunately children have not received protection, instead they have been given a license to destroy their future. Liberal politicians have lost focus on the fact that children are referred to as “Children” because they are children. Very few children are able to make choices in their best interest. There are countless stories of social workers from California, Texas, Georgia, and Florida who will literally attack (frighten, threaten, and harass) a family who is considering sending their child to a school in Utah because the social workers know that the parents will have all their parental rights protected by the State of Utah. Social workers from liberal States actually see all parents as the “problem” and treat parents as the enemy of the child. Scary!
Abundant Life Academy, a powerful Christian boarding school for troubled boys and girls, presenting incredible academics, athletics, horsemanship, community service outreach, discipleship, leadership training, and family restoration. Abundant Life Academy uses the most effective way of restoring troubled teens. Abundant Life Academy is based on Christian principles, positive peer culture (student run leadership program that teaches accountability, responsibility, and care-trust-serve). Students of Abundant Life Academy are able to empower themselves and others to strive toward greatness. Abundant Life Academy student leaders are not treated as troubled teens, they are treated as “worthy teenagers” with tremendous potential. At Abundant Life Academy they teach Independence, Mastery, Belonging, and Generosity. Additionally, students develop emotional intelligence (Know Yourself, Choose Yourself, and Give Yourself). More importantly Abundant Life Academy presents the very best family restoration program.
In California, Texas, and Florida there are no wilderness therapeutic programs, private faith-based boarding schools, military boarding schools, Christian boarding schools, Catholic boardings schools, or various programs and services for troubled teens. California is a “child rights state”. Meaning, the child has all the rights and the parents have been stripped of all rights. Therefore, programs, services, and schools for troubled teens are can’t operate. The children in California can do just about anything and the program, school, or service cannot do anything to stop them without putting themselves in legal jeopardy (abuse).
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