Survivors Detail Isolation & Neglect at Millions-Funded IN Facility

LEBANON, Ind. — A federal lawsuit filed by Indianapolis-based law firm Cohen Malad, LLP on behalf of more than 35 former minor residents accuses Central Indiana Teen Challenge (CITC)—now operating legally as Refuge Girls Academy—of severe abuse, medical neglect, and forced child labor.

What was marketed to parents as a faith-based residential retreat for struggling youth is now facing allegations of human trafficking, solitary confinement, and severe financial exploitation.

Millions in Revenue vs. Expired Food and Food Stamps
According to federal tax filings, Indiana Adult & Teen Challenge Inc. generated $3,411,755 in total revenue during its latest fiscal year while holding $2,874,336 in total assets and ending with a $217,321 net surplus. The organization’s financial operations rely on three primary streams:

$1,820,310 in Contributions and Grants: Including $317,322 in government grants alongside public donations.
$933,844 in Program Service Revenues: Paid directly by families for residential tuition, room, and board.
$657,601 in Public Fundraising Events: Generated through regional banquets ($130,272) and golf outings ($132,626).

Despite millions of dollars flowing through the non-profit and allocating $1,654,868 for employee compensation across 56 staff members, court filings and survivor testimonies say the facility minimized overhead by feeding teenage residents moldy, rotten, and expired food donated from local food pantries. Staff members even forced some minor residents to apply for government food stamps (SNAP) to obtain groceries to feed girls at the facility.

Meals inside the dining hall were strictly capped at 20 minutes. Girls who failed to finish their food were subject to immediate punishment or “demotion” in the program hierarchy, which automatically extended their stay. Former residents recall that staff enforced this rule regardless of whether the food was spoiled or if the resident had a documented allergy, such as a dairy allergy. Girls routinely brought trash cans to the dining tables to vomit into while forced to continue eating.

Haven Murdock’s Account: Forced Pelvic Exams, Solitary Confinement, and Unpaid Labor

Haven Murdock entered CITC at age 13, remaining at the facility from 2011 to 2014. She is one of the original nine plaintiffs who initiated the federal lawsuit.

Prior to entering the program, CITC required mandatory medical procedures. At just 13 years old, Haven was forced onto an exam table for an invasive gynecological pelvic exam. Despite crying, vocalizing her refusal, and begging to stop, staff and guardians proceeded with the procedure under the guise that it was necessary for facility admission.

“It was horrible, like borderline traumatic. I don’t even like getting them to this day… I told my family, I told the doctors, the nurses, I didn’t want to do it. I was uncomfortable. I mean, I was crying the entire time… [The nurse] kept on saying, ‘Just relax, just relax.’ I’m like, how am I supposed to relax?” — Haven

Once inside, Haven experienced extreme disciplinary measures, including being locked in solitary confinement inside the “Safe Room”—a windowless cell with carpeted walls monitored 24/7 by a ceiling camera. Her longest stay in isolation lasted a full month at age 13, during which her diet was reduced to warm milk, rotting produce, and stale peanut butter sandwiches. While in isolation, she was forced to wear a bright orange jumpsuit and was once taken to a local mega-church of over 1,000 members in her jumpsuit to sit in the front row as a spectacle of public shaming.

Haven was also subjected to forced unpaid labor, including clearing dirty inventory out of local commercial properties, catering multi-day fundraising banquets, and performing landscaping and housekeeping at the private residences of leadership.

Isabella Poche’s Account: Monitored Communications and Weaponized Family Trauma

Isabella Poche was held at CITC from 2017 to 2018, between the ages of 16 and 17. Staff enforced strict isolation, wiretapping phone calls using extension landlines, and discarding written letters begging her mother for help.

When Isabella was caught exchanging words with a peer after lights-out, staff placed her on a “talking fast.” For weeks, she was forced to wear a dry-erase board around her neck to write down basic needs, while carrying and hand-writing CITC’s 36-page rule manual cover-to-cover five times. Despite having severe asthma and diagnosed grass allergies, staff forced Isabela to mow the facility’s entire yard, repeatedly withholding her inhaler and Benadryl while dismissing her distress.

In October 2017, Isabella’s mother, Kim, was diagnosed with breast cancer requiring a double mastectomy. Kim explicitly asked Director Dawn Rose not to inform Isabella until after the operation. Instead, Rose summoned Isabella to her office, brought up past arguments Isabella had with her mother, and lectured her on past behavioral flaws before revealing her mother was on the operating table. Isabella was given minutes in her room, forbidden from telling other girls, and denied any phone calls to verify if her mother survived the surgery.

“She basically asked me about all these times I was so awful to my mom… ‘Do you remember this that you said to your mom?’ … And she looks at me and says basically, ‘I hope you feel bad for that because what if something happened to her? Your mom’s on the table right now undergoing a double mastectomy for breast cancer.’ … I can’t call. I have no way to contact [her].”  — Isabella Poche

Traumatic Rifts and the Pursuit of Justice
CITC administrators conditioned parents to dismiss their daughters’ claims of abuse as “manipulative behavior,” creating deep, long-lasting traumatic rifts within families. Because communication was heavily censored, the vast majority of parents had no knowledge of what their children endured. To this day, many survivors remain estranged from their parents, while others, like Isabella and her mother Kim, are actively working to repair their relationship.

Corporate records show Indiana Adult & Teen Challenge Inc. operates an expansive network across the state, including Refuge Girls Academy, Grace House Teen Challenge, and commercial subsidiaries like Rescue Roasters and The Refuge Coffee Shop.

Attorneys representing Central Indiana Teen Challenge and Director Dave Rose have denied all allegations in court filings, describing the claims as unverified. For survivors like Haven and Isabella, the legal action aims to hold the troubled teen industry accountable and permanently shut down predatory facilities.

To watch the full interview of Haven Murdock and Isabella Poche, please go HERE.