Meg Appelgate - Troubled Teen Industry Survivor Exposes Intermountain Hospital | SRS #296

At 48yo my wife and i adopted 3 kids. 2 brothers and a little girl. The stuff these kids have been through will crush a person. The boys were locked in a room for about 4 years. Starved and beaten, abused psychologically. Be their aunt and uncle who were supposed to be adopting them. They would go out of the room they were in through the window and steal frozen meat from the garage freezer and eat it. Or try. Theyd hide it under their dresser to thaw out. And to keep the dog/dogs they were locked up with. Complete with the dog's and their own waste. The younger one who is 16yo now told me that they could only eat a,couple bites per day. Because they never knew when they could get more. I took them to the woods once to do some plinking with .22s. I looked in the mirror and one had a look of terror on his face. I asked whats wrong. There was a gully or ditch 50 or so yards away. He was afraid we were going to fall into the ditch or gulley. I told him we are fine. He didnt believe me. The people that did it to them were aunt and uncle. They were rescued by a different uncle. I told the good uncle about and he told me that the bad uncle would take them to the hills and take them to some place and say "this is where im gonna bring u to kill u. Or hed go drop them off in the hills on a logging road and leave them in the middle of the night. Just to scare them. My little girl went through the same kind of stuff. Her brother broke her arm, tried or succeeded to set her on fire. Were not clear on.that. And threw her off a 2nd story window to try to make her land on a trampoline. He missed. Shaun if u look into foster/adoption be prepared to be crushed. I am continually fostering is very hard. There are some awesome people doing it. And there are some heroes. My 3 are doing great now. But sometimes there are still things they divulge to us. And they are so matter of fact about it. Its like some shit out horror movies. Thank u Shaun and team for all u do.

If so many people are trying to sue you , that means you're doing a good job , brother , keep on leading the fight

I witnessed so much of this as a staff member. I worked at a teen residential center for ~ 8 years. I brought up abuse to try to address this issue and I was pushed out. I was told there is two groups of people that work there, either doing it for money or for the kids and I was there for the kids. I reached out to local government and senators websites and got no response. Please keep doing what you are doing Shawn and crew. God speed.

I'm a former 82nd Airborne Paratrooper/Recondo who came from an abusive home and very rough childhood, at 14 my parents made me a ward of the state of Michigan and I was taken in the same manner and put in the Childrens Village and latter the Catholic run Boysville institution and later transferred to the Star Commonwealth institution, the abuse she describes is absolutely true even worse than she explains and this happened to me in the mid 70s. My only way out was when I turned 18 they agreed to let me go if I joined the Military which turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.

Thank you for letting her tell her traumatic eyewitness and victimization story and allowing your platform to bring the truth out, Shawn.

Shawn from Veteran to Veteran, brother to brother, I cannot thank you enough for this interview. As a combat veteran and former LEO shot in the line of duty and having to deal with traumatic events from childhood and fail relationships this one hit home, God bless you Shawn, also to let you know the interview with Tig was pretty emotional for me as well.

Wow, out of curiosity, after watching this video, I looked up a trouble teen facility near me and found a place nearby. It had very low ratings, of course, and one of the reviews completely aligns with Meg's story. This is what it said: "My stay at Newport Academy in North Carolina was abusive, unsafe, and left me with severe trauma. I was only 13 years old when I entered, hoping for real help with depression, and being on the autism spectrum. Instead of receiving care, I suffered neglect, discrimination, and violence during my time there. One of the most terrifying experiences was being physically attacked by another resident. I was injured, but staff minimized what happened, failed to take my safety seriously, and allowed threats and harassment to continue. The environment felt unsafe every single day, and staff were untrained and unprepared to handle serious issues between residents. I now have lifelong disabilities from the injuries as well from the neglect, and have been hospitalized many times after Newport for my PHYSICAL health. Medical neglect was also a constant problem. My basic needs—including food and proper medical care—were ignored or withheld. I was often left feeling weak, unsafe, and scared. Rather than being a supportive environment, Newport was a place where my physical health declined rapidly. On top of that, I faced discrimination and was pressured not to tell my mom or anybody the truth about what was happening inside the program. The facility’s focus seemed to be on control and image, not on genuine healing or support. Families deserve to know the truth: Newport Academy is not a safe or healing environment for teenagers. It worsened my mental health, left me with lasting trauma, and caused severe harm. No child should ever go through what I experienced there."

I saw everything she's talking about first hand. Thanks for bringing attention to this issue. These facilities are pure Evil.

This exact thing happened to my daughter’s friend. I was horrified when I found out that when her friend left my house to go home one evening that I wouldn’t see her again for over a year. That night she was yanked out her bed in the middle of the night by 2 strangers and sent off to one of these facilities. She to this day is so messed up psychologically

My daughter is in nursing for third year of university. She went to a placement in northern Ontario. He psychiatric hospital and she said she was shocked by the fact that they still give shock treatment to kids on their head and they come out completely out of it and she said the looks that she got from the kids before it was being applied broke her heart, and she said she could never go back to the building again makes me think all the kids that are stuck 💔