When Lindsay Brooks was a child, she was always testing limits, talking back and acting up in class. So her parents sent her to Lighthouse, a home in the small Florida town of Jay that was a Christian alternative to boarding school. She says she connected with good staff members and came away with a deeper sense of faith. She was also weaned off medications that did more harm than good. But she’s not sure about one thing: a time when she was forced to lie face down on a floor for hours while six girls sat on her.
The Times’ October series on Lighthouse, including the stories of some former residents, prompted the home’s landlord to put the 9.7-acre property up for sale. Head pastor Russell Cookston says the move was a surprise and that declining enrollment probably played a role. He blames founder Michael Palmer, who was a former resident of Genesis by the Sea in Mexico and has ties to another unlicensed girls’ home that was shut down in Texas after abuse allegations.
Some former residents told the Times of solitary confinement at Lighthouse, in which they would be locked in a room with no toys or books and forced to listen to recordings of sermons. Others recalled being physically restrained in sessions called “flooring,” in which students were ordered to sit on each other until their legs became numb and purple. The private, nonprofit group that accredits Lighthouse and many other exempt homes in Florida, the Florida Association of Christian Child Caring Agencies, has since told Cookston to limit the amount of time he can keep girls in seclusion.
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