Meg Appelgate: Child care institutions can harbor predators, religious affiliations complicate accountability, and adolescent behaviors are often misunderstood | Shawn Ryan Show

Landmark legislation aims to increase oversight and accountability in the Troubled Teen Industry's treatment programs.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team Apr. 16, 2026

Key takeaways

• Institutions designed to help children can sometimes harbor individuals with harmful intentions.
• The presence of religious affiliations in child care institutions can increase the risk of abuse.
• Nonprofit status of religious programs often complicates accountability for abuse cases.
• Adolescent behaviors often labeled as problematic may be normal developmental phases.
• Many adolescents naturally outgrow risky behaviors without intervention.
• The adoption industry faces criticism for being profit-driven with minimal regulation.
• Behavior modification practices in treatment centers can have long-term negative effects.
• Wilderness therapy programs often serve as a precursor to longer-term boarding schools.
• Programs that strip away autonomy may have questionable ethical implications.
• Normalization of abusive dynamics can obscure the recognition of abuse.
• There is a need for increased oversight and accountability in child care programs.
• Understanding underlying issues is crucial for addressing adolescent behaviors effectively.

Guest intro

Meg Appelgate is the Founder and CEO of Unsilenced, a nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing and stopping institutional child abuse within the Troubled Teen Industry. A survivor of the TTI who spent three and a half years confined in abusive facilities after being abducted at age 15, she authored the 2024 memoir Becoming UNSILENCED and testified before the Montana State Senate in 2023, helping secure passage of landmark legislation increasing oversight of TTI programs. She currently serves as Vice President and Managing Director of the Gochnauer Foundation while continuing her advocacy work to empower survivors and drive systemic reform across the industry.

The pervasive threat to child safety

• There is a pervasive presence of individuals with harmful intentions around children.

  — Meg Appelgate

• Child safety concerns are often hidden and not immediately apparent.
• Institutions meant to protect children can sometimes be environments of risk.

• I finally have come to that conclusion and everybody always talks about it… but it doesn’t register… these people are everywhere.

  — Meg Appelgate

• The potential threats in environments involving children require vigilant oversight.
• Discussions around child safety need to address the hidden dangers.
• Understanding these risks is crucial for effective child protection.
• The need for reform in child safety protocols is evident.

The hidden dangers in religious institutions

• Institutions that help children often harbor predators, especially when religion is involved.

  — Meg Appelgate

• Religious affiliations can complicate child protection efforts.

• Institutions forever have hidden predators… if you add kids institutions that have you know are tailored to helping kids it’s even more and then unfortunately if you add religion into that institution it makes it even more likely that they are using that as a cover up.

  — Meg Appelgate

• The role of religious organizations in child protection is a critical issue.
• Nonprofit status can hinder accountability in religious programs.

• A lot of times if someone tells me I’m a survivor of insert program name and that program is a religious program almost always the abuse tends to be more severe and it’s also harder to hold them accountable because a lot of times there are five zero one c threes and nonprofits.

  — Meg Appelgate

• Severe abuse cases are often linked to religious programs.
• Increased oversight of religious institutions is necessary for child safety.

Rethinking adolescent behavior

• We need to shift our understanding of adolescent behaviors from being seen as problematic to recognizing them as normal developmental phases.

  — Meg Appelgate

• Adolescent behaviors often reflect underlying issues rather than just being problematic.

• I think that a lot of the things that end these kids up in facilities in the first place is not understanding that if a kid is drinking doing drugs skipping school getting expelled those kinds of things it’s not just the behavior what is the behavior covering up did they have some kind of childhood trauma…

  — Meg Appelgate

• Recognizing the normalcy of certain adolescent behaviors can prevent unnecessary intervention.

• The research shows that actually doing nothing and letting that phase out most kids stop smoking pot by the time they get into the workforce because it just makes sense if you wanna make money you gotta have a job and if you wanna have a job you gotta stop doing that stuff…

  — Meg Appelgate

• Many adolescents outgrow risky behaviors naturally as they mature.
• Understanding the root causes of adolescent behaviors is crucial for effective intervention.
• Society’s perception of adolescent behavior needs to evolve.

The adoption industry’s regulatory challenges

• The adoption industry operates with too few regulations and is often for profit.

  — Meg Appelgate

• The profit-driven nature of the adoption industry raises ethical concerns.
• Regulatory oversight in the adoption industry is insufficient.
• The need for reform in the adoption industry is evident.
• Ethical concerns in the adoption industry parallel those in the troubled teen industry.
• Understanding the regulatory environment is crucial for addressing these issues.
• Increased regulation could mitigate ethical concerns in the adoption industry.
• The adoption industry’s profit-driven operations highlight the need for accountability.

Long-term effects of behavior modification

• Behavior modification practices in residential treatment centers can have long-term negative effects on children.

  — Meg Appelgate

• These practices are prevalent in residential treatment settings.
• The potential harm caused by behavior modification practices is significant.
• Understanding the implications of such programs is crucial for reform.
• The long-term effects of these practices require further investigation.
• Reform in behavior modification practices is necessary to protect children.
• The ethical implications of these practices raise concerns.
• Increased oversight of residential treatment centers is needed.

Wilderness therapy as a pipeline to boarding schools

• Wilderness therapy programs often serve as a pipeline to longer-term therapeutic boarding schools.

  — Meg Appelgate

• Wilderness therapy is rarely a standalone treatment.

• Wilderness therapy can be anywhere from six to twelve weeks out in the wilderness but like I said it’s very very rare for me to hear of a survivor going to a wilderness program and then going home like it’s almost always gonna be recommended after that time that they need secondary care.

  — Meg Appelgate

• The transition from short-term to long-term care highlights systemic issues.
• Understanding the structure of wilderness therapy is crucial for reform.
• The role of wilderness therapy in the treatment process requires scrutiny.
• Reform in wilderness therapy practices is necessary to ensure ethical treatment.
• The connection between wilderness therapy and boarding schools raises concerns.
• Increased oversight of wilderness therapy programs is needed.

The stripping of autonomy in treatment programs

• Programs often strip away autonomy to address perceived issues with control.

  — Meg Appelgate

• The ethical implications of stripping autonomy in treatment settings are concerning.

• Their job was to strip away all my autonomy they thought that meg has an issue with control let’s make sure meg knows that she doesn’t control anything in her life.

  — Meg Appelgate

• Understanding the methodologies used in these programs is crucial for reform.
• The psychological implications of stripping autonomy require further investigation.
• Reform in treatment practices is necessary to protect individuals’ rights.
• Increased oversight of treatment programs is needed to ensure ethical practices.
• The ethical concerns raised by these practices highlight the need for accountability.
• Understanding the impact of these practices is crucial for effective reform.

The normalization of abusive dynamics

• The normalization of abusive dynamics can lead individuals to not recognize their experiences as abuse.

  — Meg Appelgate

• Understanding the psychological impact of group dynamics is crucial for addressing abuse.

• It took so long for me to start categorizing the things that were happening to me that I now think were extremely traumatic and and in my opinion abusive to just be the way it is and so it’s like it wasn’t abuse back then.

  — Meg Appelgate

• The normalization of abuse can obscure recognition and accountability.
• Reform in addressing abusive dynamics is necessary to protect individuals.
• Increased awareness of abusive dynamics is crucial for effective intervention.
• Understanding the psychological mechanisms that perpetuate abuse is necessary for reform.
• The need for increased oversight and accountability in addressing abusive dynamics is evident.
• Reform in addressing the normalization of abuse is necessary to ensure safety.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.