A Christian boarding school for teenage girls in rural Delaware County, Oklahoma promised parents transformation through faith. Former students say what they got instead was food rationing, physical restraint, and forced labor disguised as discipline. One woman says she cut her own forearm five times trying to escape.
That woman, Mary Baerg, escaped from New Lifehouse Academy once in September 2024, according to The Oklahoman. After she escaped the campus, she cut her forearm five times and was taken to a hospital in Vinita for stitches, the paper reports. The school placed her on suicide watch afterward. Her adoptive father, Dustin Baerg, searched for treatment for her.
New Lifehouse Academy markets itself to parents of teenage girls facing emotional and behavioral challenges. The school is not licensed to provide clinical mental health treatment. Wayne Gray, executive director of Adult & Teen Challenge of Oklahoma, has said biblical principles and a relationship with Jesus Christ can bring meaningful and lasting change, per the same report.
Restraints, Rationed Crackers, and a Fireworks Stand
Former students told the Oklahoman that the school relied on control and isolation, with punishments including physical exercise, food restriction, outdoor labor, and writing Bible verses. Former students also reported that staff restrained girls. The paper's reporting describes food restrictions as part of the school's discipline. Adult & Teen Challenge of Oklahoma has addressed allegations about the school's discipline.
Students were also required to write Bible verses, and the school used an ankle monitor on students deemed flight risks while monitoring student mail and phone calls. Former students said an animal program tied to the school involved an animal-based activity. Lawsuits claim Teen Challenge forced students to work.
A Federal Trafficking Lawsuit and a Pattern Across States
A former student filed a federal lawsuit against the program on July 15, 2026, according to the Oklahoman's account. Court records reviewed by Justia Dockets show that plaintiff Lauren Bence filed her federal suit on July 15, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma against Teen Challenge of Oklahoma, alleging violent restraint and forced exercise. Oklahoma Adult & Teen Challenge has not responded in court to the federal lawsuit and has said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
The organization has said New Lifehouse staff receive abuse-reporting training and that it reports all abuse allegations to police and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Former students also reported that staff pushed, punched, and physically restrained students, and that the school ignored complaints about staff issues. Separately, former students reported that staff made inappropriate sexual advances toward three former students.
New Lifehouse uses a Christian approach. Adult & Teen Challenge of Oklahoma has described Bible study, worship, and discipleship as part of the program. The school has student records. Baerg had previously received psychiatric treatment, with depression among the reported concerns.
Why Oklahoma Never Had to License the School
The school operates without state child-care licensure and largely outside state oversight, according to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Facilities run by networks like Adult & Teen Challenge can house minors around the clock without state mental health or clinical child-care accreditation.
An investigative report by Oklahoma nonprofit newsroom The Frontier cited accounts from 24 former New Lifehouse Academy students spanning a 10-year period describing systemic isolation, physical punishment, and uncompensated labor, illustrating that the allegations extend well beyond the plaintiffs named in litigation. Adult & Teen Challenge of Oklahoma operates New Lifehouse Academy as part of a network of more than 200 Christian recovery programs across the United States. The Cross Christian Academy, an accredited school, also operates on the New Lifehouse campus.
National Network, National Pattern of Litigation
New Lifehouse is not the only Teen Challenge-affiliated girls' program facing this kind of scrutiny. Nine women filed a federal lawsuit in April against Central Indiana Teen Challenge, operating as The Refuge Girls Academy, alleging forced labor and extended isolation while they lived at the facility between 2013 and 2019, as Hoodline reported in April. Separate federal litigation in Missouri has also targeted Kansas City Girls Academy, another affiliate of the national Teen Challenge network.
A $1.15 million enforcement action against Adult & Teen Challenge, Northeast, Inc., was determined in June for forcing treatment participants into unpaid manual labor and fundraising for external clients under the guise of rehabilitation, according to Hoodline's earlier coverage of that Massachusetts fine. Teen Challenge USA oversees an accredited network of more than 200 residential treatment centers nationwide, according to MinistryWatch.
A Broader Reckoning Over the 'Troubled Teen Industry'
The allegations against New Lifehouse land amid attention to unlicensed residential youth programs. The broader debate includes coercive behavioral modification methods lacking empirical clinical support.
Some states have discussed changes to oversight of residential youth programs. Whether Oklahoma follows suit remains an open question as the federal lawsuit against Adult & Teen Challenge of Oklahoma moves through court.
