Allendale School

Jeff Williams _{on Google}

Sep 6th, 2018

I went to Allendale when I was 9 years old in 1963. I was a very troubled child, running the streets of Chicago, involved with gang activity, stealing, running away from home. I was in the Audy Home 4 or 5 times. Allendale changed my life and when I left there in 1972, I was ready to face the world with open eyes and a positive outlook. I went to college, served time in the Army, even ran a hotel, bar, and restaurant in Jamaica for 10 years. I am proud of the husband (26 years), the father, and grandfather I have become. I have a great relationship with my mother and family. Each year, I go back to Allendale with other alumni, to speak to the kids there about our time there and about life experiences, I do this because it's my way of giving back to the school and hopefully giving them hope that they have a chance to turn their lives around. I am very close to friends I made from those days, friends like Clarence Archer whom I met when went both went there on the same day in 1963 and have remained like brothers ever since. Thank you

ithink iexist _{on Google}

Jan 4th, 2017

Very bad. Staff would make explicit jokes about homosexuality regarding the clients. They repeatedly fail to report incidents which could jeopardize their employment. There was an incident back in 2015 in Zion Illinois where a young male client of Allendale's Transitional living program(TLP) had attempted suicide by cop. After the incident the unit coordinator at that time twisted the story around to make it seem that the boy was threatening civilians. This is not the case however, as no charges were filed.

Tiffany Defenbaugh _{on Google}

Jun 28th, 2017

SOMEONE HELP PLEASE READ THIS My 16 year old daughter has been moved to this place she absolutely hates it there she cant even call me at all tonight she got away and called me while we were talking the police walked in. To the place she was using the phone and got her . i feel so helpless im all the way in ky shes been molested shes been beaten mistreated in manny more ways dcfs refuses to help her my father molested me and is her father dcfs makes her c her gpa and cut contact with me all because they didn't want her to find out well as time passed i talked to my daughter we had a heart to heart and she told me he molested her too and still no one will help us i kno im not the best parent out there but ill do whatever i need ta do for my daughter does anyone kno ive called case workers police steve wilkos show no one can help i dont understand the system .dcfs plain out told me that that is a can of worms there not willing to open ...is there no justice....

John W. Allen _{on Google}

Jun 8th, 2016

I want to write a review of my nightmare childhood at Allendale in the mid 1950s. On the first day I threw a tantrum. I must have been about 11-13-years of age. While there I was repeatedly raped by a 15-year-old black kid, over and over and also he had two of his friends involved. They bullied me. I reacted.
I had run away at least half a dozen times and each time the police would find me walking down the road and return me. I was warned if I ever told anyone I would end up dead like two kids did at the school before I came there. I do not know if this person (James King) had anything to do with the death of the two boys. Later I was told that the two brothers were the children of my house parents (a scary old man with one arm missing and his wife who was also scary.). I learned that the boys died trapped in a cistern on the property in a swampy area by the lake. I even faked having an appendectomy attack to get out and away from this school and the night mare.that was happening to me.
It took me over 30-year to tell this to a psychiatrist. However. the doctor suggested that I actually saved that boys life. When I asked why, I was told that if I had reported those rapes that more than likely, that kid would have been hung.
When you are 12 and someone does what James King and his friends did to me on numerous occasions before the school sent me home, in the 1950s I was too ashamed to tell anyone. So I have nothing kind to say about this school. At the time the head of the school was a man named Mr. Flood and I recall he had a daughter or son named Robbin Flood.
In addition to that, I knew at least three other kids my age who claimed they too were beaten up a few times by King and his buddies, but they did not say anything about sexual rapes so I suppose they probably were abused but afraid to say so.
I called the school a while back (maybe 5-10 years or so and they gave me the runaround and said they destroy all records after ten years. That implies cover ups when they shred incidents of abuse in such schools. Shame on these kinds of schools. Not good and definitely not Christian.