State Dept. Bans Nonprofit Accused of Exploiting Foreign Exchange Students
02/03/2012 Allgov
Student placement agency: CETUSA
Important information for students going to USA under exchange programme
By nCa The voice of Greater Central Asia
Tips for Parents:
CSFES is receiving requests from parents to recommend suitable student exchange organizations. While CSFES is not in the position to make such referrals, we offer the following when making this very important decision:
Fingerprint Background Checks:
Ask specifically if the student exchange organization conducts fingerprint background checks. If the answer is no, search for another company.
In Case of an Emergency:
Check how well the student exchange organization responds to emergencies, especially of an evening, weekends and holidays. Find out the emergency telephone number in which to call. Then call the telephone number. The response will tell you if this is a responsible organization.
Reviewing Student Profiles:
When visiting the exchange organization's website, what controls are in place to prevent easy access to the student's profile? Is personal information easily accessible complete with the student's photo? Is this the method in which you would like for your son or daughter to be placed by the student exchange organization?
There is an increase in sexual predators targeting children through the Internet, therefore, this is a vital concern to CSFES.
Host Family Information:
In the event you have progressed to receiving your son or daughter's prospective Host Family information packet from the student exchange organization:
Check to see that this family's interests are similar to your son or daughters.
If your child has allergies or asthma; is he/she being placed in a home with animals or those who smoke?
**Be very concerned if prior to your son or daughter's departure, you are notified by the student exchange organization that there has been a sudden change with the Host Family selected for your child. If you are told the Host Family is no longer the same "due to a divorce or unforeseen circumstances," etc., this is a major concern to CSFES." **
You will be told that a Welcome Family will instead await your son or daughter. It has been our experience that this gives cause for your child to potentially be bounced around among Welcome Families many times prior to a "permanent" family being secured. Does the organization pre-screen welcome families, including fingerprint background checks?
As per the United States Department of State regulations, Section 62.25 (d)(3) "Ensure that no organizational representative act as both host family and area supervisor for any student participant whom that organizational representative may host."
Your son or daughter should not be placed in a home where his/her host mother or father is also the organization's supervisor, area representative or regional director. This provides no neutrality in the event your son or daughter has concerns or an emergency.
Secure High School Placement:
Do you have a letter of acknowledgement from the high school your son or daughter will attend?
As per the United States Department of State regulations, Section 62.25(f)(4) "Under no circumstance shall a sponsor facilitate the entry into the United States of a student for whom a school placement hs not been secured."
Student Identification Card:
As per the United States Department of State regulations, Section 62.25 (g)(4) "An identification card which lists the student's name, United States home placement address and telephone number, and a telephone number which affords immediate contact with both the Department of State and sponsor in case of emergency. Such cards may be provided in advance of home country departure or immediately upon entry into the United States."
Parents: Make certain your son or daughter has this information; complete with a telephone number that will provide immediate contact with both the Department of State and sponsor.
** In the event your child is not provided with a Student Identification Card complete with the above-referenced information, prior to departure or arrival into the United States, please notify CSFES immediately. **
Ask who has the final say on the selection of family. If you have concerns about the family (age of host parents, etc.) and you are told that if you have to accept the family -- ask more questions.
CSFES asks that parents:
1) ask for a copy of the child protection policy of the agency responsible for placing students.
2) ask for a guarantee in writing that the home of the host family has been inspected and the privacy of the student in bathroom and bedroom ensured.
3) ensure that their children are aware of what constitutes sexual harassment given that most rapes are preceded by touching the thigh, commenting on the sexual attractiveness of the student, "accidentally" touching breasts etc., which if ignored leads the perpetrator to think that it is acceptable to proceed further.
4) ask if the agency informs the student of telephone numbers to call if abusive behavior occurs (police, rape crisis centers, etc) ? If not, do not use that agency.
5) make certain your child can access the passport and return ticket if an unacceptable situation is encountered.
6) ensure your child knows how to phone home from overseas.
7) ensure they know how to contact their consulate in case they encounter problems that the agency ignores.
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Studentexchange.net informs, "Before Sending Your Child to The United States as an Exchange Student" for your review:
XXXX v. AISE
CSFES monitors exchange student abuse and provides information to interested parties in an effort to significantly reduce the number of children who become victims of child/sexual abuse, neglect and extortion.
Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students
Fisher v. International Student Exchange, Inc.
Dedicated to keeping you informed
Soerensen vs. Jackson, Jackson, MyEducation and ASSE International, Inc.
CSFES is a California-based 501(c)3 non-profit corporation (EIN 43-2100110) advocating the safety, protection and well being of exchange students around the world and was instrumental in the strengthening of the U.S. Department of State regulations for the protection of these young people.
CSFES raises public awareness and provides education related to the safety of exchange students to prospective and current, exchange students natural parents and school
administrators, with a specific focus on educating exchange organizations and government agencies to ensure the protection of exchange students around the world.
Presently we are an all-volunteer organization advocating for the safety of foreign exchange students.
CSFES supports cultural exchange and is committed to the idea that every foreign student deserves a safe and memorable exchange experience. We believe without reservation that while these sons and daughters are studying abroad, they should expect and fully deserve, to be treated as if they are our own.
As an organization, CSFES strives for cooperative relationships with exchange programs, based on the explicit understanding that CSFES will always prioritize exchange student safety above all other concerns.
Given this understanding, CSFES sees the following issues as specific cause for concern exchange students should:
- Never depart from their home country without a properly screened host family awaiting their arrival.
- Be apprised of a completed High School Permission Form prior to leaving their home country.
- Know whether they will be attending a public or private high school prior to departure.
- Not be placed in the homes of convicted criminals.
- Not not be forced to live in the home of their area representative.
- Not be expected to live in homes lacking basic standards of cleanliness.
- Have the telephone number of the U.S. Department of State in case of emergency.
- Be fully apprised of their rights as visitors in this country.
- Be sufficiently educated on all Child Protection Guidelines.
- Not be coerced to write letters/sign agreements that they do not fully understand.
- Never be sent home early without an accompanying review process.
- Not be made to fear being sent back to their home country for voicing their concerns.
If you are an exchange student with concerns about your safety, please contact CSFES 760-583-9593 or BeSafe@csfes.org. All international visitors may also contact local law enforcement agencies in the event of an emergency by dialing 911.
Anyone who suspects suspicious behavior or maltreatment of foreign exchange students, please report it to the proper authorities or CSFES at Complaint@csfes.org.
CSFES monitors exchange student abuse and provides information to interested parties in an effort to significantly reduce the number of children who become victims of child/sexual abuse, neglect and extortion.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, July 7, 2024
FBI Arrests El Paso Couple for Child Abuse
Student Exchange Agency:
AIFS Foundation - Academic Year in America (AYA)
Area Coordinator responsible for placing the exchange students in the Stepaniak residence: Christine Peschka-Santillan
May 27, 2024
Letters to the Editor
Open Letter
Bullying, Discrimination, Harrassing of an CBYX Exchange Student
Student Exchange Agency: ASSE International, Inc.
William John Gustafson, President/CEO
Saphia Lesch, Midwestern Regional Director
February 25, 2019
By Clifford Ward CHICAGO TRIBUNE
The parents of a 15-year-old Glenbard South High School foreign exchange student have filed a lawsuit against the Downers Grove man charged in her death. ... Also named in the lawsuit are his wife, Daniella Emanuele, and the Council for Educational Travel United States of America. May 8, 2018
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lawsuits Continued:
United States of America v. Mark E. Johnson
Student Exchange Agency: Education Foundation
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State Department: Background Checks On Foreign Exchange Hosts Not ‘Feasible’
The Associated Press
Danielle Grijalva, executive director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, said she has found dozens of cases of sexual abuse over the years and forwarded the complaints to the State Department. Yet the agency has done little to investigate them, she said.
“The State Department is watching exchange agencies like the Catholic Church watched its (pedophile) priests,” she said.
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BY RANDY ELLIS
Student Exchange Agency: ASSE International Student Exchange Programs
______________________________________________________________________________________
Exchange-student problems bring shake-up
BY RANDY ELLIS
Student Exchange Agency: ASSE International Student Exchange Programs_____________________________________________________________________________
Exchange students live American nightmare
CNN Investigation by Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
Student Exchange Agency: ASPECT Foundation
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The Washington Post
U.S. Targets Sex Abuse Of Exchange Students
By Robin Wright and Lori Aratani
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Letters of Abuse from Former Exchange Students
By Danielle Grijalva - Committee Looking to Stop Abuse of Student and Looking to State Department for Assistance
To my left, I see a stack of handwritten letters from exchange students eager to come to the United States of America for their very first time anxious to experience American culture.
Sadly, to my right, I see handwritten letters from previous exchange students who have already returned home. All have experienced some form of abuse and neglect during their stay in the USA.
I have a letter from a retired parole officer, who, while supervising sex offenders, learned of five instances where sex offenders gained access to new child victims by becoming hosts of foreign students. One was convicted of molesting a 16 year-old Japanese girl.
I found myself wondering how the letters to my left by students full of innocence, anticipation and hope, ended up being letters of heartache nearly impossible for me to read. This occurs to these precious kids in the very country in which I live. It will continue to happen if the US Department of State does not raise their standards and require student exchange organizations to perform mandatory background checks of host families and publish child protection policies and guidelines.
In Northern California, the student exchange organization Student of the World Invitation to Friendship and Travel (SWIFT) made headlines in June 4, 2005 Inside Bay Area Newspaper. "Exchange students in dire need of homes - Host families still have not been found for 150 teens bound for Bay Area."
Students will be arriving in eleven short days. Per my recent conversation with SWIFT, they still need "well over one hundred homes."
This article stresses that host families "do not need to provide a separate guest room" for the students. As a former Representative with the Center for Cultural Interchange, (currently known as Greenheart Exchange), I came to learn of two Korean boys found sleeping on cots in their host mother's garage.
"Exchange students still need homes" appeared in the News 8 Austin Newspaper June 7, 2005. Marilyn Bretherick of International Student Exchange (ISE) is looking for homes for 71 students for this coming school year.
"I'm really surprised I'm not finding homes for them," Hagewood with Program of Academic Exchange (PAX) said. "I'll put them anywhere."
John Hishmeh of the Council for Standards on International Educational Travel (CSIET) worries about the financial toll that mandatory background checks would make on the industry's smaller players. Yet as their tax files via the Internet show, these are multi-million dollar agencies.
My worry is that the stack of letters to my right will continue to grow. I fear the next set of headlines will be those telling the accounts of exchange students sexually abused by their hosts. I have a stack of those headlines, too.
Parents and teachers, please do not become involved with agencies that do not properly screen host families or produce child protection guidelines.
Danielle Grijalva is the Director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students
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Foreign Exchange Students Report Abuse by Host Families
by Rick Cohen, Nonprofit Quarterly
Source: Rock Center with Brian Williams
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Foreign Exchange Students Not Coming to America Due to Covid-19
Published: May 5, 2010
EDNA BURGETTE Fired, facing charges
A Scranton woman was sentenced to three months in Lackawanna County Prison on Tuesday for recklessly endangering foreign-exchange students she placed in squalid living conditions while collecting fees for setting up host families.
"I tried my best," Edna Burgette, 70, said before she was sentenced by Judge Michael J. Barrasse. "I couldn't keep up."
She said her advancing age and declining health worked against her. "I think the job got the best of her," said her attorney, Christopher Osborne. "it was an unfortunate situation she got herself into."
Besides the county prison time, Judge Barrasse ordered Ms. Burgette to serve 33 months on probation. Citing her history of heart problems, Mr. Osborne asked Judge Barrasse to sentence her to house arrest. Mr. Osborne also noted Ms. Burgette is awaiting sentencing in federal court on one count of fraud in connection with the foreign-exchange students investigation. Sentencing is set for May 27 before U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo. Ms. Burgette faces up to six months in prison, Mr. Osborne said.
In rejecting the request for house arrest, Judge Barrasse said the "children were endangered over a long period of time in horrendous conditions." The judge also questioned why the Aspect Foundation, the outfit that paid Ms. Burgette, had not been charged. First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico, the prosecutor on the case, said that part of the investigation had been referred to the U.S. Office of Inspector General.
In the federal court case, Ms. Burgette admitted to collecting about $2,900 for five student placements based on fraudulent paperwork in which she lied about host families. Investigators said Mrs. Burgette placed students in homes without completing background checks, then moved students from home to home,
As a coordinator for the Aspect Foundation, Ms. Burgette received $400 for each foreign-exchange student she placed and a $20 monthly payment for supervision. State and federal regulations required her to file paperwork with Aspect, based in San Francisco, that showed she screened potential host families and updated the progress of the students.
The federal probe started after about a dozen students said they were neglected after being placed in Scranton-area homes during the 2008-09 school year.
The students told investigators they lived in filthy homes, some of which were later condemned. Several said they were living with an ex-convict, and at least one student required medical attention for lack of adequate nutrition. All said Ms. Burgette, now the former area coordinator for San Francisco-based Aspect Foundation, ignored their complaints, even though she was paid by Aspect to place the students and check up on them.
As he headed home after watching the sentencing, the Rev. Elmer Smith said he did not believe Ms. Burgette had done anything wrong.
"I think it was a mountain made out of a molehill," the Rev. Smith said. "She took them (the children) on vacation, even to church."
Contact the writer: jmcdonald@timesshamrock.com
----------
Anna felt highly uncomfortable in the home she was placed because there were sex toys strewn about the home. Her host mother sold sex toys. It was reported they were even in the host mother’s car. They were everywhere!
This is the email CSFES received from a concerned party that was sent to ASSE, Ms. Robin Lerner and Mr. James Alexander of the U.S. Department of State, as well as the Consulate General of Italy:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Anna
From: CSFES protects the name of the reporting party
Date: Thu, January 31, 2013 7:11 pm
To: "pete@asse.com" <pete@asse.com>
Cc: "ce@asse.com" <ce@asse.com>, "elliot@asse.co" <elliot@asse.co>,
"bill@asse.com" <bill@asse.com>, "DGrijalva@csfes.org"
<DGrijalva@csfes.org>, "lernerrj@state.gov" <lernerrj@state.gov>,
"alexanderjt@state.gov" <alexanderjt@state.gov>,
"scuola.washington@esteri.it" <scuola.washington@esteri.it>
Dear ladies and gentlemen
I am very concerned about the welfare of Anna from Italy who is currently under the J1 VISA for the ASSE organization. I was contacted 3 days ago by a third party from the high school reporting that the student was having serious issues and that ASSE was threatening to move her to a new school in Waco, Texas because she complained about the host mother having sex toys in the house which made her very uncomfortable. The current host mother sells the items as a business and the student was notified that while this is not illegal it is not appropriate to expose a 16 year old girl to these items. The student was begging for anyone to listen to hear since she felt that her local coordinator (who is over an hour away) and her organization was not talking to her. According to the student her natural family and her Italian organization said that if she could find a family in the Joshua ISD she could move to a new family and still remain at Joshua High School until the end of school. It is already hard for an exchange student to fit in at an American high school and to yank Anna out without considering other possibilities is unacceptable. I have worked in the exchange student business for the last 20 years and I am very familiar with acceptable practices. I have a lot of connections in the Joshua community so I made some phone calls and was able to immediately find a family that is very excited to host Anna. I tried numerous times to contact ms Gregg about this family and was told repeatedly in text messages that it was out of her hands and that there will be no discussion - Anna will be moving to Waco on Saturday, February 2nd. I heard today that Anna went and spoke the Joshua High School principal Mick Cochran today and he tried to contact someone at organization and he could not get anyone to take his call. According Anna - she tried to call Ms. Gregg's supervisor and was yelled out and told that there would be no discussion. I have received numerous text messages from Anna because she is so scared and upset because she does not want to change schools. Tonight I received a message from Anna stated that Ms. Gregg is picking her up at 10:00 pm tonight and taking her back to her house where she is going to do some work for her until she can be brought to Waco on Saturday. So now Anna will not be able to say goodbye to her teachers or friends or even clean out her locker. I think that every situation has to be looked at on an individual basis and I even offered to volunteer and work with Anna to help her complete the program on a successful note. What about the best interest of the student - for whatever reason this student's welfare is not being considered.
I can be reached at (CSFES deleted telephone number.) The family in Joshua is STILL willing to host Anna and I am STILL willing to help her in the transition.
--- end of email ---
Response from Mr. James Alexander of the U.S. Department of State:
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Alexander, James T" <AlexanderJT@state.gov>
To: Concerned Citizen
Sent: Friday, February 1, 2013 7:45 AM
Subject: RE: Anna
Dear (CSFES deleted name of reporting party,)
Thank you for contacting us. We will be in contact with the sponsor to investigate.
Best,
James
James Alexander
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA/EC/D/PS)
U.S. Department of State
Ph: (202) 203-7794
Fax: (202) 203-7000 (not yet operational)
E-mail: alexanderjt@state.gov
CSFES was contacted by Anna’s father in Italy who also wanted his daughter out of the home. Would you believe that Anna was asked by ASSE Area Representative Leigh Ann Gregg to write an apology letter to her host mom for being rude and expressing discomfort for living with the sex toys strewn about the home. Anna was told she would be sent back home to Italy if she doesn't write these letters.
----- Messaggio inoltrato -----
Da: Leigh Ann Gregg
A: Anna
Cc: Robin Fruia <robin@asse.com>
Inviato: Martedì 19 Febbraio 2013 22:43
Oggetto: Checking In
Hey Anna,
Just wanted to check in and see how things are going? Haven't heard from you much the last couple of weeks. I hope things are well.
I still need you to change your schedule, and I'd like to see a copy of your new schedule once you've changed it. I'll be calling your counselor this week to confirm this has happened. That was one of the stipulations of you getting to stay with a family in Joshua. YOU MUST get it done.
Also, I think enough time has passed and you've had time to settle in and get re-adjusted, so we need to get to work on the apology letters. You need to write an apology letter to the following people:
Lisa Ries, ASSE Southern Regional Director
Robin, Fruia, ASSE Area Coordinator
Leigh Ann Gregg, ASSE Area Representative
Vessey Family
Marie Holck
All letters should be put in individual envelopes (not sealed) and addressed to the individual people, then mailed to me:
Leigh Ann Gregg
CSFES deleted address
Addison, TX 75001
I will make sure they are given to the appropriate people. I need to receive these letters no later than Monday, February 25.
---
Leigh Ann Gregg
ASSE Area Representative
lagregg@gmail.com
http://www.asse.com/
http://www.assehosts.com/
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Anna
From: Anna’s natural father
Date: Wed, February 20, 2013 4:08 am
To: "dgrijalva@csfes.org" <dgrijalva@csfes.org>
Dear Mrs Danielle,
My name is (CSFES deleted name) and I am the father of Anna. I am sorry for my poor English.
We need your help again.
Anna received by her representative the email below yesterday in the afternoon.
Asse association asks her to change schedule ( time and of course classroom) and asks her to write a lot of apologies to different people.
Anna now live in a very lovely family . She is very happy but it is not correct asks her to change friends and timetable to follow new lessons.
About the apologies my wife and me think it should be Anna to receive an apology by Asse.
Do you think it is an appropriate behavior by Asse association with a young girl who is in a foreign country ?
How can we protect Anna from the odious requests from Asse please?
I know that is hard but are there the conditions to take legal steps against the Asse for his behavior ?
Thank you very much for all you can do in order to maintain the actual and happy ( for Anna) situation.
P.S.
I want to emphasize that Anna has suffered a lot before to find a new family and she is not a spoiled girl.
Best regards
Anna’s Natural Father
Anna’s story ended on a good note I am happy to report. In an email from Anna, sent on February 11, 2013:
My new family is amazing! They are super funny and super good with me! I’m really happy now, and all thanks to you! I don’t know how I would have done without you! I give you my mom’s email so you can tell my parents what they do about ASSE! Again T-H-A-N-K-S
*** end of email ***
And for those of you wondering… no, Anna never had to write those letters of apology!
Each year approximately 30,000 foreign students come to the United States to learn and get a taste of the American way of life through cultural exchange.
According to the U.S. Department of State's Dictionary of Internal Relations Terms defines 'Public Diplomacy' as, "government-sponsored programs intended to inform or influence public opinion in other countries; its chief instruments are publications, motion pictures, cultural exchanges, radio and television."
What occurs during these cultural exchanges that have natural parents filing lawsuits and questioning the way Americans live?
The father of a South Korean student filed lawsuit through Leawood, Kansas attorney Stephen M. Gorny in Reno County against 70-year-old Richard Young, the student's host father and Face the World, the Novato, California student exchange agency that had placed the boy in Young's home.
Young was sentenced to 13 ½ years in prison for molesting the South Korean exchange student who was 15 years-old at the time Young hosted him in 2007.
Numerous exchange students leave our country with a horrible impression of America. More than you know; which is part of the problem.
Edna Burgett, former area representative for California-based, cultural exchange agency, ASPECT Foundation, continues to make headlines across the globe for the treatment of exchange students she supervised.
Part of the Problem
A majority of exchange students are required to sign a 'Code of Conduct' form upon arriving in the United States. The form states that if the student should have any problems or concerns, the student had better understand that they must only speak to their local coordinator.
If a student should go to a trusted teacher or the mother of a friend they've met at school, about problems they are having in the home, this could cause the student's placement agency to immediately send the student home. Not the impression of the United States we want these visiting teens to have; if they confide in a friend of misbehavior going on in the home, then they will be kicked out of the United States.
Exchange students have been told by their local coordinators to keep their mouth shut or go back where they came from.
Actual Response #1:
..."Why do you keep calling!? So what if there's cockroaches in the oven! All homes in America have roaches in their ovens! Stop calling me!"
Local coordinator's response to 15-year-old boy from South Korea. He would later tell you, politely, that he would not mind so much having to turn on the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees to kick the cockroaches out of their home; it was the smell afterwards that caused him to lose his appetite.
Actual Response #2:
..."Well, you must have liked it or you wouldn't have waited so long to say something!"
Local coordinator's response to 16-year-old-girl from Germany upon finding the courage to tell her local coordinator that her host father had been sexually abusing her for nearly three months.
Actual Response #3:
..."you better give me your (expletive) phone! I'm the adult here! I will let you know when you get it back - if ever! You don't like it... go back where you came from."
Local coordinator's response to 15-year-old boy from Montenegro. His placement agency accepted $15,000 in 'program fees' for this cultural experience. After his mother's chemotherapy treatment, he just wanted to hear how she was feeling and he got caught calling her. His local coordinator cited calling home may cause him to become homesick and was given orders to not call home for two weeks.
Is this Typical American Behavior?
A sexual education teacher was approached by a 15-year-old boy from Vietnam.
The boy would look down as he methodically described the routine his host father had for him when he arrived in America.
When the student stepped in the shower and once the water reached a hot temperature, he was instructed to pound on the shower wall four times. This would be his host father's signal that the water was ready. This would also be when his host father would join him in the shower. This had been their two month routine since the boy's arrival in America.
It was just the night before that his host father may have gone too far; asking his exchange student if he were given money, would he shave his pubic area and afterwards he'd do the same to the student.
Exchange students continue to be placed in the homes of registered sex offenders and convicted felons. Those among the student exchange industry want you to believe that these are merely 'isolated incidents.' They're not.
The Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students (CSFES) encourages anyone who suspects abuse or neglect of an exchange student to report to their local law enforcement or contact CSFES at once.
Lawsuits
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