Left Behind in Jamaica: Dawn Post on a Residential Care Tragedy

This year, Jamaican child welfare officials abruptly removed eight teenage boys from a residential facility known as Atlantis Leadership Academy. All eight were American youth and three were adoptees. 

Dawn Post, a veteran attorney for youth in foster care, represented the teens pro bono, working with the Jamaican government to ensure their safe return to the United States. She joined us to tell the story, discuss the broader connections to child welfare present in this incident, and announce a new legal office she has launched called Themis Youth Law and Advocacy. 

Reading Room

Jamaica pulls U.S. boys
from troubled teen school after allegations they were abused
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jamaica-troubled-teen-abuse-allegations-atlantis-leadership-academy-rcna144426

Adopted. Abandoned. But not forgotten.
https://kentuckylantern.com/2024/09/03/adopted-abandoned-but-not-forgotten/

‘I’d rather die than go back’: Jamaica’s school for troubled US boys
https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/american-teenagers-jamaica-atlantis-academy-j25rgm0p5

Themis Youth Law & Advocacy
https://www.themisyouthlawadvocacy.org/