Adopted. Abused. Abandoned. How a Michigan boy's parents left him in Jamaica

After months of languishing in an abusive boarding school in Jamaica — where boys said they were beaten, waterboarded, starved and whipped — Michigan teenager Elijah Goldman begged to come home.

But his adoptive parents in Traverse City never came for him: Not even after Jamaican authorities removed him from the American-run school, placed him in a foster home, shut down the school following allegations of abuse and neglect, and arrested and charged four school officials with child abuse.

Rather, Elijah's mom and dad — a wealthy and conservative Christian couple who adopted him from Haiti when he was 11 — left him in Jamaica for another seven months.

Alone and afraid, Elijah suffered in silence in a foreign land, desperate for someone to rescue him, to take him back to the quaint Michigan town where he was a track star, went to school, had a girlfriend and hung out with friends.

'They abandoned me ... it hurts'

"I appreciate them for bringing me to the U.S., but they abandoned me," Elijah, now 17, wrote one recent night to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, while still waiting to be rescued from Jamaica. "I'm staying strong, but it hurts."

In a harrowing child welfare case that has sparked international interest, including that of celebrity icon and advocate for troubled teens Paris Hilton, who has intervened in Elijah's case, children's rights activists are seeking to draw attention to a pervasive problem and dark side of adoption — abandonment of the vulnerable.

It's where parents adopt troubled children, but then change their minds in a buyer's-remorse kind of way, because the kids come with too many issues. So they send them away, never to see them again.

That's what child welfare advocates say they believe happened to Elijah, whose adoptive parents sent him to an American-run boarding school in Treasure Beach, Jamaica, in September 2023, over behavior problems — including watching pornography — and allegedly ditched him in the process.

They never visited him, nor attended any of his court hearings, where Elijah and other boys disclosed allegations of horrific abuse they endured at the school called the Atlantis Leadership Academy. Elijah said he was cut with a razor and beaten in the back with a hammer. Other boys reported being waterboarded with a hose up the nose, tied to railings by the neck and beaten, and being forced to engage in club fights, where staff and local police would place bets.

The allegations prompted Jamaican officials to remove Elijah and six other American boys from the academy in February and place them in Jamaican custody. One month later, they closed the school down.

Still, Elijah's adoptive parents never came.

Elijah said the last time he heard from his adoptive parents was in April, when they called during a court proceeding. When asked what his adoptive parents told him, he said: "They didn't want me home. ... And they didn't believe me about the whole court thing ... that they were abusing us."

The Detroit Free Press made numerous attempts to speak to Elijah's parents. Multiple voicemails and text messages were left for both parents. The mom responded by text, stating: "If you would please send us your questions in writing we can consider responding." The Free Press sent a list of questions last Wednesday, and left more voicemails and text messages. As of Friday evening, the couple had not responded. Michigan officials reportedly told a lawyer and advocate for Elijah that the adoptive parents told them that they had a plan to get Elijah out of Jamaica but were advised not to travel there.

Lawyer: Biological parent would not get away with this

Elijah's case has drawn the ire of child welfare advocates, who maintain biological parents would not get away with abandoning a minor child in a foreign country for a year, especially when the child is reporting abuse.

"They were specifically told, 'Your son was abused.' And they didn’t even send him clothes," said New York children's rights attorney Dawn Post, who traveled to Jamaica in the spring, met with Elijah, and has been fighting for him ever since.

"What makes it so astounding is that that these wealthy parents think they can get away with it," Post said of Elijah's adoptive parents, who live in a sprawling lakefront home in Traverse City that was named "The Southern Living Home of the Year" in 2007.

Post said she believes Elijah's mom and dad are getting preferential treatment from Michigan authorities because they are adoptive parents, not biological.

"If it was a biological parent — believe me — you'd have an abandonment case against them," said Post, noting she has reached out to multiple government agencies in Michigan about Elijah's case, including the governor's office, Department of Health and Human Services, and Child and Protective Services in Traverse City.

But so far, she said, no one has stepped in to help Elijah resume his life in Michigan, or to hold his adoptive parents accountable for stranding him in Jamaica.

Elijah returns to U.S., fate uncertain

Elijah is back on American soil, though his future remains uncertain. He was returned to the U.S. last week after Jamaican authorities put him on a plane and sent him to Florida, where American officials would take over and address his needs.

But since landing in Florida, his life has been a nonstop series of traumatic events, with no government agency stepping up to take him in. Florida said he was Michigan's responsibility. Michigan said he was Florida's responsibility.

His adoptive parents did not meet him at the Miami airport.

Rather, Post was there. So was an abuse survivor and youth advocate named Chelsea Maldonado, who works as a consultant to Paris Hilton's charity known as 11:11 Media Impact, which works to protect vulnerable youths from mistreatment, particularly those in residential facilities.

"He’s been abandoned and let down by every person who was in a position to offer him care, love and support," Maldonado said of Elijah, stressing the troubled teen industry preys on adopted youth. "No child should be adopted into this country only to be abandoned, or sent to a place like Atlantis Leadership Academy ... This must end."

Elijah arrived at the airport in jeans and a pullover fleece, carrying all of his belongings in a single backpack. A fellow survivor from the now-shuttered boarding school was there to greet Elijah, who smiled as he hugged his friend in the arrivals terminal. But the nervous teen kept looking over his shoulder. And in a matter of minutes, a daunting scene played out.

A U.S. embassy official from Jamaica, a police officer and a youth transport agent whom Elijah did not want to leave with, showed up. They whisked him away from his friend and advocates and took him into a room to discuss matters privately.

In the end, Elijah was spared having to leave with the transport agent — the man his adoptive parents had designated as his legal guardian; the same man they hired to take Elijah to the airport when they sent him to Jamaica against his wishes in 2023; the same man who wrote a letter of recommendation on behalf of the academy where Elijah and the others reportedly were abused.

Elijah said this transport agent had manipulated him into going to Jamaica and that he didn't trust him with his future.

Neither did his lawyer, or his youth advocate, who both made sure to be at the airport to protect Elijah and place him in safe hands.

From Jamaica to Florida to Michigan — Elijah finally sees his adoptive parents

Elijah arrived in Miami just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3. By 8 p.m., he was in a car with the two advocates who showed up to help him, away from his adoptive parents' chosen legal guardian, eager to begin a new life.

"I'm the happiest man alive," he wrote in a message to the Free Press on Tuesday night.

Within 24 hours, however, he would learn that Michigan authorities said they had no legal authority over him; that housing him in Michigan was out of their hands, and that his lawyer needed to talk to Child Protective Services in Florida and find a place for him there.

"This is beyond insane," Post said.

By midnight Wednesday, more than 24 hours after landing in Miami, Elijah was in Florida CPS custody, housed in a children's home.

"Everything is good," Elijah wrote to the Free Press.

By morning, however, his life was upended again. Florida CPS placed him on a flight to Traverse City. Elijah said he didn't know who would meet him there, neither did his lawyer.

Just before 2 p.m. Thursday, his flight landed in Traverse City.

"My adopted dad is here," Elijah wrote in a message to the Free Press. "They said I have to go with him. He's acting like everything is normal."

Elijah and his dad met with CPS in Traverse City. He said CPS told him he had to go with his dad to Detroit, get on a plane, and go to Utah where he would join the transport agent who had taken him to Jamaica, and get an apartment in Utah to live.

Elijah refused.

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, he was sitting in the rain in the CPS parking lot, waiting for his lawyer to arrive from Florida and pick him up. His mom showed up at one point. She went up to him, and clutched him sobbing, saying she just wanted to see him.

Elijah said he felt "confused."

"I don't think they love me anymore," he wrote to the Free Press after leaving the parking lot in his lawyer's car. "But we do have some good memories."

Camping was one of them.

Friday came with more uncertainty. Lawyers filed a neglect petition with a court in Traverse City, along with a motion requesting Elijah be placed in protective custody. As of Friday evening, there was no resolution.

Elijah went back to a hotel, pending a Wednesday hearing date.

Parents respond: 'I'm not always proud of how I father my children'

Elijah's adoptive parents are Mark and Spring Goldman, of Traverse City. They have denied multiple requests to speak to the Free Press. According to public records, LinkedIn pages, child advocates familiar with the couple, and a prior essay written by the dad, here is a glimpse into the Goldmans' lives:

The couple have two children of their own and adopted two other children from Haiti, including Elijah and Elijah's younger sister, who is 12 and still lives with the Goldmans. The family lives in a sprawling, white colonial that is listed at $1.7 million on Zillow, and $1.9 million on Realtor.com. Mark Goldman, 54, spent years working for his family's real estate and restaurant business before leaving that career to work in special education.

His wife, Spring Goldman, 51, describes herself on her LinkedIn page as a working mom and self-employed health and wellness consultant.

"As a mom of 4 and a owner of multiple businesses I have become incredibly passionate about empowering others to see their potential and create a life of abundance," her LinkedIn page reads. "By serving and loving others and helping them to succeed I am changing lives one person at a time."

In a personal essay about his faith journey, Mark Goldman also discusses changing lives, specifically his own. On a faith-inspired business website called Check Your Game, Mark Goldman wrote about a prior rage issue, and how a verbal fight with his wife almost triggered a call to the police, and eventually led him to Jesus Christ.

"The following morning, I decided! I was done thinking I could fix all my issues with booze, gambling, working out and pornography. I needed to try something else," Mark Goldman says in the essay, which credits his mom with turning him to Jesus Christ following a 2008 fight with his wife.

The personal essay also mentions Mark Goldman "waiting to be matched with our two kiddos from Haiti," how he "left a multimillion-dollar company" to work in a school setting, and how he and his wife "brought our 2 kids from Haiti home with us" in 2018.

"Let me be clear," the essay reads. "My life is not perfect, nor is my marriage. I am also not always proud of how I father my children either, but one thing I do have is a God who loves me and has a place for me waiting in heaven. Can I get an Amen?"

How Elijah became a Goldman: 'Initially, my family was loving'

Elijah arrived in the United States on March 1, 2017. The Goldmans adopted him and his little sister through a program called Chances for Children, which sought to — among other things — address Haiti's orphan epidemic, and identify abandoned, orphaned or vulnerable children who were victims of severe poverty and neglect.

Soon after Elijah and his sister joined the Goldman family, his adoptive mom started posting photos of her new and bigger family on Facebook. One shows an 11-year-old Elijah standing in front of a white picket fence with his smiling new sister and brother, adoptive mom and his biological little sister on the end. Another picture shows the whole family together: mom, dad, two girls, and two boys in khakis — all smiling in front of a lake.

Most recently, on Dec. 23, three months after Elijah was sent to Jamaica, Spring Goldman updated her Facebook profile picture to show a smiling Goldman family sitting in the sand. The kids were older. Elijah on the end, smiling next to his little sister.

Friends commented: "Beautiful family ... the kids are all grown up ... Merry Christmas."

"Initially, my family was loving and helped me learn English and learn how to read," Elijah wrote of his new American life in a personal statement provided to U.S. Embassy officials, law enforcement, and the Free Press. "Then I became a teenager."

Teenage years came with problems — and porn

As a teenager, Elijah engaged in misbehavior of sorts.

"I started looking at porn magazines on my amazon kindle," Elijah writes. "My mom got a notification about it and asked me about it, and I lied to her multiple times because I was embarrassed ... My Dad was understanding, but I still lied to him because I was embarrassed."

The misbehavior continued. In eighth grade, Elijah was caught buying his own cellphone and watching more porn.

In ninth grade, Elijah bought another phone that his parents found and took away — only that time they found more daunting images.

"They found videos of me having sex and pictures my girlfriend sent to me," Elijah wrote. "For that they said I was a porn addict and a sex addict, and that I needed to go to a program."

An argument followed with his mom, who summoned his dad to his bedroom.

"Dad comes in, threw my things everywhere. He broke my snow globe," Elijah writes, adding: "We get in a fight and he beats me."

Elijah ran away to a friend's house. Two weeks later, in October 2022, he was sent far away, to a special school for troubled boys.

Over the next two years, Elijah would go to three different boarding schools over his behavior, enrolling first in the Teen Challenge Adventure Ranch in Arizona, a Christian-based center for boys with addiction and behavioral issues. He was there for nine months, from October 2022-July 2023. From there, he was sent to the Masters Ranch Christian Academy, a boarding school in Missouri for troubled boys, where he only stayed for about a month, from July 2023-August 2023. He said he ran away from there "because I was scared for my life."

In September 2023, within a month after fleeing the Missouri school, he was sent to the Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica, where his life was upended, and his sense of security forever scarred.

Paris Hilton fights for Elijah: There's 'an extremely troubling situation in Jamaica'

On April 3, Hilton traveled to Treasure Beach, Jamaica, after learning seven American boys had been pulled from a faith-based, troubled teen school on the island over alleged abuse. NBC News had reported the allegations in March, and the plight of the students weighed heavily on Hilton, whose own kidnapping and boarding school trauma turned her into a crusader for abused and neglected youths.

"I dropped everything to travel here," Hilton said at the April 3 news conference in Jamaica, her voice trembling as she spoke of the abuse the boys in Jamaica had reported:

One said he was stripped naked and violently beaten. Others said they had salt poured on their wounds. One child said he was forced to kneel on bottle caps for hours, scarred so badly that he can no longer grow hair on his legs. Another said he was placed in isolation and whipped with a cord.

“There is nothing these children could have done to deserve this torture,” Hilton said at a news conference, where she directed her anger at parents who sent their children to this American-run school.

“Rightfully, Jamaican authorities are questioning, 'Why anyone would be willing to sign over guardianship of their child to a complete stranger, in a foreign country, without every visiting or maintaining contact,' " Hilton said. "To these parents: How could you ever discard your child like that? Several of these boys were adopted and were promised better and more stable lives."

Hilton took a special interest in Elijah. He was the last of the boys left stranded in Jamaica.

Michigan officials alerted — no action taken

On May 20, Hilton sent an email to a top official with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, advocating for Elijah's return to the U.S.

"I am reaching out regarding an extremely troubling situation in Jamaica impacting a Michigan youth who was an international adoptee," Hilton wrote, noting the boy, Elijah, was stuck in Jamaica, while his counterparts were sent home.

"It is unconscionable that the adoptive parents would abandon (their) son in such a manner," Hilton wrote of Elijah's parents. "Elijah deserves to return to the U.S. to a safe and appropriate placement. I am hopeful that your Department will support us in helping return this young boy to the U.S. and placed in a safe placement as clearly his parents do not have his best interest in mind. They essentially warehoused him in Jamaica and since abuse allegations have come to light, have abandoned him there."

Hilton's email was sent to Demetrius Starling, the senior deputy director for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' Children’s Services Administration, which oversees CPS, the state's foster care system, adoption services and juvenile justice programs.

Starling did not respond. Post also reached out to him on April 26, but said he didn't respond to her, either. Rather, on May 30, more than a month later, another Michigan DHHS official wrote Post back, stating that Michigan law "protects children by ensuring information regarding child protective matters is confidential, so we are unable to share any details with you."

Prior to Elijah's return to the U.S., the Free Press reached out to the Governor's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect regarding Elijah's welfare, his efforts to return home, and his claims that he was physically abused by his dad before he was sent to Jamaica.

The agency offered no insight, stating: "Due to confidentiality outlined in the Child Protection Law, Governor’s Task Force members are unable to review any information related to a case involving child welfare activity. Due to this, our process is to send your concerns to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to determine if there is/was a case assigned and if so, for them to review and address."

MDHHS offered a similar response, stating that Michigan and federal law prohibits the agency from "sharing specifics" about CPS cases.

The Free Press also reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica, which would only say that Jamaican authorities "took action to shut down the Atlantis Leadership Academy on March 28, 2024, to ensure the safety of eight US teenage boys at the Atlantis Leadership Academy in St. Elizabeth, amidst allegations of abuse."

Citing privacy concerns, Michael Lavallee, the U.S. Embassy Kingston spokesperson, said he could not discuss specifics regarding Elijah's case, but stated: “Embassy Kingston takes the safety and welfare of minor U.S. citizens abroad very seriously and provides all appropriate consular services as needed. We also support relevant parties and authorities in repatriating U.S. citizen minors to the United States when necessary and appropriate."

Lawyer: 'As a country, we're failing these kids'

In her efforts to bring Elijah home, Post said she encountered numerous stumbling blocks, including government officials suggesting that she secure a refugee agreement to bring the boy in that way.

"Are you kidding me? He's an American citizen. Why are we talking about bringing him in as a refugee," Post said she recalled thinking to herself.

But then again, Post said, this is what can happen to immigrant children with issues who are adopted by Americans, but wind up getting abandoned because they're seen as too problematic.

"It’s unfathomable to me how, as a country, we’re failing these kids," Post said, still furious that Elijah's adoptive parents allegedly didn't believe him about the abuse he endured.

"They really were tortured," Post said of the teen boys she interviewed in Jamaica. "They had fight clubs. Cops would come and bet on the kids. … They had water hoses put up their noses. Lots of horrific things."

Perhaps more egregious, Post said, is that no one in Michigan appears to care. She then cited an email Elijah's advocacy team received on Sept. 3 from the Department of Health and Human Services in Grand Traverse County where the boy lived with his adopted family for years.

"Grand Traverse County does not currently have any legal jurisdiction regarding Mr. Goldman. After reviewing this case, the best next course of action would be to contact the CPS office in the county you are in and advise them of the current status," Barb LaRue, director of the DHHS office in Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties, wrote in the Wednesday email.

The Free Press contacted LaRue on Wednesday, and asked why Michigan wasn't helping bring home a boy who lived in Traverse City for years, and why an abandonment case has not been opened up.

LaRue said she would forward the questions up the chain of command.

Thursday morning, Elijah was on a flight home to Michigan.

Post alleges CPS authorities gave a pass to Elijah's adoptive parents. While investigating Elijah's case, she said, she learned that the couple told authorities that they had a plan to get Elijah out of Jamaica, but were advised against going there.

"They completely bought into ...the parents saying, 'Oh, we don’t know what to do. We’re afraid to go get him,' " Post said, maintaining she fought for months for someone to help Elijah, but to no avail.

"I tried to get some action. It took months for anyone to respond," Post said. "And then someone from Traverse City finally did (respond). They said, 'Oh no, the parents are doing everything they can. They have not abandoned him.' "

Post said their actions prove otherwise.

Moving forward — From 'hopeful' to anxious

Elijah said he is relieved to finally be back in the United States, though he is anxious about what's to come next. He said he didn't feel good when he was told he had to leave with his adoptive dad from the Traverse City airport.

When he left Jamaica, he said he was hoping to be placed in a group home in Michigan. He just wants to go to school again, to run track again, lead a normal life again, get a job and prepare for the future. Previously, he said if he could talk to his adoptive parents again, he would tell them: "I'm sorry for you, and for me. .... They did things to me emotionally and physically. ... I messed up in some parts, too."

Elijah also sees a future ahead, one where he works and has a family of his own.

"I have resources to become a successful man and take care of my family in Haiti," he says. "And one day, make my own. ... I am hopeful."

Tresa Baldas is an award-winning courts and legal issues reporter who received the 2023 Wade H. McCree Advancement of Justice Award by the Michigan Press Association and was named the 2020 Richard Milliman "Michigan" Journalist of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Contact her at [email protected].