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American Teens Go Missing on People to People Trips

Parents outraged at mishaps; company disclaims responsibility

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 27, 2009

People to People International An Investigative Report by Lisa Wade McCormick • Introduction • P2P: Ambassadors or Tourists? • P2P CEO "Mortified" • Parents Object to Student Lists • Not Everyone's Happy with People to People Trips • Fast Facts About People to People International • Update 12/06: It Happens Again • Deceased Cat Invited to be Student Ambassador --- News about P2P • People To People Leaders Allegedly Drank Beer While Student Was Dying • American Teens Go Missing on People to People Trips • People to People Parent Company Faces Securities Class Action • People to People Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit • People to People Uses Dead Student's Name as Recruiting Tool • Feds Asked to Probe Student's Death on People to People Tour • Student 'Ambassador' Dies Neglected & Alone • People to People Invites Dead Girl ... Again • People to People Executive Sentenced to Prison • People to People "Clarifies" Its Invitation Policy • Student Travel Service Still Misleading Parents • Student Travel Service Agrees To Modify Marketing --- • Consumer Complaints • Consumer Compliments

Three American teenagers traveling abroad on People to People Student Ambassador trips have -- in the past few weeks -- gone missing or been “unaccounted for” for an unknown period of time, ConsumerAffairs.com has learned.

All the students returned unharmed, but the cases have sparked concerns by parents and an advocacy group for exchange students about why the travel organization that touts its “extraordinary” safety record isn’t keeping a closer eye on children who are thousands of miles from home.

“They (People to People) are supposed to watch the kids like a hawk,” said Danielle Grijalva, director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students. “That is their responsibility. They should be watching to see if there are enough leaders to properly supervise the group so students do not wander off. The onus is on them (People to People) to be more diligent.”

These “missing students” reports are the latest in a serious of troubling events facing the student travel organization.

Earlier this month, a securities class action lawsuit was filed against the company that markets People to People’s student trips and handles all the travel arrangements, The Ambassadors Group (EPAX). The lawsuit alleges the organization’s directors issued misleading and overly optimistic statements about the company's financial future.

And just last month, the parties involved in the wrongful death lawsuit of a Minnesota teenager who died on a 2007 People to People trip to Japan reached a confidential settlement in the case. The lawsuit alleged that People to People’s Student Ambassador Group and its delegation leaders refused to get 16-year-old Tyler Hill the medical attention he requested -- and charged that his June 29, 2007, death in Tokyo was the result of their negligence.

These latest worrisome cases involve a 15-year-old California girl who went missing for at least 24 hours in Paris and a 14-year-old Missouri boy and teenage girl from Iowa who wandered off from a July 4th People to People-sponsored BBQ in England and were unsupervised for an unknown amount of time.

The Missouri boy’s mom is outraged that People to People’s delegation leaders did not notice the teenagers’ absence.

“These are kids who are 13 to 15 years old and they were able to leave this event and go to an unsupervised location,” says the mom, who did not want to be identified because of fear of retribution by People to People and its delegation leaders. “They went to another classroom in the school and we still don’t know how long they were unaccounted for. But nobody noticed they were gone or when they returned.”

The boy’s mom acknowledged that her son -- who just turned 14 -- shouldn’t have left the group and agrees he should be held accountable for his actions.

“I have no problem with there being reasonable consequences to my child's behavior,” she told us. “However, the fact that two children were able to separate from the group and to remain unsupervised for an undetermined amount of time is very disturbing.”

It’s also disturbing, she says, that eight days passed before People to People’s delegation leaders learned that her son and the other teenager left the event.

“One of the delegation leaders called me on July 12th to tell me my son had violated People to People’s policies,” the mom says. “Someone ratted the kids out and what happened got back to the delegation leaders. But had it not gotten back to them, no one would have known they had gone missing.”

When the boy’s mom followed up with People to People’s national office in Spokane, Washington, a company representative told her the organization shouldn’t be expected to keep tabs on students all the time. She said that People to People’s representative, Wanda Lashbrook, also said the four delegation leaders on the trip couldn’t watch the 40 students in the group every second.

“Ms. Lashbrook (said) that People to People believes I should not expect them to know the whereabouts of children under their care at all times during trips to foreign countries,” the mom told us. “And when confronted with such an occurrence will vehemently deny any wrongdoing on the part of People to People or delegate leaders.”

The mom adds: “What incensed me the most was when Ms. Lashbrook said ‘you send your son to school everyday and he is not supervised.’ I told her he is supervised and if this had happened at school I would be up in arms. I also told her that’s irrelevant because I’m not paying seven-grand for promises of safety.”

No apologies

People to People’s defensiveness about the situation -- and the mom’s concerns -- didn’t stop there. The mom says Lashbrook also told her:

• Students are free to go to the restroom on their own and her son could have sneaked off without a supervisor noticing he was gone. “But I was assured the students were not allowed to go to the bathroom by themselves,” the mom says.

• Students are required to sign a contract which states they understand the behavior policies of People to People. That means any misbehavior by students on the trip is their fault and not the responsibility of the delegation leaders.

“My son is 14 years old, so signing a contract does not release the leaders from responsibility and liability for actions the delegates may engage in while under their care,” the mom says. “If all it took was a contract to regulate the behavior of an unsupervised minor, adolescence would be a very easy period of time for parents and I would not have needed to pay People to People for adult supervision during this trip.”

People to People’s representative even blamed the 14-year-old’s decision to leave the BBQ on poor parenting skills.

“Ms. Lashbrook said that given that fact that my son violated a People to People rule, my parenting skills should be questioned -- not their ability to supervise children,” the mom told us. “My son is a Scholastic and Citizenship Honor Roll student. He knows these behaviors are not tolerated and he’s never engaged in these types of behaviors before. These behaviors happened oversees while he was under someone else’s watch.”

The Missouri mom says she’ll never trust People to People -- or its delegation leaders – with her children again. “I wouldn’t risk it.”

And now that she’s learned how poorly the organization supervised her son, she regrets sending him on the 19-day European adventure.

“I would have never sent my son on a trip overseas if I knew that People to People did not take responsibility for their supervision at all times,” she says. “After all, how long does it take for a child to experience harm if they are on their own in a foreign country? What amount of time is acceptable for People to People to not provide for the protection and supervision of my child?”

People to People, however, did an excellent job supervising her son on a previous trip he took with the organization to Australia. That’s why his European journey is so disturbing, she says.

“The reason I sent my son on this trip was that he had such a wonderful experience on his first People to People trip two years ago to Australia. But this trip was definitely different than his previous People to People trip. It had a whole different flavor.

“I should have seen some of the reds flags,” she adds. “This trip was just so disorganized. When we got to the airport, they maybe did one head count of the kids. The kids were much less prepared and the delegation leaders did not seem vested in the kids or put the kids as their top priority.”

Another case

Earlier this month, another teenager went missing on a People to People trip to Paris, France. That case involved 15-year-old Alexis Brown of Vacaville, California.

“She went missing on July 10 and was missing for at least 24 hours,” Sgt. Ian Schmutzler with the Vacaville Police Department told us. “Alexis had apparently left the group on two separate occasions and she was chastised by the chaperones for doing so.”

Surveillance cameras videotaped Alexis leaving the hotel by herself and police discovered her ATM card was used after her disappearance.

“Shortly after she was discovered missing, the group’s leaders contacted Paris authorities and Alexis’ parents in Vacaville,” Sgt. Schmutzler said. “The parents made a missing persons report through the Vacaville Police Department as French authorities began searching for her.”

Alexis, who had been in Europe for five days prior to her disappearance, was found unharmed on July 11, police said. But Sgt. Schmutzler said he did not know where Alexis went during the time she was missing.

ConsumerAffairs.com contacted People to People about the missing students. The company did not respond to our inquiry.

ConsumerAffairs.com also contacted Danielle Grijalva with Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students about the missing students. Those cases, she said, raise serious concerns about People to People’s ability to supervise the students on its trips.

“It appears that People to People recognizes and openly admits to the problem of it being impossible to supervise 40 kids at a time. So they’ve recognized a problem and failed to come up with a solution.”

She adds: “People to People needs to make it so that this is no longer an impossibility or a problem. After all, we’re talking about children. And it’s very common for there to be instances in which children wander off or even instances in which they (students) become victimized.”

Misplaced blame

It’s also inexcusable, she said, for People to People to blame a parent for the company’s lack of supervision.

“To attack a mom’s parenting skills is irrelevant. They accepted that mom’s money -- they took her money -- and they entered in an agreement. To later question her parenting skills is wrong and irrelevant," she said. “But it’s so common for many in the student exchange industry to constantly blame anyone besides themselves.”

Grijalva and other advocates for students involved in travel and exchange programs say parents who have concerns about People to People or similar organizations should contact the attorney general of their state, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“I’m hopeful parents will get mad enough to come forward and play an active role to prohibit things like these from happening again,” Grijalva said.

Back in Missouri, the 14-year-old’s mom vows to hold People to People accountable for its lack of supervision on her son’s trip. She’s already filed a complaint with the BBB and now plans to contact the state’s attorney general.

The safety of children -- especially those traveling overseas -- should never be taken lightly, she says.

“After Tyler Hill’s death, I wonder why more parents are not up in arms about this organization. The kids are these trips are not kids who’ve been in trouble before. But the people who are supposed to be watching them are not keeping an eye on them.

“People to People talks about how these kids are ambassadors for the United States, but (these recent cases of student missing) do not represent the adults of the United States very well.”

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