Elijah Goldman, a 17-year-old teen, who was abandoned by his adoptive parents in Jamaica for watching porn, has finally returned to Traverse City, Michigan, after a foster parent stepped up to take him. Mark and Spring Goldman, a wealthy conservative Christian couple, had adopted Elijah from Haiti, when he was 11 years old.
Elijah's Parents Called Him Porn and Sex Addict
Elijah and his sister were adopted by the Goldmans, who already had two biological children, in 2011. While Mark Goldman works in his family's real estate and restaurant business, his wife, Spring, is a self-employed health and wellness consultant.
Opening up about his ordeal, Elijah told Detroit Free Press, that it started when he lied about watching porn to his parents, at the onset of his teens. "I started looking at porn magazines on my amazon kindle. My mom got a notification about it and asked me about it, and I lied to her multiple times because I was embarrassed," he revealed.
"I lied to her multiple times because I was embarrassed. My Dad was understanding, but I still lied to him because I was embarrassed, " he went on adding that the issue persisted till he reached his eight grade. Elijah was also caught by his parents while trying to buy a mobile phone to watch the porn.
Recalling how his parents caught him with another phone, which had videos of him having sex, the 17-year-old said, "In ninth grade, they found videos of me having sex and pictures my girlfriend sent to me. For that they said I was a porn addict and a sex addict, and that I needed to go to a program."
Elijah Was Sent to 'Special School'
Stating that after the incident, his adoptive parents sent him to 'special school for troubled boys'. At first Elijah was admitted in the Teen Challenge Adventure Ranch in Arizona, a Christian center for boys with addiction and behavioral issues. After spending nine months at the center, he was sent to the Masters Ranch Christian Academy, a school in Missouri for troubled boys.
Fearing his life, the teen fled from the academy only to be sent to the Atlantis Leadership Academy, in Jamaica, during September 2023.Revealing the horrors at the Academy, Elijah said that he was severely abused including being cut with a razor and beaten in the back with a hammer.
The outlet reported that Elijah and six other boys made numerous claims of abuse, including waterboarding, whippings, beatings and starvation during their stay at the Academy. Following multiple reports, the Jamaican government shut down the school and charged four people with child abuse. While the rest of the boys were taken either by their familiar or foster care authorities, the Michigan teen was left all alone.
