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teen treatment facilities in the US and abroad.
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January 2006
Some Good Teen Help Industry News!
We don't have to wait much longer for the highly
anticipated book by Maia Szalavitz.
Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen
Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids will be
published February 16th and should be available
from retailers in early March.
According to Maia, Help at Any Cost:
Covers the incredible history of a billion dollar
industry, which profits by convincing parents that
their teenagers require harsh residential treatment
in order to survive adolescent misbehavior. It
shows how these programs prosper despite lack of
any scientific evidence for their efficacy—and
despite research showing that their "therapeutic"
techniques can do great harm and often drive apart
the families they are intended to bring together.
Those of you not familiar with Maia's work can
read a couple of her fluff-free articles here and here.
And you can pre-order the book by clicking the link
on the left.
posted January 14, 2006
The Ol' WWASPS Switcheroo
The World Wide Association of Specialty Programs
and Schools (WWASPS) has made more changes to its
lineup of private teen prisons.
According to this laughable and rather dishonest press release, Academy at Ivy
Ridge claims it is no longer affiliated with
WWASPS *wink* *wink*.
The press release, issued by the PR guy for
WWASPS, is suspiciously critical of the
organization and claims the Academy at Ivy Ridge is
ready to venture into the teen help industry alone.
Uh-huh. Sure.
Back in August, the Attorney General of New York
determined that Ivy Ridge wasn't legally allowed to
issue diplomas and imposed fines and tuition
refunds of nearly $2 million.
And you KNOW lawsuits are bound to be coming.
Ivy Ridge cut ties with WWASPS?
Doubt it.
The master-manipulators at WWASPS surely realized
they were holding a REALLY hot potato and want
every one to think they've dropped it.
And any legal liability, of course.
I don't know about you, but I really don't think
the "we're not affiliated with ourselves" defense
will work this time.
And speaking of lawsuits and WWASPS,
there is yet another name change in the
never-ending WWASPS corporate shuffle.
Eagle Point Christian Academy, site of a major riot
AND name change last year, is now called Respect Camp.
Before that, it was Bethel Boys Academy. And before
that, it was the Bethel Boys Home.
The Fountain-family-owned facility has a 20+ year
long history of abuse allegations and run-ins with
local law enforcement and is currently being sued
for child abuse amounting to torture.
Bethel/Eagle Point/Respect Camp was damaged during
Hurricane Katrina and is now advertising itself as
a 30-day Christian boot camp.
In the advertising, the photos are the same and of
course, the description is still false.
Bethel/Eagle Point/Respect Camp claims to be
located on "80 acres." The whole town of Lucedale
might be 80 acres, but Respect Camp - or whatever it's calling itself this week - is right on
main street.
posted January 11, 2006
Bay County Boot Camp - Florida
Sadly, we start the new year the same way the old one ended - with the death of a child.
14 year-old Martin Lee Anderson died Friday, January 6.
Martin had been admitted to the Bay County Boot Camp just hours before he died.
The tough-love program is operated by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
The Sheriff's office claims Martin became "uncooperative" and was "restrained" but denies the child was abused, even though Martin had obvious injuries to his face.
In the wake of Martin's death, Florida Representative Gustavo Barreiro, chairman of the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee, wants to shut down ALL of Florida's state-run teen boot camps.
Click here to read the articles.
posted January 9, 2006
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