Welcome to teenhelpindustry.info

Here you will find bits of information about teen treatment facilities in the US and abroad.

Please read our disclaimer.

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.

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