I've found in my own experience that parents will let other people do things to their kid they would never do themselves.
You apparently have known some pretty fucked up parents. Most of the ones I know are more guilty of the "over-protective mama bear" syndrome, which might help explain how they contribute to their kids growing up to be less than responsible, self-sufficient young adults.
A long list of things comes to mind, but I'll try to be brief: obsession with safety (car seats, bicycle helmets, etc.), panic over minor schoolyard scuffles (OMG a kid at school gave my kid a bloody nose! Where were the adults in charge?), panic at the first sign of sexuality (next thing you know she'll be pregnant!) and panic at the first sign of drug or alcohol use (insanedeadorinjail!!!).
As their kids get older, these same over-protective coddling parents buy them everything they could possibly want, never make them do household chores or get a job or learn the value of a dollar.
These are the kind of upper middle class parents who might be prime targets for a program sales pitch if their kid starts to go south. But I guarantee they're going to need to be heavily conned and lied to about the program, because they're the same kind of parents who will get ready to kick some ass (literally or in court) if someone harms a hair on their kids' head.
Hell, when I was a kid we didn't have car seats or even care about seat belts -- we laid on the deck under the rear window on long trips -- and you would be ostracized as a retard or worse if you got caught wearing a helmet while riding your bike! You mowed lawns for money when you were 12 or 13 (or girls did babysitting), and when you were 14 or 15 you lied about your age to get a real job at a restaurant, gas station or whatever. If you snuck out at 2 a.m. or got caught with a bag of weed or pot plants growing in mom's vegetable garden, you either got your ass kicked or you got grounded for a few weeks. Somehow we survived. And we didn't need no stinking programs -- or over-protective mama bears.
