Hearings before Congress re: schools, rtc's.

[Anonymous]

It's impossible to believe that people will continue working for "free" as that seems to be what's happening.  Not knowing if your paycheck will actually bounce and yet staying in the same workplace is like a form of insanity.
HLA is beginning to resemble Jonestown!  The remaining staff seem brainwashed or brain dead. It seems like they refuse to "jump ship" out of some misguided sense of loyalty....or just plain stubborness.  
It's also hard to imagine that some Ed. Cons. are still referring to HLA.

The Ed. Cons that are still referring to HLA are doing so because of MONEY.  It is just that simple.  They had the choice to stop when the truth came out, but they did not.  They chose to get angry at the sources because their wallets would be smaller.  However, if they were smart, they should have supported the "truth", they made a huge error.  They should have supported Clarke Poole.  Now they shall have to deal with the FTC, Congress and everyone else that shall be knocking on their door.
Huge mistake.

[Anonymous]

Believe me, the Ed Cons deserve any and everything that is coming their way!! They have ended up wrecking the financial lives of many by referring people's children to these horrible schools where education and therapy are a total joke! How can any parent still have their child at HLA knowing what they know. With their children's education being a joke, and the school in financial ruin, along with deceitful administration, how could they continue in denial this way!

[timeandlove]

It has occurred to me that many of Len's loyal henchmen DESERVE to be at HLA.  Many of those mentioned are mean-spirited, sanctimonious idiots.  Let them stay there and get what's coming to them.

They're all members of the "Perfect Parents Club" - right?!

[Anonymous]

Oh, I can tell you that Anna Jones thinks she is the worlds best MOM. She thinks so much of herself as does Joe Stapp. They are sickening to me.

[Anonymous]

They're all members of the "Perfect Parents Club" - right?!

if i was one of their kids i would most definitely be smoking crack to escape from them.

thankfully they are mostly sterile or gay....and the the ones who do have kids will learn a hard lesson when their kids get to high school. and what are they going to do, send their kids to HLA too? lol.


i do have to admit it would be funny and awsome if god took away their ability to have children. they'll try and try and they'll never get kids because they fucked with other people's kids.

[Anonymous]

The Miller Bill, now H.R. 911 has passed in Congress and is now on to the Senate.  Below is NATSAP"S position regarding the Bill.  One can bet their bippy NATSAP shall be lobbying the Senate to see that this bill is buried.  Please call your Senator's and ask them to pass this bill.

States are better staffed and equipped to enforce existing abuse and neglect prevention statutes.  This statement  regarding States being better equipped is ridiculous.  Florida didn't know what hit them with these schools and certainly did not know what to do when faced with the death of a child.  Georgia did nothing regarding Hidden Lake Academy for near a decade, although the ORS repeatedly received complaints from parents and caved in when they received a letter from Quirk and Quirk.  The ORS kept denying HLA was indeed a TBS to parents, even when the parents had a child enrolled at Hidden Lake as a so-called "Therapeutic Boarding School".  Utah, you would like to leave it to Utah?  Nevada? I don't think so.
The only positive reply I got when seeking help:  A representative from the Department of Education said to "stay away from NATSAP Schools".  I didn't even know what NATSAP was, until I found out that my child was at a NATSAP school, Hidden Lake Academy and the founder of NATSAP was Leonard Buccellato.
When one industry needs to invent an organization to 'police' itself, look the Hell out.

Call your Senator - please.

NATSAP Position on Miller Bill

While NATSAP strongly supports the intent of this Bill – to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs – NATSAP believes the Bill is flawed and will not be effective or efficient in fulfilling this intent.  The Bill fails to protect children in all residential programs. This Bill also creates an entirely new federal bureaucracy that will duplicate current state-led child abuse and neglect enforcement programs and state licensing programs.  The Bill sponsors litigation against programs because it has no limits on attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards, and creates strict liability for standards that have not yet been drafted.  

•   The Bill excludes programs operated by government entities and should be amended to afford this protection to all children served in residential programs.

•   States are better staffed and equipped to enforce existing abuse and neglect prevention statutes.

•   The Bill proposes an entirely new federal bureaucracy to enforce the statute.  This new bureaucracy will duplicate existing state efforts and will be extremely expensive and inefficient to create and staff in all 50 states.

•   The Bill allows new access to federal courts and unlimited attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards.  Parties already have the right to access state and federal courts.  These provisions may make liability insurance for member programs unobtainable or prohibitively expensive.

NATSAP has worked since our founding to establish ethical and operational principles for member programs.  To this end NATSAP requires by January 1, 2009 that all member programs be state licensed or externally accredited by an approved accreditation organization.  All 50 states have existing programs to investigate and enforce laws that prohibit child abuse and neglect.  


NATSAP
(928) 443-9505 – Phone
info@natsap.org
126 N. Marina St., Ste. 2
Prescott, AZ 86301

[psy]

To this end NATSAP requires by January 1, 2009 that all member programs be state licensed or externally accredited by an approved accreditation organization.

LOL...  I was wondering why benchmark got "accredited" just recently.

Benchmark Young Adult School announces that they have been designated a Class VII Fully Accredited Academic Institution by the National Private Schools Accreditation Alliance (NPSAA), with all rights and privileges therein.

So I googled NPSAA which offers a "fast track" to "accredit" schools....

http://www.npsag.com/ <- LOL

Not impressed with NATSAP's standards of what is an "approved accreditation organization"... but what the hell else do you expect from an organization owned and run by industry members.  Good luck in getting a college to accept those credits!

NATSAP still pushes Benchmark as a program, though, despite the fact it is not licensed as one.

http://www.natsap.org/program_details.asp?id=11

What is it.  Is it a program or a school?  They can't seem to decide, and not even the judge in Benchmark v. Crawford could figure that out.

Industry schools want this mystical middleground between funny farm and boarding school with the benefits of both and the drawback of none (such as regulation, requirements for licensed counselors, etc...).

My opinion is that you can pass all the legislation you want and they're just going to claim it doesn't apply to them or that they are already licensed as something else.  IMO, education and media is the key... but if people want to waste their time and hope on government intervention... by all means go ahead.  I haven't seen the government get anything right in a long time but... who knows.. you might get lucky.