First of all, what conference are you presenting at, I know that this topic has already been presented at a number of national conferences already, but there are certainly many more that could use the information.
Second, by Human Service professionals what do you mean, because that term is pretty broad. Typically, when I think of Human Services, I think of something that the government pays for like child welfare or housing case managers or therapists in clinics. If that's the definition then most educational consultants would not fall under the human services umbrella, although I'm sure that there are some educational consultants that work for non-profit agencies that might depending on who you ask.
As for research there is a small amount of outcomes data that has been done on residential treatment in the public/contract agency sector. I think that Boys Town in Omaha did some research on outcomes studies, results were mixed. JCCA in New York finished up some long-term outcomes studies maybe 10 years ago and their results were pretty awful (something like a %75 re-institution rate after 5 years of being out of the program). You will find no peer-reviewed research studying the effectiveness of therapeutic boarding schools.
Really, the person you should contact regarding this is Bob Friedman at the University of South Florida, he would be able to point you in the right direction better than I can.
friedman@fmhi.usf.edu
