It still baffles me why parents, however desperate, will place such blind trust in a pack of total strangers.
Don't they hear how many little old ladies are bilked out of their life savings each year by televangelists, or bogus sweepstakes, or other cons?
Don't they hear how many people are bilked out of thousands and thousands of dollars by bogus "contractors" to do house repairs?
If you are at such risk hiring a company to repair your roof when you can be right there to supervise the work day in and day out, even if only after you come home from work for the day, how the hell could you send your *child* halfway across the country or even out of the country?!
How bloody stupid can you get?
I was once almost taken in by one of those cons that advertised itself as a "management trainee" job where you sell perfume door to door---con artists are so damned *convincing* in person, so *charming*---but thank god I thought better of it when I got home and called back, asking how many "trainees" actually were placed in management positions. They said "half?" I said "bye."
I'm not saying all residential treatment is a con, I'm saying if you can't afford a slot in Betty Ford and your kid *must* have residential---he's committing crimes, or drunk at school, or flunks multiple drug tests for addictive drugs, or incorrigibly truant, or immediately a danger of violence to self or others----for goodness sakes *at least* choose a hospital in your same state or an adjoining state and make frequent unannounced visits, check your child for bruises on same, stand him/her on a scale and check for unusual weight loss, personally look at educational materials your child is using and compare them to the curriculum at your local high school, etc.
Good lord, this isn't your house or your car---you'd do *at least* that much if one of them were at stake---this is your *child*!
I just don't understand how allegedly responsible parents can take such extreme risks with their child's health and welfare and repose such extreme trust in a pack of total strangers with every incentive to run a con for money.
I'm not accusing a particular school or schools in this---I'm just saying residential treatment should be an absolute last resort and the providers should be *very* closely supervised.
This industry is incredibly unregulated, if your child is horrendously abused, chances are you won't be able to prove it and may not even know it for years, if you *must* use residential treatment, for pete's sake Buyer Beware!!!!
(I forgot to log in. I am Timoclea.)
