Academy at Sisters

[MorganMDC]

Well, it's official.
Just as an update, I'll post it.
My parents have decided on the Academy.
It's a go, though I have a while.
Though this forum seems to have given my parents - especially my father who found a place in Portland that's not a live-in, but my mother has decided it isn't an option... - things to think about, there is no escaping this end result.
I thank all of you for your help and insights, and if you find anything else, we'll check back here to look at it.

Well, if I were you, I wouldn't ever again take your parents' word at face value.  Your dad said right in this thread that if you agreed to go to counseling at home, he would not send you away.  

Anybody who thinks you can "help a family" by breaking up the family and isolating the children from it is an idiot.

Well, My father and my mother are two completely different entities. On one hand, my father would like to work with me as a human being, a friend, and a daughter, in order to communicate on what is the best option for me, and my future in my mind, as well as his.
He found me a place, I agreed to it, he was to set up a meeting.
My mother, on the other hand, thinks that local counseling would not work - without even trying, - believing that all the problems are to big, and thus, the academy should be utilized to get me to where I need to be.
She communicates as the mother, and the superior, deciding that school meetings, grades, and past records are the deciding factor. Which in short, is confusing, and obnoxious.  :suicide:
As much as I'd love to think that jail is better than the academy, I have no intention of screwing up my chances at eventually moving on to the UK, and making something of what life I have left when I emerge - which I will, no doubt.

As depressing as this is, you clearly know who is right and who is very much wrong right now.

I just hope your dad reads this, his balls drop again, and he saves his own daughter from being put through hell 24/7 for months to years. Honest to god, how whipped can you be, no matter how long you've been in the doghouse or on the couch, to let someone dictate to you "I am going to not even try what you recommend, spend $5K a month of your money, and send your child away where neither of us can contact her and anything on earth could happen to her."

Hell I don't think even whooter can go with such a situation.

I'm sure he will read this. He's obviously unhappy about the entire situation, and it obviously rips him apart. In his mind, however, he believes it to is the right course - that or my mothers just explained the tour in a fantasticly gorgeous manor, and thus he's okay with it at some point.
Will he stop this from happening?
I doubt it.

Something else y'all oughta know about Next Step For Success, which for some reason nobody is picking up on, is that it is founded and run by ex-CEDU execs and staff.

This would certainly comport with why Academy at Sisters is on CEDU's Friends of Families with Children in Crisis Foundation.

Yup it comes from Cedu alright. Brandi Elliot, team leader at Cedu, and arrogant executer of attack therapy, of which I had the pleasure of experiencing first hand. Though I didn't get the worst of her rants. Ugh hope you don't have issues with throwing up, she could be very descriptive. Does not mix well with psycho drama.


…  a peice of advice to Morgan.

Be on heightened alert for situations that are pushing for self disclosure.  Very likely they will be engaging you with your peers in situations where you will be encouraged to open up, or challenge you for being closed off.  Don’t disclose anything about yourself that you would feel uncomfortable talking about in your current social life.  If you feel a pressure to disclose in ways that threaten your boundaries tell them that they are not being considerate of that.  Even if there are things that might be helpful for you to talk about, be careful. If you are not truly comfortable disclosing to them, a true opportunity to heal may be negated by having to accept things you don’t believe about yourself as part of the process, tell them that too, the situation precludes you from an opportunity to heal in this way.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you find that in many cases they are really just growing or creating problems that wouldn’t result if the ‘students’ were able to develop without such continuous focus on them,  to putting more energy in instead of less, and encourage an impossible fight between you and your problems that you don’t ultimately beat.  

What are your issues? Are you entirely happy with yourself?  What have you done that you don’t feel good about?  What are the hardest things you’ve had to deal with in your life?  No one is perfect Morgan, we all have problems, maybe yours is trust. Do you have issues opening up about this stuff? Where do those trust issues come from?  …….  Sorry, just offering a lead in to this game, but my guess is you’ll be surprised at how open some people get with their ‘issues’, just don’t beat the competition I guess. Good luck.

Just as in the past I have not disclosed any information to teachers, parents, or "concerned" counselors that I have not gotten along with, I will not here.
I don't agree with, or believe in counseling, because of what I've read, seen, and otherwise, but if it was local counseling, I'd cooperate, and do what was necessary to complete it, and get my parents monies worth out of it.
However, I am not very pleased with the Academy being the choice.
I will still pack my things, and walk with no fight into the program, but what happens when I get there is another story.
How much pleasantries and insights to my "problems" the staff get, is dependent on how well the place treats me as a human, not another dollar amount.
I will not disclose my personal thoughts to these people.
Not for all the bribes in the world.
Thanks for the luck.
From the look of things - no contact with friends, who to me are like family, for nine months, no leaving the place to go anywhere, for nine months, - I'll need it.

[Pile of Dead Kids]

It's not going to be "nine months", Morgan. It's going to be "until the money runs out". Bet on it.

[Ursus]

From what I can tell, Academy at Sisters also seems to niche market to adoptive families. Not sure why or how they are deemed experts in the field, but it *is* a market that they appear to actively court... Allegedly ?30% of their students are adopted?

[Pile of Dead Kids]

From what I can tell, Academy at Sisters also seems to niche market to adoptive families. Not sure why or how they are deemed experts in the field, but it *is* a market that they appear to actively court... Allegedly ?30% of their students are adopted?

Oh hell, CALO's the same way. It has nothing to do with "special problems of adoptees" and everything to do with the adoptive "parents" having buyer's remorse when the kid starts growing up. The reason they market to adoptive families is because adoptive parents are more likely to hand over the kids.

[Whooter]

Something else y'all oughta know about Next Step For Success, which for some reason nobody is picking up on, is that it is founded and run by ex-CEDU execs and staff.

This would certainly comport with why Academy at Sisters is on CEDU's Friends of Families with Children in Crisis Foundation.

Friends and Family is a foundation to help families financially and the other "Next Step for Success" is a coaching firm for parents and families.  Neither one of these places dictates policy at Academy at Sisters and are not even related to the school.  I dont see how there is any red flag at all.  I would be willing to bet that the majority of people who worked for CEDU would continue to work in the field after they closed because that is what they do for a living.  It is very natural to stay in the business move on to different programs,  But it doesnt mean that the programs they work for become CEDU based.



The Foundation's mission is to assist families in achieving stable and productive family lives by ensuring that the necessary funds are available to enable their children to graduate from participating schools and programs.
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION


The Friends of Families with Children in Crisis Foundation, originally founded in 1998 as The Friends of CEDU Foundation, is a non-profit corporation recognized as a Section 501(c)(3) charitable organization by the Internal Revenue Service.

Established as a separate, independent self-governing organization, The Foundation is managed and directed by volunteer trustees who are alumni parents.



...

[Whooter]

It's not going to be "nine months", Morgan. It's going to be "until the money runs out". Bet on it.

When we talked about the length of stay they gave us a window of plus or minus 2 months and all the kids in my daughters peer group graduated within that time frame.  So I would say that they would stick close to the nine month mark.
But if your parents stop paying then of course they cant keep you there for free and would send you home.



...

[MorganMDC]

It's not going to be "nine months", Morgan. It's going to be "until the money runs out". Bet on it.

When we talked about the length of stay they gave us a window of plus or minus 2 months and all the kids in my daughters peer group graduated within that time frame.  So I would say that they would stick close to the nine month mark.
But if your parents stop paying then of course they cant keep you there for free and would send you home.



...

I believe I was misunderstood.
Nine months is the length - minimum, - of level one, and the time you cannot speak to friends.
Fourteen months minimum on your overall stay.

[Pile of Dead Kids]

Do some math, Morgan. Fourteen months minimum on the overall stay. The "deal" (Ha!) was that your parents would send you to this place for a year and then you'd go to the UK the next school year, right?

"Fourteen months" doesn't work with that.

[Whooter]

From what I can tell, Academy at Sisters also seems to niche market to adoptive families. Not sure why or how they are deemed experts in the field, but it *is* a market that they appear to actively court... Allegedly ?30% of their students are adopted?

Oh hell, CALO's the same way. It has nothing to do with "special problems of adoptees" and everything to do with the adoptive "parents" having buyer's remorse when the kid starts growing up. The reason they market to adoptive families is because adoptive parents are more likely to hand over the kids.

A few thoughts here:
Actually adoptive kids have more struggles than most kids because they have the whole "Why was I rejected by my biological parents?" question hovering over them.  "Why do other kids get love and acceptance from their parents and I did not?"  Many of these kids blame themselves....  Parenting these children takes a little extra patience and love.  So its easy to see if you looked at a cross section of children those with the little extra burden would be more apt to need extra help.  So I would gather that there would be a higher percentage of adoptive children in programs than there would be in say the public schools system.



...

[Whooter]

It's not going to be "nine months", Morgan. It's going to be "until the money runs out". Bet on it.

When we talked about the length of stay they gave us a window of plus or minus 2 months and all the kids in my daughters peer group graduated within that time frame.  So I would say that they would stick close to the nine month mark.
But if your parents stop paying then of course they cant keep you there for free and would send you home.



...

I believe I was misunderstood.
Nine months is the length - minimum, - of level one, and the time you cannot speak to friends.
Fourteen months minimum on your overall stay.

My daughters was 14 months (plus or minus 2 months) or 12 to 16 months.  Some of this is directly influenced by how hard the child works and what their individual needs are.



...

[Pile of Dead Kids]

...is he still talking?

[Whooter]

...is he still talking?

Pile, its funny how that analogy keeps mystifying you and you still maintain the belief that if you hang around with a gay person long enough you will become gay yourself.  It just doesn't happen that way.



...

[Ursus]

From what I can tell, Academy at Sisters also seems to niche market to adoptive families. Not sure why or how they are deemed experts in the field, but it *is* a market that they appear to actively court... Allegedly ?30% of their students are adopted?

Oh hell, CALO's the same way. It has nothing to do with "special problems of adoptees" and everything to do with the adoptive "parents" having buyer's remorse when the kid starts growing up. The reason they market to adoptive families is because adoptive parents are more likely to hand over the kids.

A few thoughts here:
Actually adoptive kids have more struggles than most kids because they have the whole "Why was I rejected by my biological parents?" question hovering over them.  "Why do other kids get love and acceptance from their parents and I did not?"  Many of these kids blame themselves....  Parenting these children takes a little extra patience and love.  So its easy to see if you looked at a cross section of children those with the little extra burden would be more apt to need extra help.  So I would gather that there would be a higher percentage of adoptive children in programs than there would be in say the public schools system.

What you say is quite true, Whooter. Yet it does not in any way negate my understated point, which Pile picked up to some degree on, and which is that these difficulties make adoptive families all the more vulnerable to industry marketing pressures and, indeed, scams.

Lately it's been "attachment issues" and "high-functioning autistics," in previous years it's been "oppositional defiant disorder" and "blended families," and "adoption issues" has always been a perennial favorite. Of course, this doesn't even begin to touch the drug-war hysteria which, even now, manages to snag a few overly sheltered types.

[Ursus]

Something else y'all oughta know about Next Step For Success, which for some reason nobody is picking up on, is that it is founded and run by ex-CEDU execs and staff.

This would certainly comport with why Academy at Sisters is on CEDU's Friends of Families with Children in Crisis Foundation.

Yup it comes from Cedu alright. Brandi Elliot, team leader at Cedu, and arrogant executer of attack therapy, of which I had the pleasure of experiencing first hand. Though I didn't get the worst of her rants. Ugh hope you don't have issues with throwing up, she could be very descriptive. Does not mix well with psycho drama.

Brandi Elliot is with the Friends of Families with Children in Crisis Foundation, probably along with Jim Powell, if I recall correctly.

However, the organization which will probably impact Morgan's parents more directly will be the Next Step For Success parent coaching seminars. Former CEDU personnel involved with that include:

• Penelope Valentine - RMA?
• Bill Valentine - parents' workshops, RMA
• Vicki Jones - ?
• Barbara Cass - counselor at ? in 1976, co-founder of Cascade School

[SUCK IT]

So far in this thread the advice from fornits has been to a 15 year old girl faced with a treatment program without a single complaint of abuse includes:

- Run away from home and live on the streets

- Commit a crime to be sent to jail, because jail is supposedly better than treatment

- Stab the person who attempts to take you to the facility, and send yourself to jail for murder or attempted murder

- Cease all contact with your parents

- Shit your pants and smear it on yourself and the walls of the treatment facility

- Pretend you're made of rubber ,and don't move, just lay on the floor of the treatment center like an upset two year old toddler would do

- Prepare yourself to be "fingered in the asshole" because programs supposedly do that looking for drugs during the initial search

And they wonder why nobody takes them seriously? Including these parents, they saw right through the fornits propoganda and can't understand why people see them as crazed extremists.