From the LA Times- Sorry if this has already been posted. I don't remember it.
http://www.latimes.com/la-na-tough13jul ... 8961.storyExcerpts:
For private ventures catering to troubled teenagers in America, business seemingly has never been better. Some 400 such educational enterprises ? which range from boot camps and wilderness programs to locked-door facilities ? exist in the United States, and the field is growing so fast it is often dubbed the "Wild West" of education. [Scarey thought!]
"There are more federal regulations governing the interstate transport of chickens than children," said John Lawrence, Democratic staff director of the House Education and Workforce Committee.
WWASPS schools are the "biggest kids on the block," says Lon Woodbury, an independent education consultant in Idaho who conducts an annual survey to determine the top-rated tough-love schools. "The criticism I'm hearing about WWASPS I'm not hearing to the same extent about the others," Woodbury said.
"They set it up so they are individual schools, but they all go back to Lichfield," said Sgt. Brian Williamson, a policeman in Bullhead City, Ariz., who looked into WWASPS when plans were being made to open a school in his city. After the city attorney reported that it appeared students were to be kept under restraint, the Bullhead City Council in 2001 unanimously scuttled a plan to convert a bankrupt hotel and convention center into a WWASPS school.
Lawsuits alleging abuse and neglect of students have been filed against WWASPS by families in Utah and other states. According to the clerk's office at the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, four federal lawsuits against WWASPS, member schools, Lichfield, Kay and other codefendants are pending. WWASPS and its codefendants have successfully defended themselves in one similar suit, and three others have been dismissed, court records show.
In California, Lichfield said, he has leased a building near Porterville in Tulare County that may become another WWASPS school, but the project has run into regulatory roadblocks.
The expansion shows how deep the need is for these kinds of facilities, he said, adding that the schools are doing the Lord's work at a time when America's moral fabric is fraying and its families are under increasing stress.
"We are here because teenagers today are faced with more problems than at any other time in the history of the world, in my opinion," Lichfield said. "We are dealing with things that are so unbelievable.... And these kids are lacking a central character model, character insights and character values."
Lichfield added: "Do I believe that God is interested in finding a way for them to get help? I do. Do I believe that Satan is interested in thwarting it? I do."
