After a surprise inspection Friday of the three treatment centers for teenagers with behavior and drug-related problems, the Mexican immigration agency reported that four children at Casa by the Sea showed signs of physical and emotional mistreatment, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 492.htm?1cPosted on Sun, Sep. 12, 2004
Mexico closes schools, sends hundreds of teens back to U.S.
SOUTH BAY PARENTS SURPRISED BY ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Parents picked up hundreds of U.S. teenagers Saturday from northern Mexico after state and federal authorities closed down three schools for troubled youths, according to a U.S. consular official.
About 538 teenagers -- the vast majority U.S. citizens -- were being returned home after authorities shut down Casa by the Sea in Ensenada, on the Pacific coast about 60 miles south of San Diego, said Liza Davis, public affairs officer with the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana.
About 50 teenagers from two other facilities -- Casa de la Esperanza in Ensenada and Genesis in Rosarito, about 15 miles south of the U.S. border -- already had left Mexico on Saturday after the schools were closed, Davis said.
After a surprise inspection Friday of the three treatment centers for teenagers with behavior and drug-related problems, the Mexican immigration agency reported that four children at Casa by the Sea showed signs of physical and emotional mistreatment, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
``At this point we don't have any substantiated cases of abuse,'' Davis said.
Casa by the Sea is operated by the Utah-based World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools and has been the subject of abuse allegations in the past.
``We're really at a loss right now to understand why the government would take such an irresponsible action,'' said association president Ken Kay. *He accused Mexican authorities of shutting down Casa by the Sea without first attempting to verify any abuse complaints.*
Other schools affiliated with Kay's group have run into problems. A school in Costa Rica eventually closed last year after visits by the Costa Rican child welfare agency. Previously, two other schools -- in the Czech Republic and Cancun, Mexico -- suddenly closed after they became the subjects of investigations.
Several local families whose children were sent to Casa by the Sea said they were surprised to hear the school had closed, since they and their children had had a positive experience with the program.
Juana and Alfonso Guevara of Sunnyvale, who sent their daughter to Casa by the Sea in 2002 after she threatened suicide, said they never heard any claims of mistreatment.
``When we put her into the facility we got a tour,'' Juana Guevara said. ``Of course you can't know everything that goes on. It appeared clean and neat. The children appeared to be fine.''
Chelsey Mahan, 18, of Saratoga, returned from Casa by the Sea less than a month ago after a *2 1/2-year stay.* It was a tough but good experience, she said.
``It was a program that helped us so much,'' Mahan said of her fellow students. ``I've never experienced any kind of abuse at all. The only thing I can think of is people would say that if they wanted to come home.''
